On the Win64 buildbot, trying to access an UNC path raises PermissionError, which makes a test fail:

======================================================================
ERROR: test_UNC_path (test.test_import.PathsTests)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "D:\buildbot.python.org\3.x.kloth-win64\build\lib\test\test_import.py", line 469, in test_UNC_path
    os.listdir(unc)
PermissionError: [Error 5] Access is denied: '\\\\hades\\D$\\buildbot.python.org\\3.x.kloth-win64\\build\\build\\test_python_3612\\@test_3612_tmp\\*.*'


If this is expected or normal, maybe we should simply skip the test when the listdir() call above fails.

Example URL for the aforementioned failure:

http://buildbot.python.org/all/builders/AMD64%20Windows7%20SP1%203.x/builds/282/steps/test/logs/stdio

Well os.listdir doesn't fail to access a UNC path on Windows x64 in
general. So presumably this particular path is not accessible by the
buildbot process owner?

Well, this particular path is the build directory itself, so it's certainly accessible through the normal (non-UNC) path. There has to be something else :-) 

Jeremy told me his buildbot process runs as a service, perhaps that is related?

It's using an administrative share (\\server\d$) and those are usually
restricted with share permissions -- different from NTFS permissions.
That the process runs as a service is likely to have an effect since
services are conventionally run with minimum-privilege accounts.

> It's using an administrative share (\\server\d$) and those are usually
> restricted with share permissions -- different from NTFS permissions.
> That the process runs as a service is likely to have an effect since
> services are conventionally run with minimum-privilege accounts.

Ok, so I guess skipping the test in this case would be appropriate?

For this particular buildbot setup, maybe yes. But it would be possible
in principle to have a buildbot configuration which could allow the test
to execute. (eg one running under a user account which can access the
path via an admin share). Does the buildbot owner have anything to say
on the account and share permissions?

The buildbot service account is a standard user (per the buildbot
servce installation directions).  When logged on, the user can access
the share.  Just when logged on as a service is when it cannot.

After much searching, I still cannot find any information on how to
get that user to access to those shares.

My guess is that it's to do with Service Hardening. I did a quick dump
of my token in an interactive session and as the owner of a service.
Quite a few differences. I haven't read up on this area yet so I'm not
sure what options there are / how easy to get the necessary privs.

Simplest solution might be to catch PermissionError and call skipTest from within. This would allow buildbots to run the test which had access through the relevant share.

New changeset 4d480a2a6296 by Antoine Pitrou in branch '3.2':
Issue #15338: skip test_UNC_path when the current user doesn't have enough permissions to access the path.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/4d480a2a6296

New changeset 7d5e84a44b82 by Antoine Pitrou in branch 'default':
Issue #15338: skip test_UNC_path when the current user doesn't have enough permissions to access the path.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/7d5e84a44b82

New changeset 7eac87fa7a06 by Antoine Pitrou in branch '2.7':
Issue #15338: skip test_UNC_path when the current user doesn't have enough permissions to access the path.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/7eac87fa7a06