Directory.CreateDirectory does not always create the folder

Question

I have created a folder on the path C:\Users\MYUSER\Desktop\TEST\.

I have the following code:

private const string DIR = @"C:\Users\MYUSER\Desktop\TEST\tmp";

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    if (Directory.Exists(DIR))
        Directory.Delete(DIR);

    for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
    {
        var dinfo = Directory.CreateDirectory(DIR);
        Directory.Delete(DIR);
    }

    Directory.CreateDirectory(DIR);
}

When I execute the code, most times it runs OK, and I can see that there is a folder tmp inside the folder TEST.

My issue is that some other times, Directory.CreateDirectory(DIR) does not create a directory at all. I even checked the DirectoryInfo it returns and its Exists property is false and Directory.CreateDirectory(DIR) will not work because the folder does not exist. Is there any explanation for this weird behavior?

Answer 1

Had the same problem. No errors occurred, but folders simply would not be created. Just discovered the root of the issue and the easy fix.

I had something like:

Directory.CreateDirectory("/Users/MyAccount/NewFolder");
#Some code...
Directory.CreateDirectory("/Users/MyAccount/NewFolder/SubFolder");

This would fail to create folders under directories that were created before it.

Solution: Add a slash at the end of the path.

Instead of:

Directory.CreateDirectory("/Users/MyAccount/NewFolder/SubFolder");

Do:

Directory.CreateDirectory("/Users/MyAccount/NewFolder/SubFolder/");

Adding the trailing slash fixed the issue, and it now creates the folder 100% of the time. No more problems.