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POPowershell Copy-Item fails on User\Documents with Access Denied
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copied!<p>I have a simple backup script to copy the Documents folder to an external hard drive:</p> <pre><code>Copy-Item C:\Users\Username\Documents G:\Backup -Recurse -Force </code></pre> <p>However, when I run the command, Windows 8 is raising an UnauthorizedAccessException for the folders <code>'...\Documents\My Music'</code>, <code>'...\Documents\My Pictures'</code>, and <code>'...\Documents\My Videos'</code>. However, these folders are just symbolic links, which I assume is what is causing the error. How can I avoid copying symbolic links?</p> <p><strong>Edit:</strong> Even using a hard-coded Exclude list does not work. Full script is below:</p> <pre><code>$backupFolder = (get-date -uformat %Y%m%d) $lines = Get-Content backup.cfg $DirLinks = "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Videos", "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Music","C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Pictures" $basePath = $lines[0] + $backupFolder + "\" for ($i = 1; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++) { $lines[$i] Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -Force -Exclude $DirLinks } "Done!" </code></pre> <p>I still get the following errors:</p> <pre><code> Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Music' is denied. At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5 + Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (My Music:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Pictures' is denied. At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5 + Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (My Pictures:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Videos' is denied. At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5 + Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (My Videos:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand </code></pre>

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