UnauthorizedAccessException cannot resolve Directory.GetFiles failure [duplicate]

Question

Directory.GetFiles method fails on the first encounter with a folder it has no access rights to.

The method throws an UnauthorizedAccessException (which can be caught) but by the time this is done, the method has already failed/terminated.

The code I am using is listed below:

try
{
    // looks in stated directory and returns the path of all files found                
    getFiles = Directory.GetFiles(
        @directoryToSearch, 
        filetype, 
        SearchOption.AllDirectories);             
}
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException) 
{ 
}

As far as I am aware, there is no way to check beforehand whether a certain folder has access rights defined.

In my example, I'm searching on a disk across a network and when I come across a root access only folder, my program fails.

Answer 1

In order to gain control on the level that you want, you should probably probe one directory at a time, instead of a whole tree. The following method populates the given IList<string> with all files found in the directory tree, except those where the user doesn't have access:

// using System.Linq
private static void AddFiles(string path, IList<string> files)
{
    try
    {
        Directory.GetFiles(path)
            .ToList()
            .ForEach(s => files.Add(s));

        Directory.GetDirectories(path)
            .ToList()
            .ForEach(s => AddFiles(s, files));
    }
    catch (UnauthorizedAccessException ex)
    {
        // ok, so we are not allowed to dig into that directory. Move on.
    }
}

Answer 2

I know this thread is old, but in case someone stumbles upon this and needs an answer, i got a recursive solution here:

public static List<string> GetAllAccessibleFiles(string rootPath, List<string> alreadyFound = null)
    {
        if (alreadyFound == null)
            alreadyFound = new List<string>();
        DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(rootPath);
        var dirs = di.EnumerateDirectories();
        foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in dirs)
        {
            if (!((dir.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden))
            {
                alreadyFound = GetAllAccessibleFiles(dir.FullName, alreadyFound);
            }
        }

        var files = Directory.GetFiles(rootPath);
        foreach (string s in files)
        {
            alreadyFound.Add(s);                
        }

        return alreadyFound;
    }

It returns an List<string> containing the full path to all files that are in accessible directories below the given root-directory. Call it like this:

var files = GetAllAccessibleFiles(@"C:\myDirectory");

So one result could be like this:

C:\myDirectory\a\a.txt
C:\myDirectory\a\b.mp3
C:\myDirectory\b\a\a\foo.txt
C:\myDirectory\b\b\b\hello.exe
C:\myDirectory\b\c\bar.jpg
C:\myDirectory\and\so\on.bar
C:\myDirectory\a_file_in_root.bmp

Hope it helps someone!

Answer 3

This is an enhancement to Malcolm's answer (http://stackoverflow.com/a/9831340/226181). This scans all logical drives for a file match pattern and ignores the directories that are not accessible.

 static List<string> SearchFiles(string pattern)
    {
        var result = new List<string>();

        foreach (string drive in Directory.GetLogicalDrives())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("searching " + drive);
            var files = FindAccessableFiles(drive, pattern, true);
            Console.WriteLine(files.Count().ToString() + " files found.");
            result.AddRange(files);
        }

        return result;
    }

    private static IEnumerable<String> FindAccessableFiles(string path, string file_pattern, bool recurse)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(path);
        var list = new List<string>();
        var required_extension = "mp4";

        if (File.Exists(path))
        {
            yield return path;
            yield break;
        }

        if (!Directory.Exists(path))
        {
            yield break;
        }

        if (null == file_pattern)
            file_pattern = "*." + required_extension;

        var top_directory = new DirectoryInfo(path);

        // Enumerate the files just in the top directory.
        IEnumerator<FileInfo> files;
        try
        {
            files = top_directory.EnumerateFiles(file_pattern).GetEnumerator();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            files = null;
        }

        while (true)
        {
            FileInfo file = null;
            try
            {
                if (files != null && files.MoveNext())
                    file = files.Current;
                else
                    break;
            }
            catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
            {
                continue;
            }
            catch (PathTooLongException)
            {
                continue;
            }

            yield return file.FullName;
        }

        if (!recurse)
            yield break;

        IEnumerator<DirectoryInfo> dirs;
        try
        {
            dirs = top_directory.EnumerateDirectories("*").GetEnumerator();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            dirs = null;
        }


        while (true)
        {
            DirectoryInfo dir = null;
            try
            {
                if (dirs != null && dirs.MoveNext())
                    dir = dirs.Current;
                else
                    break;
            }
            catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
            {
                continue;
            }
            catch (PathTooLongException)
            {
                continue;
            }

            foreach (var subpath in FindAccessableFiles(dir.FullName, file_pattern, recurse))
                yield return subpath;
        }
    }