Get-Childitem directory wildcard "Access is denied" - powershell

Question

I have a script where I recursively delete some bunch of files within certain directory. The problem is in specification of that directory.
When I try to specify it explicitly (i.e. to clear only user1 dir) it works fine:
$temp = "C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Temp\"
Get-ChildItem $temp -Recurse -Force -Verbose -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | remove-item -force -Verbose -recurse -ErrorVariable FailedItems -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
However when I specify it with wildcard (i.e. to affect all users on this PC)
$temp = "C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Temp\*"
Get-ChildItem $temp -Recurse -Force -Verbose -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | remove-item -force -Verbose -recurse -ErrorVariable FailedItems -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
It fails with the error
Get-ChildItem : Access is denied
At line:7 char:1
+ Get-ChildItem $localTempDir -Recurse -Force -Verbose -ErrorAction Sil ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ChildItem], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.UnauthorizedAccessException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
How that could be?
It is definitely not the permissions issue, 'cause it's the same dir.
And yes, I run script with an elevated privileges.
Other dirs specified in such format, e.g.
C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches
C:\Windows\Temp\*
are purged like a charm.

Answer 1

Maybe you could use something along these lines, if you want to rule out a list of profiles, and process a list of subfolders:
$targets = "AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches",
"AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files"
$special = #("Default", "Public")
$profiles = Get-ChildItem "C:\Users" -Directory |
Where-Object Name -NotIn $special |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
$profiles | ForEach-Object {
foreach($target in $targets) {
$path = Join-Path $_ $target
#delete/empty $path
}
}
NB: syntax is PS3.0+