java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException while using Files.move()

Question

I'm doing a java.nio.file.Files.move(path, path.resolveSibling("newfilename")) to rename a directory on windows 7.

But I'm getting the following exception:

java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException: oldfilename -> newfilename
    at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.translateToIOException(WindowsException.java:83)
    at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:97)
    at sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileCopy.move(WindowsFileCopy.java:387)
    at sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileSystemProvider.move(WindowsFileSystemProvider.java:287)
    at java.nio.file.Files.move(Files.java:1345)

What is causing this? I'm using Java 7.
The target path does not exist before the invocation of Files.move().

UPDATE

From javadoc:

When moving a directory requires that its entries be moved then this method fails
(by throwing an IOException).

My directory is non-empty and contains regular files, so maybe that is the reason that it cannot be used here? I'm having problems understanding the "requires that its entries be moved" wording. When is this the case?

I had to replace ownership of all folders involved (even though explorer had no problem moving the files). Old 'owner' was some long SID starting with S-1-5-21-. It's weird that when the local user has permission, a java application started by that user does not. — Mark Jeronimus, Aug 11 '15 at 17:28
This is what helped me: http://stackoverflow.com/a/28673369/1317559 — Yster, Sep 23 '16 at 23:14

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 10 '15 at 12:56

9

I had this problem when the target directory was open in Windows Explorer. Closing Windows Explorer made it work.

answered Nov 10 '15 at 12:56

dannyxyz22

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This did the trick for me even without the target folder being open but other folders. Quite odd. – BullyWiiPlaza Mar 04 '18 at 21:00
Thanks! I was stuck at it for so long :D. – samarendra chandan bindu Dash Mar 12 '21 at 10:06

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 10 '14 at 12:44

2

Since it's Windows, it could be that the target path exists and is in use by another process..

answered Apr 10 '14 at 12:44

Tassos Bassoukos

15,613
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The target path does not exist. – MRalwasser Apr 10 '14 at 12:46

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 21 '16 at 20:32

2

Ok, so I've been trying to fix same exception myself and even though this question is 2 years old I'll post it for someone else might find it usefull.

I found my file is marked "read only", after unchecking everything worked fine.

answered Sep 21 '16 at 20:32

Nightwhistle

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 17 '17 at 11:48

I found the answer. In my case this is because the directory is opened in Windows Explorer.

In some case Windows try to load a preview, put a flag on the file which prevent to delete it.

I am talking about this icon:

You can unselect the icon or simply close Windows Explorer and the problem is solved.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 12 '14 at 18:32

My directory is non-empty and contains regular files, so maybe that is the reason that it cannot be used here? I'm having problems understanding the "requires that its entries be moved" wording. When is this the case?

When the directory is moved to an other location of the same hard drive (and same partition) the files do not have to be moved. What the Files.move() method does is to basically rename the directory and leaves the files untouched.

By the way you might get this exception because a file in this directory is currently read by your own or an other application.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 24 '17 at 09:03

0

Well in my case, the destination folder was already present so I deleted it first and then moved the source folder.

answered Oct 24 '17 at 09:03

P3A

141
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java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException while using Files.move()

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