Node.js copy file EPERM: operation not permitted

Question

I try to copy a font with nodejs v14.17.0 to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts , when try with prompt I don't have problem

copy /B "Haloha Free Trial.ttf" /V %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts\
    1 file(s) copied.

but when try with nodejs, I've this issue

[Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, copyfile 'D:\dev\test\javascript\font\Haloha Free Trial.ttf' -> 'C:\Users\omen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts'] {
  errno: -4048,
  code: 'EPERM',
  syscall: 'copyfile',
  path: 'D:\\dev\\test\\javascript\\font\\Haloha Free Trial.ttf',
  dest: 'C:\\Users\\omen\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Fonts'
}

This is my code

let options = process.argv.slice(2);
console.log(options[0]);

console.log(process.env.LOCALAPPDATA);
const locallAppdata = process.env.LOCALAPPDATA;

const fs = require('fs');

fs.copyFile( options[0], locallAppdata+'\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Fonts\\', (err) =>{
    if(err) throw err;
    console.log( argv[0] + " was copied ");
});

How to solve it ?

Evaleen

When you copy the file using prompt, did you run the prompt as administrator ? – Spermatophyte

@ĐăngKhoaĐinh I use Hyper as prompt but with current user (no administrator ) – Evaleen

Answer 1

In according with official documentation fs.copyFile

• src <string> | <Buffer> | <URL> source filename to copy
• dest <string> | <Buffer> | <URL> destination filename of the copy operation

In dest is required destination filename and not only destination directory.

fs.copyFile(src, dest[, mode], callback)

In this case dest = 'locallAppdata+'\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Fonts\\' + options[0]

let dest = locallAppdata+'\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Fonts\\' + options[0];
let src =  options[0];
    
 fs.copyFile( src, dest, (err) =>{
     if(err) throw err;
             console.log( options[0] + " was copied ");
 });

Evaleen

Permission error on a malformed destination path is kind of evil, especially when it's legitimate to think that the destination folder should be enough (as the file could keep it's old name). Anyways, thanks ! – Swithbert

Answer 2

This is how to recursively copy files from one directory to another

import { copyFileSync, mkdirSync, readdirSync, statSync } from 'fs';
import { join } from 'path';

const SOURCE_PATH = `libs/models/src/lib/template/sample`;
const TARGET_PATH = SOURCE_PATH.replace('sample', 'product');
const DIRS = readdirSync(SOURCE_PATH);

function isFile(target: string) {
  return statSync(target).isFile();
}

function copyFile(source: string, target: string) {
  copyFileSync(source, target);
  return;
}

function copyFiles(source: string, target: string) {
  const dirs = readdirSync(source);
  for (const d of dirs) {
    if (isFile(join(source, d))) {
      copyFile(join(source, d), join(target, d));
    } else {
      mkdirSync(join(target, d));
      copyFiles(join(source, d), join(target, d));
    }
  }
}

copyFiles(SOURCE_PATH, TARGET_PATH);

Villalba