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set max folder name length on server 2008 r2

Question

Thursday, April 24, 2014 2:29 PM

Hi

Can you force a max folder name length in server 2008 r2?

users continually make folders with stupidly long names. Education didn't help, i now need to make it impossible for them to make long folder names.

"\folder for documents and other paperwork not found elsewhere"

God help us

thanks for any tips

Simon

All replies (4)

Friday, April 25, 2014 6:02 AM âś…Answered

Hi Simon,

Win32 programs are limited to a 256-character string size limit because of the MAX_PATH variable. In the Windows API (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), the maximum length for a path is MAX_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters.

You could not modify MAX_PATH to set max folder name length less than 256 character. 

policy for path length
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/a4827159-e733-425e-8eae-bd38d1fefe90/policy-for-path-length?forum=winserverGP

Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247.aspx

Regards,

Mandy

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Friday, April 25, 2014 9:41 AM

thanks, i realise the limitations.

I am asking if there is a way to stop users making folder names over X characters long

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 5:40 AM

Hi,

Users cannot make folder names when they exceed 256 characters. We cannot stop users making folder names over X characters long(X is less than 256).

Regards,

Mandy

We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time.
Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.

Friday, May 2, 2014 9:36 AM

Thanks for the reply.

That may be true, but what users can do, and DO do, is make a combination of folder and file name length that, in total, exceeds 256 Characters. Then it causes access issues.

Windows doesnt stop them doing that.

Hence why i was trying to limit any single folder (or file name) name to x characters.