Question

I have a program which utilizes a 3rd party tool to create a log text file.

However the tool requires the restore point directory of windows XP. The directory that stores the Restore points is the “C:\System Volume Information_restore{GUID}”.

The _restore{GUID} folder would contain all the restore points. However the {GUID} are totally random numbers and are different for each computers. The “C:\System Volume Information” directory would only usually contain 1 folder which is the “_random{GUID}” folder.

Therefore is there a way for the C# program to use any codes or methods to automatically fill in the command arguments for the tool?

May someone please advise on the codes? Thanks!

The codes:

        Process process = new Process();
        process.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\test\ftk\ripxp\ripxp.exe";
        // How to automatically navigate to the {GUID} folder?
        process.StartInfo.Arguments = @"-r C:\test\ftk\ntuser.dat -d C:\System Volume Information\_restore{GUID} -p runmru";
        process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
        process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
        process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
        process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
        process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
        process.Start();

The 3rd party tool (2008 H. Carvey) Arguments:

C:\>ripxp -r d:\cases\ntuser.dat -d d:\cases\svi -p userassist

Answer 1

Why not query that folder location and loop through the list of directories to find the folder that starts with “_restore” and then plug that into your argument?

DirectoryInfo directoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\System Volume Information\");
DirectoryInfo restoreFolder = directoryInfo.GetDirectories().FirstOrDefault(d => 
    d.Name.StartsWith("_restore"));

if (restoreFolder == null)
    throw new DirectoryNotFoundException();

Then you should be able to plug that folder value into your argument

process.StartInfo.Arguments = string.Format(
    @"-r C:\test\ftk\ntuser.dat -d C:\System Volume Information\{0} -p runmru", 
    restoreFolder.Name);