Can't Delete Directory

Question

I am using the following code in order to try to clear the Java cache:

Dim TheFolderPath As String = "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache"
'check if the folder exists  
If IO.Directory.Exists(TheFolderPath) Then
    'delete the folder and all its contents  
    My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory(TheFolderPath, FileIO.DeleteDirectoryOption.DeleteAllContents)
End If

However, when I run the tool to test its functionality the tool does not delete the folder. Can you please assist?

I do. I personally am an ADMIN on the system; however, I am also trying to design this for those who are not admins. — Chris06991, Mar 04 '16 at 21:52
doesnt `%username%` need to be substituted with a real username first? — Reimeus, Mar 04 '16 at 21:54
That I'm not sure about. I was trying to make it happen for whoevers user ID was running it. — Chris06991, Mar 04 '16 at 21:56
Example: If I run it and my username is JDoe1 it would delete it from JDoe1 but if you run it and it's JDoe2 it would delete it for JDoe2 — Chris06991, Mar 04 '16 at 21:56
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6634054/accessing-appdata-with-vb-net — Reimeus, Mar 04 '16 at 22:01
CHANGE %username% to %userprofile% !!! %username% is not a valid folder in Windows — Vincent Thacker, Mar 05 '16 at 09:14
I don't think VB.NET even reads the Environment Variables. So using that in your path's will probably not work. — Visual Vincent, Mar 05 '16 at 11:05

Ansgar Wiechers · Answer 1 · 2016-03-05T11:15:45.530

1

Your path string contains an environment variable (%username%) which you must expand first:

Dim TheFolderPath As String = "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache"
TheFolderPath = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(TheFolderPath)

%username% is a placeholder for the name of the currently logged-in user (Windows automatically creates an environment variable username with the username at login). However, inside a string the placeholder is just a literal string %username%. To actually have it substituted with the value of the environment variable you need to use the function mentioned above.

edited Mar 05 '16 at 11:15

answered Mar 04 '16 at 22:11

Ansgar Wiechers

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@Chris06991 : He just gave you some code. Just put it in place of the one you have now. VB.NET doesn't read Environment variables such as `%username%`, so to get your path to work properly you must use the `Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables()` function. – Visual Vincent Mar 05 '16 at 11:07

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 05 '16 at 11:11

You could also use the Environment.UserName property, which gets the logged in user's user name, and then construct a path with that and IO.Path.Combine().

Dim TheFolderPath As String = IO.Path.Combine("C:\Users", Environment.UserName, "AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache")

Can't Delete Directory

2 Answers2