how to restrict a folder or file from copying with any vb.net/ c# program

Question

2.71/5 (4 votes)

See more:

Hi to everyone!

I want to create a little software which can prevent data from been copy, cut or delete.

here is my question
1. Is possible to restrict to prevent data been copy, cut , move or delete

2. If possible then how.

Thanks

Posted 25-Mar-13 11:30am

Abdullah Mughal

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Dave Kreskowiak · Answer 1 · 2013-03-25T12:52:00

Solution 1

No, it's not possible.

Ask the many BILLIONS of dollars that companies have spent over the years on this very problem, only to fail miserably every single time. Copy protection is a pipe dream.

Posted 25-Mar-13 12:52pm

Dave Kreskowiak

Comments

Valery Possoz 25-Mar-13 19:15pm

5 :) I read once a quote from Bruce Schneier on that subject: "Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet."

Abdullah Mughal 3-Apr-13 13:28pm

Sir here is a software that can do such operations.
M File Anti-Copy

http://mini-products.net/2012/08/m-file-anti-copy/
how they are implementing such operations.

Dave Kreskowiak 3-Apr-13 18:55pm

Funny! Yes, I know how it's done. No, it's not fool-proof.

It's still defeatable. Do you know Windows Internals?? Do you know how to write device drivers?? Do you know how to do kernel debugging?? Do you know exactly how NTFS works and how to extend it??

If not, you've got about 3+ years worth of studying and experimentation to do before you can write that app.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Mar-13 19:27pm

It would be safer to say that it makes no sense. Of course it's possible to make some files not readable, but how to use them? So, apparently, they should be readable under certain conditions? What conditions? That's a question; and the answer can easily defeat the purpose of "protection".
—SA

Hari Om Prakash Sharma 26-Mar-13 0:18am

Its very difficult to prevent a folder or a file. But there are some tricks through which you can but still they are not full proof! You can try Explorer hooking techniques to hook onto CopyHandler, DragDropHandler, etc.

Dave Kreskowiak 26-Mar-13 0:40am

Yeah and that does nothing again an XCOPY command from a CMD prompt, or any other tool like RoboCopy.

Hari Om Prakash Sharma 26-Mar-13 5:48am

Yes! You are right Dave. But some third-party software they do full protection over folders by hiding them and showing in their own explorer

Dave Kreskowiak 26-Mar-13 7:41am

Yeah, those a Explorer extensions that basically wrap your files in a .ZIP file and show it as a "secured" folder in Explorer. First, those are not that secure as you can still delete/copy/move the .ZIP file and, second, that's a solution that's a bit extreme for protecting a data file.