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Check for Windows 7 Protected Folders

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4.38/5 (8 votes)
20 Oct 2011CPOL 36.3K   9   8
Check for Windows 7 Protected Folders
.NET 2.0 File.Copy() (build using VS2005) function does not throw any exception if you want to copy a file in Windows 7 protected folder like "C:\", "C:\Program Files", etc. and it does not perform the copy operation too. Actually it performs the desired copy operation in virtual file store, i.e., %localappdata%\VirtualStore. This works as expected if you run your application as administrator. Below is a tip to check if the folder is protected or not, i.e., you can use File.Copy() method as a target folder in File.Copy() .

C#
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Security.AccessControl;
using System.Security.Principal;

namespace FolderAccess
{
   class Program
   {
      private static bool IsProtected(string folder)
      {
         DirectorySecurity ds = new DirectorySecurity(folder, AccessControlSections.Access);
         if (ds.AreAccessRulesProtected)
         {

            WindowsIdentity wi = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
            WindowsPrincipal wp = new WindowsPrincipal(wi);

            return !wp.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator); // Not running as admin
         }

         return false;
      }

      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         if (IsProtected("C:\\"))
         {
            Console.WriteLine("Protected folder");
         }
         else
         {
            Console.WriteLine("Not a protected folder");
         }
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior) Oracle
India India
Working with Oracle. Using C/C++, VC++, MFC, STL, C#, Java etc. on various platform like Windows, Unix, Macintosh etc. from last 13+ years to convert various type of requirements into running software components. My core expertise is multithreaded desktop product and large scale enterprises software development.

Comments and Discussions

 
BugDoes not work Pin
cartque2-Dec-13 9:43
cartque2-Dec-13 9:43 
GeneralRe: Does not work Pin
Manish K. Agarwal4-Dec-13 0:30
Manish K. Agarwal4-Dec-13 0:30 
GeneralAre you sure it doesn't throw an exception? On my Win7 box, ... Pin
Richard Deeming19-Oct-11 9:23
mveRichard Deeming19-Oct-11 9:23 
GeneralRe: yes, I am sure that it does not throw any exception provided... Pin
Manish K. Agarwal19-Oct-11 21:11
Manish K. Agarwal19-Oct-11 21:11 
GeneralRe: Yes, you are correct. It is coping files in virtual file sto... Pin
Manish K. Agarwal19-Oct-11 21:23
Manish K. Agarwal19-Oct-11 21:23 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Great idea. Pin
Talon010917-Oct-11 21:46
Talon010917-Oct-11 21:46 
GeneralReason for my vote of 1 Does not work! Pin
gxdata17-Oct-11 17:05
gxdata17-Oct-11 17:05 
GeneralRe: could you pls explain what problem you are facing and what y... Pin
Manish K. Agarwal18-Oct-11 1:49
Manish K. Agarwal18-Oct-11 1:49 

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