Unable to list some folders

Question

I get an “Access Denied” exception when trying to list some folders on my PC, such as “c: \ Documents and Settings”. My application runs from an administrator account and with elevated privileges ( <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" /> )

What else do I need to do to access these folders?

Answer 1

Running as an administrator is necessary, but not enough, you also need to enable Backup , as implicitly described here: Connection points

% The SystemDrive directory% \ Documents and Settings is now saved in the% SystemDrive% \ Users [...] directory. Backup applications should be able to backup and restore the connection point.

So here is an example that works:

 using (Privilege p = new Privilege(Privilege.Backup)) { foreach (string path in Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(@"c:\documents and settings")) { Console.WriteLine(path); } } 

Note that there is no public .NET class to enable the privilege programmatically, as far as I know, but inside System.Security.AccessControl (mscorlib), which I opened with a thin shell, there is one internal. It is based on the fully open Windows AdjustTokenPrivileges function .

 /// <summary> /// Defines a Windows privilege. /// </summary> public sealed class Privilege : IDisposable { private static Type _privilegeType; private object _privilege; static Privilege() { _privilegeType = typeof(string).Assembly.GetType("System.Security.AccessControl.Privilege", false); // mscorlib } /// <summary> /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="Privilege"/> class and enable the privilege. /// </summary> /// <param name="name">The privilege name.</param> public Privilege(string name) : this(name, true) { } /// <summary> /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="Privilege" /> class. /// </summary> /// <param name="name">The privilege name.</param> /// <param name="enable">if set to <c>true</c> the privilege is enabled.</param> public Privilege(string name, bool enable) { if (name == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("name"); if (_privilegeType == null) throw new NotSupportedException(); _privilege = _privilegeType.GetConstructors()[0].Invoke(new object[] { name }); if (enable) { Enable(); } } /// <summary> /// Disable this privilege from the current thread. /// </summary> public void Revert() { _privilegeType.InvokeMember("Revert", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, _privilege, null); } /// <summary> /// Gets a value indicating whether Revert must be called. /// </summary> /// <value> /// <c>true</c> if Revert must be called; otherwise, <c>false</c>. /// </value> public bool NeedToRevert { get { return (bool)_privilegeType.InvokeMember("NeedToRevert", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, _privilege, null); } } /// <summary> /// Enables this privilege to the current thread. /// </summary> public void Enable() { _privilegeType.InvokeMember("Enable", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, _privilege, null); } /// <summary> /// Performs application-defined tasks associated with freeing, releasing, or resetting unmanaged resources. /// </summary> public void Dispose() { if (NeedToRevert) { Revert(); } } /// <summary> /// The SE_ASSIGNPRIMARYTOKEN_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string AssignPrimaryToken = "SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_AUDIT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Audit = "SeAuditPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_BACKUP_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Backup = "SeBackupPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CHANGE_NOTIFY_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string ChangeNotify = "SeChangeNotifyPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CREATE_GLOBAL_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string CreateGlobal = "SeCreateGlobalPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CREATE_PAGEFILE_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string CreatePageFile = "SeCreatePagefilePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CREATE_PERMANENT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string CreatePermanent = "SeCreatePermanentPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CREATE_SYMBOLIC_LINK_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string CreateSymbolicLink = "SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_CREATE_TOKEN_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string CreateToken = "SeCreateTokenPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_DEBUG_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Debug = "SeDebugPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_ENABLE_DELEGATION_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string EnableDelegation = "SeEnableDelegationPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_IMPERSONATE_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Impersonate = "SeImpersonatePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_INC_BASE_PRIORITY_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string IncreaseBasePriority = "SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_INCREASE_QUOTA_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string IncreaseQuota = "SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_INC_WORKING_SET_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string IncreaseWorkingSet = "SeIncreaseWorkingSetPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_LOAD_DRIVER_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string LoadDriver = "SeLoadDriverPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_LOCK_MEMORY_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string LockMemory = "SeLockMemoryPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_MACHINE_ACCOUNT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string MachineAccount = "SeMachineAccountPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_MANAGE_VOLUME_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string ManageVolume = "SeManageVolumePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_PROF_SINGLE_PROCESS_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string ProfileSingleProcess = "SeProfileSingleProcessPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_RELABEL_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Relabel = "SeRelabelPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_REMOTE_SHUTDOWN_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string RemoteShutdown = "SeRemoteShutdownPrivilege"; ///// <summary> ///// The SE_RESERVE_PROCESSOR_NAME privilege. ///// </summary> //public const string ReserveProcessor = "SeReserveProcessorPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_RESTORE_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Restore = "SeRestorePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SECURITY_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Security = "SeSecurityPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SHUTDOWN_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Shutdown = "SeShutdownPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SYNC_AGENT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string SyncAgent = "SeSyncAgentPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string SystemEnvironment = "SeSystemEnvironmentPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SYSTEM_PROFILE_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string SystemProfile = "SeSystemProfilePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_SYSTEMTIME_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string SystemTime = "SeSystemtimePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_TAKE_OWNERSHIP_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string TakeOwnership = "SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_TCB_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string TrustedComputingBase = "SeTcbPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_TIME_ZONE_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string TimeZone = "SeTimeZonePrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_TRUSTED_CREDMAN_ACCESS_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string TrustedCredentialManagerAccess = "SeTrustedCredManAccessPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_UNDOCK_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string Undock = "SeUndockPrivilege"; /// <summary> /// The SE_UNSOLICITED_INPUT_NAME privilege. /// </summary> public const string UnsolicitedInput = "SeUnsolicitedInputPrivilege"; }