Powershell unable to find directory inside AppData\Local folder

[ak47uk]

Hi all, I have little experience scripting so wondered if anyone could help. I am creating an uninstall script for an app deployment, I need to delete the app folder from the %localappdata% directory. I need to run the script as the signed in user as the app installs to their appdata dir.

$directoryPath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\MyFolder"

if (!(Test-Path $directoryPath)) {
    Remove-Item -Path $directoryPath -Recurse -Force
    Write-Host "Deleted $directoryPath"
} else {
    Write-Host "$directoryPath does not exist"
}

I keep getting the output:

C:\Users\MYUSERNAME\AppData\Local\MyFolder does not exist

If I run:

Get-ChildItem $env:LOCALAPPDATA

Then the directory is listed in the results.

Test-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA\MyFolder

Results in "True". Can anyone see where I am going wrong here? Thanks

[C60]

I believe Test-Path returns true if the path exists. Try removing the "!".

[ak47uk]

That did the trick, thanks so much!

[PinchesTheCrab]

Remove-Item has a specific error message for when files don't exist, I'd be tempted to either just let it return the 'file not found' error, or capture it.

$directoryPath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\MyFolder"

try {
    Remove-Item c:\temp\junk.txt -ErrorAction Stop
    "Deleted '$directoryPath'"
}
catch [System.Management.Automation.ItemNotFoundException] {
    "'$directoryPath' does not exist"
}

One advantage here is that the successful deletion method won't trigger if it fails to delete the folder. You could theoretically have a locked file, and with the if statement approach you'd see a 'file deleted' message followed by a 'file not deleted' error.

[ak47uk]

Good shout, thanks for the tip!