Check if directory is accessible in C#?
According to MSDN, Directory.Exists
should return false if you don't have read access to the directory. However, you can use Directory.GetAccessControl
for this. Example:
public static bool CanRead(string path)
{
try
{
var readAllow = false;
var readDeny = false;
var accessControlList = Directory.GetAccessControl(path);
if(accessControlList == null)
return false;
//get the access rules that pertain to a valid SID/NTAccount.
var accessRules = accessControlList.GetAccessRules(true, true, typeof(System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier));
if(accessRules ==null)
return false;
//we want to go over these rules to ensure a valid SID has access
foreach (FileSystemAccessRule rule in accessRules)
{
if ((FileSystemRights.Read & rule.FileSystemRights) != FileSystemRights.Read) continue;
if (rule.AccessControlType == AccessControlType.Allow)
readAllow = true;
else if (rule.AccessControlType == AccessControlType.Deny)
readDeny = true;
}
return readAllow && !readDeny;
}
catch(UnauthorizedAccessException ex)
{
return false;
}
}
Update
As mentioned in some comments, this may return an incorrect value in a case where a valid SID in an external DOMAIN has access. In order to check if the current user has access, you need something like:
foreach...
if (WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().User.Value.equals(rule.IdentityReference.Value))
This will confirm if the SID of the current user matches the access rule identity reference but may throw a SecurityException as well.