stride3d/stride · error · InvalidOperationException

Directory already exists.

Error message

Directory {path} already exists.

What it means

The TemporaryDirectory constructor throws InvalidOperationException if the target directory already exists, to avoid clobbering or mixing files into a pre-existing directory. It creates the directory only when the path is free.

Solutions

1. Delete the pre-existing directory before constructing
2. Use Path.GetTempFileName()/Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), Path.GetRandomFileName()) to get a unique path
3. Add a unique suffix (timestamp/GUID) to the directory name
4. Add cleanup in a finally/dispose so stale dirs do not persist

Example fix

// before
var tmp = new TemporaryDirectory("C:\\Temp\\work"); // throws if it exists
// after
var path = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "work-" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N"));
var tmp = new TemporaryDirectory(path);

if (Directory.Exists(path)) Directory.Delete(path, recursive: true);
var tmp = new TemporaryDirectory(path);

try { var tmp = new TemporaryDirectory(path); } catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("already exists")) { Directory.Delete(path, true); tmp = new TemporaryDirectory(path); }

When it happens

Trigger: new TemporaryDirectory(path) where Directory.Exists(path) is true at construction time.

Common situations: Re-running a process without cleaning up the previous temporary directory, hardcoded temp paths shared by two instances, or stale directories left by a crashed run.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• Unable to create directory
• A file path cannot end with with directory char '\' or '/'…
• Base path must be absolute, got
• Base path must be non-empty (use null for passthrough).
• Build manifest [ ] must exist

AI-assisted analysis of stride3d/stride@96fad776d2 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5ea8d14feb7b2782. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sources/core/Stride.Core.IO/TemporaryDirectory.cs:21

#if STRIDE_PLATFORM_DESKTOP
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace Stride.Core.IO;

public class TemporaryDirectory : IDisposable
{
    public TemporaryDirectory()
        : this(Guid.NewGuid().ToString()[..8])
    {
    }

    public TemporaryDirectory(string path)
    {
        DirectoryPath = Path.GetFullPath(path);

        if (Directory.Exists(DirectoryPath))
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException($"Directory {path} already exists.");
        }

        Directory.CreateDirectory(this.DirectoryPath);
    }

    public string DirectoryPath { get; }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        DeleteDirectory(DirectoryPath);
        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
    }

    public static void DeleteDirectory(string directoryPath)
    {
        // From http://stackoverflow.com/questions/329355/cannot-delete-directory-with-directory-deletepath-true/329502#329502

        if (!Directory.Exists(directoryPath))

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