Short Folder 8:3 Name

[mail747097]

I have a folder that I would like to change the shorter 8:3 name on
while keeping the normal longer name. The shorter name can be seen
with dir /x. Is there any way to do it in DOS or is there any tool
available that can do it?

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

I have a folder that I would like to change the shorter 8:3 name on
while keeping the normal longer name. The shorter name can be seen
with dir /x. Is there any way to do it in DOS or is there any tool
available that can do it?

No way. You can change the numeric index (~1) in some cases, however,
that's it.

 

[M.I.5¾]

I have a folder that I would like to change the shorter 8:3 name on
while keeping the normal longer name. The shorter name can be seen
with dir /x. Is there any way to do it in DOS or is there any tool
available that can do it?

Windows provides support for 8.3 style filenames where the 8.3 filename in
the FAT is the same as the long filename in the VFAT. Thus if you actually
call a file 'abcdefgh.xyz', this name is used in both the 8.3 filetable
(FAT) and in the long filename table (VFAT) and it is displayed as such in
both windows and when using the Command window DIR command.

If you name something with a long filename (say) 'abcdefghijkl.xyx', then
windows stores the 8.3 version in the fat as 'abcdef~1.xyz'. It is possible
to alter the behaviour such that it gets stored as 'abcdefgh.xyz'. This
alteration is not to be recommended because of the unconditional support for
8.3 names and a bug in Windows. Having stored the above file, if a second
file called 'abcdefgh.xyz' were to be stored, the unconditional support
would kick in and it would gain the 8.3 filename 'abcdefgh.xyz'. The bug is
that the original file is suddenly orphaned and disappears. It's still
there and occupying space (and even allocated in the file tables). It just
cannot be accessed, nor can the space be recovered for something else. It
is, of course, possible to use a disk sector editor to recover the file but
this is beyond the scope of the average user.

 

[mail747097]

Windows provides support for 8.3 style filenames where the 8.3 filename in
the FAT is the same as the long filename in the VFAT. Thus if you actually
call a file 'abcdefgh.xyz', this name is used in both the 8.3 filetable
(FAT) and in the long filename table (VFAT) and it is displayed as such in
both windows and when using the Command window DIR command.

If you name something with a long filename (say) 'abcdefghijkl.xyx', then
windows stores the 8.3 version in the fat as 'abcdef~1.xyz'. It is possible
to alter the behaviour such that it gets stored as 'abcdefgh.xyz'. This
alteration is not to be recommended because of the unconditional support for
8.3 names and a bug in Windows. Having stored the above file, if a second
file called 'abcdefgh.xyz' were to be stored, the unconditional support
would kick in and it would gain the 8.3 filename 'abcdefgh.xyz'. The bugis
that the original file is suddenly orphaned and disappears. It's still
there and occupying space (and even allocated in the file tables). It just
cannot be accessed, nor can the space be recovered for something else. It
is, of course, possible to use a disk sector editor to recover the file but
this is beyond the scope of the average user.

Thanks for your replies. I propably should explain more about my
problem. I have created a backup of Office and some other programs
installed on a NTFS partion with zip. When I restored the zipped file
I discovered that the short name that the folder had before was
entered in numerous places in my registry. To restore the zipped file
I must have both the same long and short name as before.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Windows provides support for 8.3 style filenames where the 8.3 filename in
the FAT is the same as the long filename in the VFAT. Thus if you
actually
call a file 'abcdefgh.xyz', this name is used in both the 8.3 filetable
(FAT) and in the long filename table (VFAT) and it is displayed as such in
both windows and when using the Command window DIR command.

If you name something with a long filename (say) 'abcdefghijkl.xyx', then
windows stores the 8.3 version in the fat as 'abcdef~1.xyz'. It is
possible
to alter the behaviour such that it gets stored as 'abcdefgh.xyz'. This
alteration is not to be recommended because of the unconditional support
for
8.3 names and a bug in Windows. Having stored the above file, if a second
file called 'abcdefgh.xyz' were to be stored, the unconditional support
would kick in and it would gain the 8.3 filename 'abcdefgh.xyz'. The bug
is
that the original file is suddenly orphaned and disappears. It's still
there and occupying space (and even allocated in the file tables). It
just
cannot be accessed, nor can the space be recovered for something else. It
is, of course, possible to use a disk sector editor to recover the file
but
this is beyond the scope of the average user.

Thanks for your replies. I propably should explain more about my
problem. I have created a backup of Office and some other programs
installed on a NTFS partion with zip. When I restored the zipped file
I discovered that the short name that the folder had before was
entered in numerous places in my registry. To restore the zipped file
I must have both the same long and short name as before.

----------------------

Ah! That problem.

The only way to deal with this that I know of is to collapse the long file
names into an 8.3 file and then force the zip routine to use those file
names. The only issue here is that the utility that does this was dropped
from Windows a long time ago as it was a pain to use as it was all or
nothing. You couldn't collapse a few folders, only a whole disk. It played
havoc with your desktop because the icon positioning is buried in the long
filenames.

This is a problem that afflicts other archiving utilities. The 'romeo' CD
format suffered this (mercifully dropped from Windows 98 onwards). Packet
Incremental Writing applications for CDs and DVDs do store an 8.3 filename
but do so in an unorthodox manner and recreate a normal 8.3 filename on
restoration of the files.