delete failure because file name is too long

P

Patrick McGovern

Hi,

i'm trying to delete an entire directory tree but i cannot because either a
file or directory name is too long. i cannot see the file because explorer
and cmd won't show it.

any help would be greatly appreciated

regards,
Pat McGovern
 
W

Wesley Vogel

Path Too Long

To work around this problem, reduce the length of the path to less than 256
characters.

In Windows Explorer, select the folder one level above the folder that
returns the error. Right-click the folder returning the error and then click
Rename. Rename the folder to reduce the number of characters used in the
folder name.

Rename the folder so that the target files that are deeper than the MAX_PATH
no longer exist. If you do this, start at the root folder (or any other
convenient place), and then rename folders so that they have shorter names.

Rename subfolders in the path to a file so that the total path or file name
is less than the max_path setting or 256 characters. Start with subfolders
that are closer to the root so that you are always working with less than
256 characters.

Files exist in paths that are deeper than MAX_PATH characters
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320081#XSLTH3159121122120121120120

You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320081

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 

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