Get-Childitem exits with "Access is Denied" despite -ea 0

PowerShell Help
1

Hi there,
I’m running this line to search all ISO files on all drives:
(GET-WMIOBJECT -query “SELECT * from win32_logicaldisk where DriveType = ‘3’”).DeviceID| %{Get-ChildItem -path $_ -Include *.ISO -Recurse -Force -ea 0 |Select-Object FullName}

It runs through some drives and list the ISOs that it finds along the way but then exits with this error:

Get-ChildItem : Access is denied
At line:1 char:92

  • … ").DeviceID| %{Get-ChildItem -path $_ -Include *.ISO -Recurse -Force -ea 0 |Sele …
  •                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    • CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:slight_smile: [Get-ChildItem], UnauthorizedAccessException
    • FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.UnauthorizedAccessException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

If I expand the error:

PS C:> $error[0]|format-list -force

Exception : System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path ‘P:\System Volume Information’ is
denied.
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileSystemEnumerableIterator`1.CommonInit()
at System.IO.FileSystemEnumerableIterator`1…ctor(String path, String originalUserPath,
String searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption, SearchResultHandler`1 resultHandler, Boolean
checkHost)
at System.IO.FileSystemEnumerableFactory.CreateDirectoryInfoIterator(String path, String
originalUserPath, String searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption)
at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.FileSystemProvider.Dir(DirectoryInfo directory, Boolean
recurse, Boolean nameOnly, ReturnContainers returnContainers)
TargetObject : P:\System Volume Information
CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (P:\System Volume Information:String) [Get-ChildItem],
UnauthorizedAccessException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
ErrorDetails :
InvocationInfo : System.Management.Automation.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace : at , : line 1
at , : line 1
PipelineIterationInfo : {0, 1, 0}
PSMessageDetails :

I can see that I’m not allowed access to “P:\System Volume Information” which I’d expect, but I also expect the ErrorAction of SilentlyContinue to sail past this problem. Any idea why this happens?
Thanks
Kieran.

2

So, first of all, please use “-EA SilentlyContinue” not “-EA 0.” The whole point of the enumeration is to make your code easier to read ;).

Second, -EA only controls what will happen in the event of a non-terminating error. Terminating errors always bail, and you can’t stop it, but you can catch it in a Try/Catch construct. In this case, the cmdlet is throwing a terminating error, I’m guessing. That’s under the control of whoever wrote the cmdlet and the underlying technology - you can’t change that.

3

Great stuff Don, didn’t know about the terminating error.
Thanks for your help!
Kieran.

4

Interesting if I run your line on a computer with WMF 5.0 (September Preview) it works as you’ve expected earlier. Looks like the PowerShell team has changed the behaviour Get-Childitem cmdlet in combination with the -Force switch.

I agree with Don, until we can get our hands on the final of WMF 5.0 bits you’ll need to use the Try/Catch construct.

#Daniel