Getting access denied exception trying to get full path to application

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

I have a Listview that contains a list of applications that have TCP connections. I want to be able to extract the application icon to add it to the Listview column. But to do that, I need the full path to the exe.

The problem is I'm getting an exception on some programs, but not on others. I get exceptions for processes Idle and svchost. That make sense to me. I could trap that in a try catch block and use a generic app icon.

But I'm also getting exceptions for programs that I have installed myself. One weird thing I really don't understand is one of the apps I installed has several TCP connections. Some I can get the path to, some I can't.

I hope someone can tell me what's going on. I would appreciate that.
Here's the code I'm using:

What I have tried:

processName = GetProcessName(Info.PID)
Try
     Dim p As Process = Process.GetProcessById(Info.PID)
     Dim exePath As String = p.Modules(0).FileName
     Using writer As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("Ok.txt", True)
          writer.WriteLine(processName & "path is: " & exePath)
     End Using

Catch ex As Exception
     Using writer As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("error.txt", True)
          writer.WriteLine("Could not get path for process: " & processName)
     End Using
End Try

Posted 12-Sep-17 20:31pm

jumper77

Updated 12-Sep-17 21:02pm

Add a Solution

Comments

Richard MacCutchan 13-Sep-17 2:55am

We cannot guess what errors you get, or when you get them.

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

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

OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2017-09-12T21:01:00

Solution 1

The problem is that you are throwing away the information you need: the exception detail. All you do is catch it, ignore it, and put up your own generic message which contains no information on why it happened. Use the debugger, put a breakpoint on the first line of the Try block, and step your code. When it excepts, use the Exception object to gather more info.

But that you say it's an "access denied" implied what the problem is: it's where you are writing the file. Because you don't specify a path, it goes in the current folder: the application folder - which for release apps will be under "Program Files" and those write protected for safety. This kind of code works in development because the folder structure is different: debug apps run from the bin/debug folder and release from the bin/release, neither of which have any write restrictions. But on release? It fails.

Have a look here: Where should I store my data?[^] - the code is in C#, not VB but it's pretty obvious.

Posted 12-Sep-17 21:01pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

jumper77 13-Sep-17 11:26am

Thank you for the reply. But I think I may not have explained myself well. About the exception, it is always the same. Access Denied. That's the only exception. And if it's going to happen, it always occurs on the second line of the "Try" block.

I have no problem writing the files. The files are only written to show the results of trying to get the path to the exe in question.

I'm just trying to find out "why" I'm getting the access denied exception. I can use the try catch block to decide whether to add the item to the Listview.

OriginalGriff 13-Sep-17 11:36am

You mean it happens on this line:

Dim exePath As String = p.Modules(0).FileName

Odd.
Start by breaking that line out

Dim x = p.Modules
Dim y = x(0)
Dim z = y.FileName
Dim exePath As String = z

And see if that helps you identify which part is wrong.

jumper77 13-Sep-17 12:09pm

Thank you for the reply. And yes, the exception occurs on the line you said (p.Modules(0).Filename). I tried your code suggestion and I get get the exception on "Dim x = p.Modules", if there is going to be an exception.

I apologize for my lack of understanding about what's going on with the code. Right now I can't think of anything else to try. I hope you might though :)

OriginalGriff 13-Sep-17 12:26pm

If you look at the documentation for the Modules property:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.modules(v=vs.110).aspx
it does say

Win98WinMe
This property is not available on this platform if you started the process with ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute set to true.

I don't know if it also applies to later OSes (MS can be a little flaky about updating documentation). But I'd imagine you could also get that trying to access (say) a 64 bit process from a 32 bit app, or possibly accessing a system process from a user app.
Have you checked which process(es) are throwing the exception?