CreateFile() Failed With GetLastError() = 5

1
votes

I have written a sample application to read the file from the other file. When I run this application form virtual machine I am getting Access denied. Below is the code.

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    WCHAR *wcsPath = L"\\\\150.160.130.22\\share\\123.XML";

    HANDLE hFile = CreateFileW(wcsPath,
                               GENERIC_READ,
                               FILE_SHARE_READ,
                               NULL,
                               OPEN_EXISTING,
                               0,
                               0);

    if (NULL == hFile)
    {
        printf("failed - %d", GetLastError());
    }

    return 0;
}

Please let me know any changes.

3
c++windowswinapi
See if you can open the said file with Notepad. The rights are per-user, not per-program - if you cannot read it from Notepad, your program won't either. - Seva Alekseyev
i can open it in notepad - Umesha MS
You have to check if the user running the program has the right to open the file, the right to open the share and that the file is not opened in another program. - plodoc
From the virtual machine, open Explorer, locate the file. Then goto a Security tab. Click Advanced. Click Effective Permissions, and check if you do have all required permissions. - Ajay

3 Answers

10
votes

Error code 5 stands for "Access is Denied". You should check your user's access rights.

2
votes

I believe the documentation for CreateFile holds the answer.

It may be that your dwShareMode is causing the problem. Using FILE_SHARE_READ there says, "allow other openers to open the file for READ access". If you do not specify FILE_SHARE_WRITE` , then other openers will not be able to open the file for writing - your call would prevent that.

But, CreateFile, I believe, also fails when the sharemode would be violated by prior openers. If this is true, then if another application already has the file open for write access, then your call to CreateFile will fail, if you specify dwShareMode = FILE_SHARE_READ. Do you see? You may need to specify FILE_SHARE_WRITE | FILE_SHARE_READ for that dwShareMode parameter.

Try it.

1
votes

The error output of CreateFileW() is INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE, not NULL. Now, NULL definitely sounds like a wrong value for a file handle too, but still.

Is the pasted code snippet exactly the content of your program, or a retelling?

EDIT: I see there's a VM involved. Can you open the file in Notepad from the virtual machine where the program is running and erroring out?