Thread: CreateFile Error 2 - Simple Problem, Can't Figure it out

Hello all,

So I haven't programmed in a long time now and I'm working through a Windows System Programming book and for some reason I can't figure out why this simple file copy program keeps giving me Error 2 (Can't find file) when the file is clearly right there. I tried searching but couldn't find someone with the same issue.

Below is the code and a screenshot of the Command Prompt.

Thanks!

Code:

#include <Windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define BUF_SIZE	256

int main(int argc, LPTSTR argv[])
{
	HANDLE hIn, hOut;
	DWORD nIn, nOut;
	CHAR buffer[BUF_SIZE];

	if(argc != 3)
	{
		printf("Usage: WinFileCopy file1 file2\n");
		return 1;
	}

	printf("Filename: %s\n", argv[1]);

	hIn = CreateFile(argv[1], GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
	if(hIn == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
	{
		printf("Cannot open input file. Error: %x\n", GetLastError());
		return 2;
	}

	hOut = CreateFile(argv[2], GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
	if(hOut == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
	{
		printf("Cannot open output file.  Error: %x\n", GetLastError());
		return 3;
	}

	while(ReadFile(hIn, buffer, BUF_SIZE, &nIn, NULL) && nIn > 0)
	{
		WriteFile(hOut, buffer, nIn, &nOut, NULL);
		if(nIn != nOut)
		{
			printf("Fatal write error: %x\n", GetLastError());
			return 4;
		}
	}

	CloseHandle(hIn);
	CloseHandle(hOut);
	
	return 0;
}

Also, I tried the relative path (in above screen shot), absolute path, running as admin, etc.

Not usre but since no comments so far....lets start at the begining...

Also note %x is for HEX values, GetLastError() is decimal so should be %d.

If you put the Test.txt file in the same folder as the inFileCopy.exe (be careful if running in the debugger as it may be the 'project' folder not the 'project\Debug' folder).

Run the exe with;

infilecopy .\\Test.txt .\\Test2.txt

What happens?

NOTE:
.\ means 'look in the working or current folder'

Windows uses '\' as a special character (ie \n is new line) so you need 2 slashes to get one in the output (ie \\ becomes \)

Originally Posted by RotateRight

I would check your project options.

If you insist on using Unicode, look up
the use of wmain function.

Not a very helpful first post...

Why do you think he is using UNICODE?

I do not see a define for it before the Windows.h include.