[c#] Exception: "URI formats are not supported"

I have an absolute local path pointing to a dir: "file:\\C:\\Users\\john\\documents\\visual studio 2010\\Projects\\proj"

But when I try to throw it into DirectoryInfo's ctor I get the "URI formats are not supported" exception.

I googled and looked on SO, but I only see solutions with remote paths, not local ones. I'd expect a conversion method of some sort...

     string ImagePath = "";

        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(ImagePath);
        string a = "";
        try
        {
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse(); 
            Stream receiveStream = response.GetResponseStream();
            if (receiveStream.CanRead)
            { a = "OK"; }
        }

        catch { }

I solved the same error with the Path.Combine(MapPath()) to get the physical file path instead of the http:/// www one.

Try This

ImagePath = "http://localhost/profilepics/abc.png";
   HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(ImagePath);
          HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
            Stream receiveStream = response.GetResponseStream();