Searching All Files (Access Denied)

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Unless you're the Admin, you won't get access. So if you want your code to avoid folders/files that it cannot access, you'll need to handle that in code. The DirectoryInfo command will fail, so you will need to implement your own recursion.

Here's an example;

    Dim FolderFailedAccessList As List(Of String)
    Dim FolderList As List(Of String)

    Private Sub RecurseFolders(ByVal path As String)
        ' This sub recurses down a folder tree (path) and finds all accessible folder paths
        ' It also updates a list of folders where an error was incurred getting access
        Try
            Dim subfolders() As String = IO.Directory.GetDirectories(path, "*.*", IO.SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly)
            For Each folder As String In subfolders
                Try
                    FolderList.Add(folder)
                    RecurseFolders(folder)
                Catch ex As Exception
                    FolderFailedAccessList.Add(path)
                End Try
            Next
        Catch ex As Exception
            FolderFailedAccessList.Add(path)
        End Try
    End Sub

    Private Sub GatherFolders(ByVal path As String)
        ' This sub gathers all the folders in the path and updates two lists
        ' FolderList = A list of all accessible folder paths
        ' FolderFailedAccessList = A list that could not be inspected due to access problems

        If System.IO.Directory.Exists(path) Then

            Dim searchpath As String
            If System.IO.Path.GetExtension(path) = ".lnk" Then
                searchpath = ShellMethods.GetShortcutPath(path)
            Else
                searchpath = path
            End If

            FolderFailedList = New List(Of String)
            FolderList = New List(Of String)
            FolderList.Add(searchpath)

            RecurseFolders(searchpath)

        Else
            MessageBox.Show("Error: Folder does not exist", _
            "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
        End If

    End Sub

If you call this sub, it will generate a list of folders that were accessible (FolderList) and will also generate a list of folders (FolderFailedAccessList) that could not be traversed.

Using the FolderList, you can then loop through each folder and inspect the files within it.

To handle a shortcut, you'll also need this Class, which I called ShellMethods;

Option Strict Off

Friend Class ShellMethods
    Public Shared Function GetShortcutPath(ByVal FileName As String) As String
        Dim WSH As Object = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
        Dim sc As Object = WSH.CreateShortcut(FileName)
        GetShortcutPath = sc.TargetPath
    End Function
End Class

If you want to know how to then loop through all the files, here's an example of that which you can adapt to your own purpose;

    Dim FolderIgnoredList As List(Of String)

    Public Function GetFileInformation(ByVal target As IO.DirectoryInfo) As IO.FileInfo()
        'This sub returns the FileInfo for files in the target path

        Dim files As New List(Of IO.FileInfo)
        files.AddRange(target.GetFiles("*.*", IO.SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly))
        Return files.ToArray()
    End Function

    Private Sub WorkOnFiles(ByVal path As String)
        ' This sub does whatever you want to do with each file found
        ' It updates lists indicating files/folders that were ignored because of access problems

        GatherFolders(path)

        For Each folder As String In FolderList
            Dim ProblemPath As String
            FolderIgnoreList = New List(Of String)
            Try
                Dim folderinfo As New IO.DirectoryInfo(folder)
                Dim fileinfo() As IO.FileInfo = GetFileInformation(folderinfo)
                If fileinfo.Length > 0 Then
                    For Each file As IO.FileInfo In fileinfo
                        Try

                            'Do stuff with the file

                        Catch ex As IO.***********Exception
                            ProblemPath = IO.Path.GetFullPath(folder.ToString)
                            If Not FolderIgnoredList.Contains(ProblemPath) Then FolderIgnoredList.Add(ProblemPath)
                        Catch ex As System.UnauthorizedAccessException
                            FolderFailedAccessList.Add(folder)
                        Catch ex As Exception
                            FolderFailedAccessList.Add(folder)
                        End Try
                    Next
                End If
            Catch ex As IO.***********Exception
                ProblemPath = IO.Path.GetFullPath(folder.ToString)
                If Not FolderIgnoredList.Contains(ProblemPath) Then FolderIgnoredList.Add(ProblemPath)
            Catch ex As System.UnauthorizedAccessException
                FolderFailedAccessList.Add(folder)
            Catch ex As Exception
                FolderFailedAccessList.Add(folder)
            End Try
        Next

    End Sub