FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] The system cannot find the path specified. Windows OS

Question

I am try to deploy and run my automation program on my windows laptop. But I ran into an error. I don't know how to figure out the problem. I tried searching on the internet, but I didn't find anything. I am 14 years old and I am a beginner in Python. It is a project about automatically moving files and folders so my laptop can be organized.

$ C:/Users/siddt/python.exe c:/Users/siddt/NodeJs/auto.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:/Users/siddt/NodeJs/auto.py", line 32, in <module>
    observer.start()
  File "C:\Users\siddt\lib\site-packages\watchdog\observers\api.py", line 260, in start
    emitter.start()
  File "C:\Users\siddt\lib\site-packages\watchdog\utils\__init__.py", line 110, in start
    self.on_thread_start()
  File "C:\Users\siddt\lib\site-packages\watchdog\observers\read_directory_changes.py", line 66, in on_thread_start
    self._handle = get_directory_handle(self.watch.path)
  File "C:\Users\siddt\lib\site-packages\watchdog\observers\winapi.py", line 307, in get_directory_handle
    return CreateFileW(path, FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY, WATCHDOG_FILE_SHARE_FLAGS,
  File "C:\Users\siddt\lib\site-packages\watchdog\observers\winapi.py", line 113, in _errcheck_handle
    raise ctypes.WinError()
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] The system cannot find the path specified.

Here is the code to my program.

from watchdog.observers import Observer
from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler

import os
import json
import time


class myHandler(FileSystemEventHandler):
    i = 1

    def on_modified(self, event):
        new_name = "new_file_" + str(self.i) + ".txt"
        for filename in os.listdir(folder_to_track):
            file_exists = os.path.isfile(folder_destination + "/" + new_name)
            while file_exists:
                self.i += 1
                new_name = "new_file_" + str(self.i) + ".txt"
                file_exists = os.path.isfile(
                    folder_destination + "/" + new_name)

            src = folder_to_track + "/" + filename
            new_destination = folder_destination + "/" + new_name
            os.rename(src, new_destination)


folder_to_track = '/Users/Desktop/myFolder'
folder_destination = '/Users/Desktop/newFolder'
event_handler = myHandler()
observer = Observer()
observer.schedule(event_handler, folder_to_track, recursive=True)
observer.start()

try:
    while True:
        time.sleep(10)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    observer.stop()
observer.join()

I would really appreciate some help.

Answer 1

Just try this:

from watchdog.observers import Observer
from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler, PatternMatchingEventHandler

import os
import time

from pathlib import Path

def on_modified(event):
    for filename in os.listdir(folder_to_track):
        print('Checking file {}....'.format(filename))
        chk_name = folder_to_track + "/" + filename
        if os.path.isfile(folder_destination + "/" + filename):
            print('The file {} exists'.format(filename))
        else:
            newfile = os.path.join(folder_destination, os.path.basename(filename))
            print (chk_name)
            print (newfile)
            Path(chk_name).rename(newfile)
            print('File {} moved'.format(filename))

folder_to_track = '/YOUR START PATH'
folder_destination = '/YOUR DESTINATION PATH'

if __name__ == "__main__":
    patterns = "*"
    ignore_patterns = ""
    ignore_directories = False
    case_sensitive = True
    my_event_handler = PatternMatchingEventHandler(patterns, ignore_patterns, ignore_directories, case_sensitive)

my_event_handler.on_modified = on_modified
go_recursively = True
observer = Observer()
observer.schedule(my_event_handler, folder_to_track, recursive=go_recursively)
observer.start()

try:
    while True:
        time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    observer.stop()
    observer.join()

For moving files I use Path from Pathlib (it works on python 3.4+) You must replace the directory. I hope it's useful!