title: Powershell Copy-Item fails on User\Documents with Access Denied
body: <p>I have a simple backup script to copy the Documents folder to an external hard drive:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Copy-Item C:\Users\Username\Documents G:\Backup -Recurse -Force
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, when I run the command, Windows 8 is raising an UnauthorizedAccessException for the folders <code>'...\Documents\My Music'</code>, <code>'...\Documents\My Pictures'</code>, and <code>'...\Documents\My Videos'</code>. However, these folders are just symbolic links, which I assume is what is causing the error. How can I avoid copying symbolic links?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Edit:</strong> Even using a hard-coded Exclude list does not work. Full script is below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$backupFolder = (get-date -uformat %Y%m%d)
  $lines = Get-Content backup.cfg
  
  $DirLinks = "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Videos", "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Music","C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Pictures"
  $basePath = $lines[0] + $backupFolder + "\"
  for ($i = 1; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++)
  {
      $lines[$i]
      Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -Force -Exclude $DirLinks
  }
  
  "Done!"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I still get the following errors:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Music' is denied.
  At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5
  +     Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ...
  + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Music:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand
  
  Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Pictures' is denied.
  At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5
  +     Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ...
  + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Pictures:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand
  
  Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Videos' is denied.
  At C:\Users\Me\Desktop\backup app\backup.ps1:20 char:5
  +     Copy-Item $lines[$i] ($basePath + ($lines[$i].Replace(":", ""))) -Recurse -F ...
  + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Videos:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand
  </code></pre>