Why does this VBScript throw an error when trying to create a file?

Question

I have found this script and cant seem to figure out why it throws an error when trying to create the file C:\IPSecWeights.xls.

The line that I am having problems with so far is:

Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open(FileLoc)

I get an error that the file could not be found. How can I rewrite my code to fix this?

Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2
Const ForAppending = 8
Dim objFSO,objFile
Dim arrLines
Dim strLine
Dim objExcel,objWorkbook
Dim FileLoc
Dim intRow
Dim objDictionary

FileLoc = "C:\IPSecWeights.xls"

Sub ExcelHeaders()
    Set objRange = objExcel.Range("A1","G1")
    objRange.Font.Size = 12
    objRange.Interior.ColorIndex=15

    objexcel.cells(1,1)="Filter Name"
    objexcel.cells(1,2)="Source"
    objexcel.cells(1,3)="Destination"
    objexcel.cells(1,4)="Source Port"
    objexcel.cells(1,5)="Destination Port"
    objexcel.cells(1,6)="Protocol"
    objexcel.cells(1,7)="Direction"
End Sub

Function RegExFind(strText,strPattern)
    Dim regEx
    Dim match, Matches
    Dim arrMatches
    Dim i : i = 0
    Set regEx = New RegExp
    regEx.IgnoreCase = True
    regEx.Global = True
    regEx.Pattern = strPattern

    Set matches = regEx.Execute(strText)
    ReDim arrMatches(Matches.Count)
    For Each match In Matches
        For Each SubMatch In match.Submatches
            arrMatches(i) = Submatch
            i = i + 1
        Next
    Next
    RegExFind = arrMatches
End Function


Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(WScript.Arguments(0),ForReading)

Set objExcel = CreateObject("excel.application")
Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open(FileLoc)

objExcel.Visible = True

ExcelHeaders ' Create Excel Headers

rePolicy = "Policy Name\s+:\s(.+)"
reSRCAddr = "Source Address\s+:\s(.+)"
reDSTAddr = "Destination Address\s+:\s(.+)"
reProtocol = "Protocol\s+:\s(.+)"
reSRCPort = "Source Port\s+:\s(.+)"
reDSTPort = "Destination Port\s+:\s(.+)"
reDirection = "Direction\s+:\s(.+)"

strText = objFile.ReadAll
objFile.Close

Dim arrPolicy, arrSRCAddr, arrDSTAddr, arrProtocol, arrSRCPort, arrDSTPort, arrDirection

arrPolicy = RegExFind(strText, rePolicy)
arrSRCAddr = RegExFind(strText, reSRCAddr)
arrDSTAddr = RegExFind(strText, reDSTAddr)
arrProtocol = RegExFind(strText, reProtocol)
arrSRCPort = RegExFind(strText, reSRCPort)
arrDSTPort = RegExFind(strText, reDSTPort)
arrDirection = RegExFind(strText, reDirection)

intRow = 2

For i = 0 To UBound(arrPolicy)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,1) = arrPolicy(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,2) = arrSRCAddr(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,3) = arrDSTAddr(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,4) = arrSRCPort(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,5) = arrDSTPort(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,6) = arrProtocol(i)
    objExcel.Cells(introw,7) = arrDirection(i)

    intRow = intRow + 1
Next

objFile.Close
objWorkbook.save
'objExcel.Quit

Answer 1

I suspect that "File Not Found" is a somewhat misleading error message. That is to say, your actual problem is file system permissions, but VBScript is stubbornly reporting this as "File Not Found" instead of a more sensible error.

Presumably the script worked fine in earlier versions of Windows, but you're now trying it on a computer with Vista or later installed, which introduce a bunch of additional security features and write protection. User Account Control (UAC) will not let applications or scripts write to the root level of your hard disk.

This really shouldn't a problem, of course, as legitimate applications have no need to tamper with files at the root level of the hard drive or in shared system folders (like C:\Windows), but occasionally crops up during testing.

Change the file path in the script to something you're guaranteed to have read/write access to, like your "My Documents" folder. For deployment, you shouldn't be hardcoding a file system path anyway. Use the GetSpecialFolder function of the FileSystemObject to retrieve the path, instead.