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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-17T20:38:59+00:00

I’m working with PowerShell, running a script (from my console) that includes this line:

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I’m working with PowerShell, running a script (from my console) that includes this line: 

$inpath = "C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar"

and I keep getting this error:

Get-Content : Access to the path 'C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar' is denied.
At C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\testscript.ps1:53 char:12
+ Get-Content <<<<  $txtfile | Get-WordCount -Exclude (Get-Content c:\temp\exclude.txt) | select -First 15
    + CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar:String) [Get-Content], UnauthorizedAcc
   essException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetContentReaderUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetContentCommand

The scripts and target files are all located on my local drive. I can access the files in Explorer, view/edit/save them using NotePad, and do not have any permissions restrictions set. When I’m on the command line, I can run the get-content cmdlet successfully on files in my path. I can change directories PS C:> cd C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar and successfully list what’s there. Even more interesting, I can duplicate the line that’s erroring in the script, and NOT receive an error on the command line.

PS C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo> $inpath = "C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar"
PS C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo>

This makes me suspect that the ‘Permission Denied’ error is actually something else, or something vague enough that I’ve got no clue how to proceed with troubleshooting. Is it possible for PS to have different permissions than the user under which it’s running? Has anyone seen this behavior before, and how did you solve the problem? I’m sure there’s a simple solution that I don’t know.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team
    Get-Content : Access to the path 'C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\bar' is denied.
At C:\users\xxxxx\path\foo\testscript.ps1:53 char:12

    That path doesn’t look like it is a file but a folder.

    Are you sure you are appending the file name to the folder and passing that to Get-Content?

    Windows gives Access Denied when you try and open a directory as if it were a file without passing extra flags; and .NET does not pass those flags (there are a few specific circumstances for opening a folder, but they do not apply here).

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