I have an application that loads some files from a network share (the input folder), extracts certain data from them and saves new files (zips them with SharpZLib) on a different network share (output folder). This application runs fine when you open it directly, but when it is set to a scheduled task, it fails in numerous places.

This application is scheduled on a Win 2003 server.

Let me say right off the bat, the scheduled task is set to use the same login account that I am currently logged in with, so it's not because it's using the LocalSystem account. Something else is going on here.

Originally, the application was assigning a drive letter to the input folder using WNetGetConnectionA(). I don't remember why this was done, someone else on our team did that and she's gone now. I think there was some issue with using the WinZip command line with a UNC path. I switched from the WinZip command line utility to using SharpZLib because there were other issues with using the WinZip command line. Anyway, the application failed when trying to assign a drive letter with the error "connection already established." That wasn't true and even after trying WNetCancelConnection(), it still didn't work.

Then I decided to just map the drive manually on the server. Then when the app calls Directory.Exists(inputFolderPath) it returns false, even though it does exist. So, for whatever reason, I cannot read this directory from within the application. I can manually navigate to this folder in Windows Explorer and open files. The app log file shows that the user executing it on the schedule is the user I expect, not LocalSystem.

Any ideas?