Permission denied error while synchronizing folders.

The one thing that jumps off the page at me is the use of the "*" character in the Path/Filename. On a windows host destination, you will need to substitute this for a valid character that is legal for Path/Filenames. If the destination is a Linux host, it should allow it but there could be other trickery in play which can force is as disallowed.

A quick replace("*", "X", <STRING>) would tell you for certain.

Hi,
I had this working fine with the following

Set transferResult = mySession.GetFiles("/Outbox/*", "H:\FTP\", False, myTransferOptions)

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The problem was that this was downloading all files, not just the new ones, so I switched to

Set transferResult = _
    mySession.SynchronizeDirectories(SynchronizationMode.SynchronizationMode_Local, "H:\FTP\", "/Outbox/*", 0, 0, SynchronizationCriteria.SynchronizationCriteria_Time, myTransferOptions)
   

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Therefore I guess its not the asterisk character that's causing it.

However if you tell me explicitly what to change for, I can give it a try...

Thanks,
Ben

Think the reason is, in order to Synchronize Directories, it tries to open those files and read contents...

Wondering if we can modify the function to only look at the file names, if they're the same then skip it.

Thanks,
Ben

I certainly made the assumption that the Access Denied message was coming from failing to write the file but if the method you are using is trying to open files which are already open, this could be the source of the issue. I am not familiar with the method "SynchronizeDirectories". Is this a WinSCP library or another application?

Hi,

but if the method you are using is trying to open files which are already open, this could be the source of the issue.

No, they're are not open, I meant the following, perhaps we only have permission to download the files, not to read them on the server...

Is this a WinSCP library

Yes, it is.
https://winscp.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=85890#85890

Thanks,
Ben

No, they're are not open, I meant the following, perhaps we only have permission to download the files, not to read them on the server...

I confirmed we do have read/write permission.

Now my question, why are we getting this permission error?

Thanks,
Ben

Hi Eddie,

Actually at the moment I cant even get to that point.

This is the full code

Public Sub Download(ByRef mySession As Session)
'Public Sub Download()
    ' Setup session options
    Dim mySessionOptions As New SessionOptions
    With mySessionOptions
        .Protocol = Protocol_Sftp
        .hostname = "sftp.MySite.com"
        .username = "MyUserName"
        .password = "MyPWD"
        .SshHostKeyFingerprint = "ssh-rsa 2048 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
        
        
    End With
    
    ' Connect
    mySession.Open mySessionOptions
    
    ' Upload files
    Dim myTransferOptions As New TransferOptions
    myTransferOptions.TransferMode = TransferMode_Binary
    'myTransferOptions.ResumeSupport = TransferResumeSupportState.TransferResumeSupportState_Off
    '''myTransferOptions.ResumeSupport.State = TransferResumeSupportState_Off
     
    Dim transferResult As SynchronizationResult
    'Set transferResult = _
        mySession.GetFiles("/Outbox/*PatChanges*", "H:\FTP\", False, myTransferOptions)
' include *PatChanges* and *SchChanges* but exclude *Full*
myTransferOptions.FileMask = "*PatChanges*;*SchChanges*|*Full*"
'Set transferResult = mySession.GetFiles("/Outbox/*", "H:\FTP\", False, myTransferOptions)
Set transferResult = _
    mySession.SynchronizeDirectories(SynchronizationMode.SynchronizationMode_Local, "H:\FTP\test2\", "/Outbox/", False, False, , myTransferOptions)
    'Set mySynchronizationResult = mySession.SynchronizeDirectories(SynchronizationMode.SynchronizationMode_Remote, sLocalPath, sRemotePath, False)
    ' Throw on any error
    transferResult.check
    
     
    ' Display results,
    Dim transfer As TransferEventArgs
    Dim i As Long
    For Each transfer In transferResult.downloads
        Debug.Print "Download of " & transfer.FileName & " succeeded"
        i = i + 1
    Next
    Debug.Print i
End Sub

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I'm calling this in a loop and it exists on the following line

 mySession.Open mySessionOptions

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Any idea?

Thanks,
Ben

Having no clue about WinSCP, I've found https://winscp.net/eng/docs/library as documentation about the .NET library.
Sadly, the Session.Open method does not return any result, but throws exceptions instead, according to https://winscp.net/eng/docs/library_session_open. VBA cannot handle that, so probably the error causing your new issue gets dismissed.
The documented reasons causing exceptions are

• Session is already opened.
• Invalid combination of values of SessionOptions properties.
• Error communicating with winscp.com.
• Connection or authentication has failed.
• Timeout waiting for winscp.com to respond.

Assuming you did not change any of the session options, the first and second cause can be ignored. Maybe your SSH key is expired, your login locked or similar? Or there is an issue with the winscp executable.

If you would dare to use PowerShell for testing (shouldn't be difficult), you should get a reasonable exception response from Open. Or you try to log in using the WinSCP UI.

Hi Qlemo,

Actually I'm debating if to use the Powershell script you helped me finalize (below) or use this VBA function.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29112971/Script-causing-an-error-after-running-for-long-time.html?anchorAnswerId=42661446#a42661446
From one side I would prefer using the VBA as I'm familiar with the language, however from the other side, the VBA is so far causing me too much problems...

What would you suggest?

Thanks,
Ben

Ben, how about downloading Visual Studio Express for VB.net and testing it in there, then, at least, you'll know what is causing the exception.

You know both worlds now, and see it is easy to switch between PowerShell and VBA without much chamge of WinSCP related code. My approach would probably be to write the file transfer in PS, and call that from VBA. That of course only works well if there is little interaction required between both parts.

PowerShell is the "better" language because it allows much better testing, diagnostics, integration of DLLs, error checking, ... But that does not help much if you are uncomfortable with using it ;-). You should try as statedy with a call to a PS script, and then compare. Doesn't require much of effort, and you'll see whether you get along with that stategy.

Hi,

how about downloading Visual Studio Express for VB.net and testing it in there

didn't start with dotnet yet-:(, Is this a copy/paste matter or I need to modify the code?

My approach would probably be to write the file transfer in PS, and call that from VBA.

So whats wrong if I go with the PS script alone and leave it running forever, do you anticipate any problems with that approach?

Thanks,
Ben

No issues with that, I just expected this is part of a bigger (VBA) project.

expected this is part of a bigger (VBA) project.

Actually it is, and I will run some code in VBA for constantly checking if that folder does have new files and process them, however no direct interaction between those two...

Thanks,
Ben

Thank you my experts!