solved: issue using youtube-dl in a CFA protected folder

[ghost]

Found & Tested on Windows 1809 Pro

In WSL; using youtube-dl to download files; fails.

youtube-dl --write-description --write-info-json --write-annotations --add-metadata --xattrs --write-sub --sub-lang en "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxdRfTf1pZc"
ERROR: Cannot write description file 'Sri Lanka vs India - Match Highlights _ ICC Cricket World Cup 2019-FxdRfTf1pZc.description'

After some seconds, a notification appears; its about Windows blocking some program from making changes. Its Controlled Folder Access blocking a program from writing to a protected folder.

To fix this without disabling CFA for that folder; go to Controlled Folder Access in Windows Security. Click on 'allow an app through controlled ...' -> Add an Allowed App -> Recently Blocked apps.

First add python, the first item on the list. Its path will end with 'rootfs\usr\bin' for the respective WSL distribution.

Then execute the same youtube-dl … command again and this time another CFA notification appears. Repeat the previous steps to add ffmpeg to allowed apps under CFA. Its path will also end with 'rootfs\usr\bin' for the same WSL distribution.

You can also skip repeating the 'youtube-dl ...' command by adding the path to ffmpeg manually after adding python. Or if you know the path of the file in the WSL distribution.
Now you should be able to download files to a folder protected by CFA. No need to disable CFA.

[ghost]

youtube-dl provided by Ubuntu1804-WSL

kept open for increasing visibility.