PowerShell - Get-ChildItem does not exclude directory - powershell

Question

When recursively searching through a specific directory, Get-ChildItem will search starting at the root. I do not want to search through the C:\Windows directory. I want to restrict the search to the C:\Docs directory.
Here is what I am running:
PS> Get-ChildItem -path “C:\docs” -Filter "*crypt*" -recurse -ErrorAction Stop
Get-ChildItem : Access to the path 'C:\Windows\CSC' is denied.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-ChildItem -path “C:\docs” -Filter "*crypt*" -recurse -ErrorAction ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (C:\Windows\CSC:String) [Get-ChildItem], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
PS> Get-ChildItem -path “C:\docs” -Filter "*crypt*" -exclude "C:\windows" -recurse -ErrorAction Stop
Get-ChildItem : Access to the path 'C:\Windows\CSC' is denied.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-ChildItem -path “C:\docs” -Filter "*crypt*" -exclude "C:\windows" ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (C:\Windows\CSC:String) [Get-ChildItem], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
EDIT: TL;DR: User error. I do not have the C:\Docs directory.
I am editing this script, which is running on several servers. I am testing it on my laptop. I still don't understand why it would look through the rest of the file system, once it could not find the starting path.

Answer 1

It looks like (I haven't searched enough) this may be a bug in Get-ChildItem; if you pass a non-existent path to the -path parameter, it searches from the root of that drive (at least for local drives).
Before calling Get-ChildItem, test for the existence of the path and you can avoid this.
$mypath = "c:\docs";
if (test-path -path $mypath) {
Get-childitem –path $mypath –filter “*crypt*" -recurse -ErrorAction stop;
} else {
Write-Warning "$mypath not found";
}