PowerShell's parameter binder uses the conversion that 3.1 fixed for
every -SecurityDescriptor parameter, so a descriptor that Get-Acl
returns, never meant for these cmdlets, now binds where it used to be
a binding error. Two more consequences of that surfaced:
With the default module setting GetInheritedFrom ($true), Get-NTFSAccess,
Get-NTFSAudit, Get-NTFSOrphanedAccess, and Get-NTFSOrphanedAudit stopped
with the InvalidOperationException that a previous fix added for a
descriptor without an item; a cmdlet user has no parameter to avoid it.
GetFileSystemAccessRules and GetFileSystemAuditRules now treat
getInheritedFrom as false for such a descriptor instead of throwing: the
entries come back with no source, the same as an entry whose source
Windows cannot name.
The private constructor that wraps a descriptor directly marked every
section, including Audit, as read; Get-Acl never reads Audit unless
-Audit is given. This made HasAuditSection wrongly report true, so the
existing #109 check let Get-NTFSAudit go on with no audit data instead
of reporting that the descriptor has none, and let Get-NTFSInheritance
report AuditInheritanceEnabled as a real value instead of null
(unknown). The constructor now includes Audit in the sections only when
the descriptor's binary form actually carries a SACL, the same test
HasSystemAcl already uses.
Get-NTFSOwner, Get-NTFSSimpleAccess, Get-NTFSOrphanedAccess,
Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess, and Add-/Remove-NTFSAccess with such a
descriptor already worked; Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor already reported
a clear, non-terminating error. A review finding on the earlier fix is
also addressed: two assertions read a property through reflection
instead of a plain PowerShell property access, which silently turns a
throwing getter into $null without a trace and so could not tell a
getter that throws from one that legitimately returns null.
Every existing behavior for an item that is not null is unchanged.
Public signatures are unchanged.
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Converting a FileSecurity or DirectorySecurity object to
FileSystemSecurity2 (for example `[Security2.FileSystemSecurity2]
$fileSecurity`) always threw, because the conversion ignored the
descriptor it was given and built the result from an empty path, which
AlphaFS rejects. The conversion now wraps the descriptor that was
passed: SecurityDescriptor is that same instance, IsFile reflects
whether it came from a FileSecurity or a DirectorySecurity, the round
trip back to FileSecurity/DirectorySecurity returns the same instance,
and Equals/GetHashCode keep comparing descriptors by reference.
The resulting object has no item, since it was never read from a file
or folder: FullName and Name are now null instead of throwing a
NullReferenceException, and Write() throws a clear
InvalidOperationException instead of a NullReferenceException deep in
SetSecurity. A caller can still write such an object by setting its
Item property first, or by calling Write(FileSystemInfo) or
Write(string) directly, neither of which depends on an item being set.
No cmdlet reaches this conversion; only a .NET caller of Security2.dll
that converts a FileSecurity/DirectorySecurity it built itself is
affected. Public signatures are unchanged.
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The module's own tests ran on Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025 and on
Windows 11 in the operating-system matrix. Two tests failed on every
domain-joined machine and passed on the development host:
- Get-NTFSInheritance -SecurityDescriptor reported AuditInheritanceEnabled
as $false for an item without audit entries, where -Path reported $true.
On these computers Windows reports the SACL as protected from
inheritance when it reads all sections together, and as not protected
when it reads the SACL alone. The descriptor now takes the audit section
from a separate read, like it already did for the access section. Write()
stores the sections that were read, so a descriptor with the wrong flag
would also have written the SACL back as protected.
- Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess -ServerName '' wrote an "Access is denied"
error on computers where Windows takes an empty name for this computer.
An empty name no longer asks the remote interface of the authorization
manager; the cmdlet warns and returns the result of this computer, like
for any name that can't be reached.
The existing tests that found them stay as the regression guards: they were
red on three virtual machines (Windows Server 2022 and 2025, Windows 11)
and are green after the change. Three tests are new: the audit state of a
file and a folder without audit entries, and of a file and a folder with
disabled audit inheritance, by path and by descriptor.
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- The conversions of a FileSystemSecurity2 to FileSecurity and
DirectorySecurity returned fields that were never set, so they gave
null; they return the descriptor, and the dead fields are gone
(finding 1).
- Equals of the entries and descriptors accepted the .NET type as well,
which doesn't know the wrapper, so equality depended on the direction;
only an object of the module can now be equal (finding 2).
- Invoke-TestsAsBasicUser.ps1 refuses a title with a line break, also a
final one, which $ let through (finding 6).
- The InheritedFrom test of the access entries checks a known parent
folder with two explicit entries in front; it fails on acfe3af
(finding 7).
Checked and kept: a callback ACE before the inherited entries doesn't
shift InheritedFrom, because .NET returns it as a rule (finding 3).
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Equals of FileSystemAccessRule2, FileSystemAuditRule2, and
FileSystemSecurity2 cast its argument to the .NET type, which throws for
the wrapper types themselves: -eq and -contains, and in PowerShell 7 also
Select-Object -Unique and Compare-Object, stopped with an
InvalidCastException. GetHashCode of FileSystemSecurity2 read a field
that is never set and threw a NullReferenceException. Two objects are now
equal when they hold the same entry or descriptor, like the .NET types.
InheritedFrom: Win32.GetInheritedFrom returned the sources of the SACL
whenever the descriptor had one, also for the access entries, and the
callers gave the filtered entries of -ExcludeExplicit the sources of the
first entries of the ACL. Get-NTFSAccess -SecurityDescriptor stopped with
an ArgumentOutOfRangeException for a descriptor with audit entries, as
Get-NTFSSecurityDescriptor reads them in an elevated session. The method
now takes the ACL of the entries, and the callers map the sources before
they filter.
The coverage report of rc6 pointed at both; each test fails without its
fix.
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- Read the root folder for a volume name such as \\?\Volume{GUID}\ too,
like for a drive letter, and accept only the letters A to Z as a drive
- Report a security descriptor without the audit entries without naming a
missing Security privilege as the cause, which may not be the reason
- Skip the audit tests that change a descriptor from
Get-NTFSSecurityDescriptor in a session without the Security privilege
- Assert the absence of the old hint in the Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess test
- Narrow the drive-root note of Get-NTFSAccess to the security cmdlets
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- #41: for the root of a drive, the cmdlets read and changed the security
descriptor of the drive, a device object. FileSystemSecurity2 now routes
drive roots through the path-based AlphaFS methods, which keep the
trailing backslash; the removal and inheritance helpers use it too.
- #109: Add-, Remove-, and Clear-NTFSAudit report a security descriptor
without the audit entries like Get-NTFSAudit, through one helper, and
Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess names the cause that Windows reported instead
of a missing Security privilege.
- #108: Copy-Item2 and Move-Item2 check the destination only for an
operation that runs; with -WhatIf, a verbose message names the conflict.
- #111: Disable-Privileges skips the privileges that the token doesn't
hold, the privilege messages are spelled right, and Get-FileHash2
declares the type name of its objects; 05-Releasing.md documents the
release metadata tests.
- rc3 review leftovers: Remove-NTFSAudit writes nothing for an item
without a SACL, the owner retry of Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor restores
the previous owner in a finally block and keeps an owner that the
descriptor sets, and FileSystemSecurity2.Write with another item writes
only the sections that were read.
Each fix has a test that failed first, in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and
PowerShell 7; writing a drive root was checked once on a temporary VHD.
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The access and audit cmdlets wrote the owner of an item back with the
entries they changed. For a DACL without the auto-inherit flag, Windows
returns the owner and the group even when only the DACL is read, and the
cmdlets wrote every section that the descriptor held. Without the Restore
privilege, or on a file server that refuses the owner, the write failed
with error 1307 (#34).
- Add-NTFSAccess, Clear-NTFSAccess, Add-NTFSAudit, and Clear-NTFSAudit
read only the DACL or the SACL. FileSystemSecurity2.Write(),
Remove-NTFSAccess, and Remove-NTFSAudit write only the sections they
read, which also fixes the access inheritance cmdlets.
- Read together with the SACL, the inherited entries of such a DACL lose
their inherited flag when the parent folder has no SACL, and the
cmdlets stored them as explicit copies. Get-NTFSSecurityDescriptor now
reads the DACL in a separate call.
- Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor writes only the sections that changed since
they were read; an unchanged descriptor writes nothing (maintainer
decision of 2026-10-06).
- Clear-NTFSAudit writes nothing for an item without a SACL, and reports
an error without the Security privilege (maintainer decision).
The regression tests failed before and pass after the fix in Windows
PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7, elevated and as a basic user.
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Defect 4, both parts:
- Get-NTFSAudit kept the entries of the previous item and wrote them in a
finally block, so a path whose security descriptor failed to read
returned the previous item's entries again. Each item now starts empty,
and entries are written only after a successful read.
- Without the Security privilege, the cmdlet read the descriptor without
its SACL and returned nothing, like an item without audit entries. It
now reads the SACL alone, so a missing privilege is a ReadSecurityError
("A required privilege is not held by the client"). A descriptor from
Get-NTFSSecurityDescriptor that was read without the SACL gets the same
error; FileSystemSecurity2 now records which sections it read
(internal, visible to NTFSSecurity).
Tests/Audit.Tests.ps1 (new): 3 tests. The repeat test needs the Security
privilege to add an audit entry and runs in CI.
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Raimund Andree
Raimund Andée