Does MAX_PATH issue still exists in Windows 10

path limit long-filenames windows-10
dkeck picture dkeck · Dec 28, 2014 · Viewed 60.8k times · Source

Can someone please tell us/me if the MAX_PATH issue still exists in (the technical preview of) Windows 10. And if it exists: How many characters can a path and an individual file name have?

Answer

magicandre1981 picture magicandre1981 · Dec 29, 2014

The issue will be always present in Windows, to keep compatibility with old software. Use the NT-style name syntax "\\?\D:\very long path" to workaround this issue.

In Windows 10 (Version 1607 - Anniversary Update) and Windows Server 2016 you seem to have an option to ignore the MAX_PATH issue by overriding a group policy entry enable NTFS long paths under Computer Configuration -> Admin Templates -> System -> FileSystem:

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The applications must have an entry longPathAware similar to DPIAware in the application manifest.

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3" >
  <asmv3:application>
    <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2016/WindowsSettings">
      <longPathAware>true</longPathAware>
    </asmv3:windowsSettings>
  </asmv3:application>
</assembly>

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