Delete file from server: Access to the path is denied

Question

I call this function from with my code-behind:
DeleteFile(Server.MapPath("/") + "sitemap_index.xml")

Public Shared Function DeleteFile(ByVal filename As String) As Boolean
'deletes file from server
Dim bResult As Boolean = False
Try
    If File.Exists(filename) Then
        'delete file
        File.Delete(filename)
        bResult = True
    Else
        bResult = True
    End If
Catch ex As Exception

End Try
Return bResult
End Function

I then get the error: Access to the path 'E:\zz\wwwroot\sitemap_index.xml' is denied.

In other sites of myself this logic works great, however on the current site it doesnt. I checked the security settings on my windows server 2008 R2 Standard.

See here the settings I have on my Windows server on folder wwwroot:

SYSTEM: Full Control
.NETWORK SERVICE: Read + Write + Read & Execute + List folder contents
IIS_IUSRS: Read + Write

As was suggested by other posts I've been reading I tried adding other user groups, but I have no AS.NET service/group on my server.

When logged in as administrator (Forms authentication) I can click a button to recreate the sitemap_index.xml and sitemaps.xml
Users should be able to delete and add images to the wwwroot\images\uploads folder

Which group should I give what permissions to allow the above to be possible AND secure?

Answer 1

Check the access for the Application Pool user.

Find the application pool that your site is using, right click on it and choose Advanced Settings... . The name of the user that the pool is using is listed next to Identity .

Note that if the identity says "ApplicationPoolIdentity", you should check the access for the user IIS AppPool\\<Name of the app pool here> Info about ApplicationPoolIdentity

---

It looks like Modify permissions are required to delete files . Try granting NetworkService Modify permissions.

Answer 2

I had this problem too. When I applied the codes in this way, I did not encounter any permission requests.

    public void DeleteDirectory(string target_dir)
    {
        string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(target_dir);
        string[] dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(target_dir);

        foreach (string file in files)
        {
            System.IO.File.SetAttributes(file, FileAttributes.Normal);
            System.IO.File.Delete(file);
        }

        foreach (string dir in dirs)
        {
            DeleteDirectory(dir);
        }

        Directory.Delete(target_dir, false);
    }