Using oleexp.tlb by fafalone

[AlexanderBB]

I'm using this is to remove internet zone id from files, after adding the Reference.

Public Sub RemoveFileSecurityZone(sFile As String)
    Dim pZI As PersistentZoneIdentifier
    Set pZI = New PersistentZoneIdentifier
    
    pZI.Remove
    Dim pIPF As IPersistFile
    Set pIPF = pZI
    pIPF.Save sFile, 1
    
    Set pIPF = Nothing
    Set pZI = Nothing
End Sub

Public Function GetFileSecurityZone(sFile As String) As URLZONE
    'returns the Zone Identifier of a file, using IZoneIdentifier
    'This could also be done by ready the Zone.Identifier alternate
    'data stream directly; readfile C:\file.txt:Zone.Identifier
    On Error GoTo err_ADS
    Dim lz As Long
    Dim pZI As PersistentZoneIdentifier
    Set pZI = New PersistentZoneIdentifier
    
    Dim pIPF As IPersistFile
    Set pIPF = pZI
    
    pIPF.Load sFile, STGM_READ
    pZI.GetId lz
    GetFileSecurityZone = lz
    
    Set pIPF = Nothing
    Set pZI = Nothing
    On Error GoTo 0
    Exit Function
    
err_ADS:
End Function

            If GetFileSecurityZone(CStr(files(i))) = 3 Then  'files(i) is full path plus filename
                i = MsgBox("File Contains Internet Zone Identifier. Remove It ?", vbYesNo + vbQuestion, files(i))
                If i = vbYes Then RemoveFileSecurityZone (CStr(files(i)))
            End If

It was working but now I get
Run-time error '-2147467259 (80004005)':
Automation error
Unspecified error

Any idea how I can resolve ?
Thanks

[fafalone]

Was it a Windows update that broke it? Could be you need to run as admin now.

But what specific line is causing the issue?

[AlexanderBB]

Thanks for reply fafalone.
It's not an upgrade as I'm using offline XP.
It occurs in Sub RemoveFileSecurityZone on line pIPF.Save sFile, 1

sfile is "O:\CF\tests\R-4049652-1512871393-5043.jpeg.jpg"
O: is a mapped Networked drive.

[fafalone]

It seems that error can be related to access issues, and I'd tend to agree since you said this exact code used to work? Was it working on the same drive, or locally? Because I was just playing with it and get a 'not found' error for anything on a mapped drive (different error than yours) but haven't tried XP yet. And a local drive if there's no zone set. It's weird.

Could try the manual way, confirming whether it's the interface or drive.

Public Declare Function DeleteFile Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "DeleteFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Public Declare Function GetLastError Lib "kernel32" () As Long

Public Sub RemoveFileSecurityZoneManual(sFile As String)
On Error GoTo e0
Dim hr As Long
Dim lerr As Long
hr = DeleteFile(sFile & ":Zone.Identifier")
lerr = GetLastError()
If hr = 0& Then
    Debug.Print "Delete failed, 0x" & Hex$(lerr)
End If
Exit Sub

e0:
    Debug.Print "RemoveFileSecurityZone->Error: " & Err.Description & ", 0x" & Hex$(Err.Number)
End Sub

Note that the operation fails if the file is read only (this one, and very likely the interface call). Check if that may be the issue.

Public Declare Function GetFileAttributesW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal lpFileName As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function SetFileAttributesW Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal lpFileName As Long, ByVal dwFileAttributes As Long) As Long

Public Enum FILE_ATTRIBUTES
    INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES = -1
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY = &H1
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN = &H2
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM = &H4
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE = &H20
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL = &H80
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY = &H100
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE = &H1000
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED = &H2000
    'Values below this point can only be read, not set
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED = &H800
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY = &H10
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ENCRYPTED = &H4000
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT = &H400
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SPARSE_FILE = &H200
End Enum

Public Sub ClearReadOnly(sFile As String)
'Removes the read-only attribute
Dim lAtr As FILE_ATTRIBUTES
lAtr = GetFileAttributesW(StrPtr(sFile))
lAtr = lAtr And Not FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY
Call SetFileAttributesW(StrPtr(sFile), lAtr)
End Sub

[AlexanderBB]

I first moved the files to local drive, this didn't change anything (but I left them there)
About 16 files were involved, some I had removed the identifier by r-click-properties (In Win 10 although running vb6 in XP)
For those still with it, each one debug.printed
Delete failed, 0x0
I then added ClearReadOnly routine ahead of RemoveFileSecurityZoneManual but the same errors occurred.

I don't have the earlier files (that did work) anymore, with the zone identifier still.

[fafalone]

If the DeleteFile API is failing too it definitely seems like a permissions issue, it's supposed to specify the error for GetLastError but that might be broken, I couldn't get error codes for failures either.

Perhaps see if other programs have the same issue... check out NirSoft's AlternateStreamsView, that will show all the zone identifiers and provide a menu option to delete them.