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I’m moving files to a new server using robocopy, and it errors on very long filenames.

Is there a cmd line or other simple method for searching a volume/subvolumes for long names? I could then have users clean up their files before I try to move/copy them.

Is there a particular length that I should search for?

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robocopy supports long file names unless you turn it off using /256

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Sounds more like the whole path is too long - including the file name.

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You might have to create a new share further “down” the tree and then copy the files that way.

For example, you want to copy files to “C:\Long path\even longer\longer still\so so so very long” on the new server and RoboCopy says that’s too long. Create a share for “C:\Long path\even longer\longer still\so so so very long” for example, let’s call the share “Short Share”, and then copy to “NewServer:\Short Share” and it should work.

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Here’s a really nifty PowerShell script you could run that would tell you of any files or folder paths that are long:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Function-to-get-file-and-475aeb3a

.SYNOPSIS    
    Function to get file and folder names with long paths. 
 
.DESCRIPTION 
    This function requires Robocopy to be installed. Robocopy is used to recursively search through 
    a folder structure to find file or folder names that have more than a certain number of characters. 
    The function returns an object with three properties: FullPath,Type and FullPath. 
 
.PARAMETER FolderPath  
    The path or paths which will be scanned for long path names 
 
.PARAMETER MaxDepth 
    Specifies the maximum depth for files and folders in a folder structure 
 
.NOTES    
    Name: Get-LongPathName.ps1 
    Version: 1.1 
    Author: Jaap Brasser 
    DateCreated: 2012-10-05 
    DateUpdated: 2013-08-28 
    Site: http://www.jaapbrasser.com 
 
.LINK 
    http://www.jaapbrasser.com 
 
.EXAMPLE 
    Get-LongPathName -FolderPath 'C:\Program Files' 
     
.EXAMPLE 
    "c:\test","C:\Deeppathtest" | Get-LongPathName -FolderPath $_ -MaxDepth 200 | ft PathLength,Type,FullPath -AutoSize

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There was a thread in the last week I believed that had an easy solution to this if I remember correctly - you might want to do a search and see what comes up. What I’ve done in the past is to do a redirected restore from my backup solution to overcome that problem.

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Here it is - But the problem wasn’t exactly the same IIRC:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/834007-windows-server-2012r2-error-file-path-is-too-long

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Oliver’s response is the most helpful so far. By mapping a volume closer to the destination the messages go away, and I can copy without errors. This gets me out of the immediate jam, but doesn’t really address the problem. --Thank you!

I’m still looking for a simple way to identify long path/filenames so that I can have the file owners shorten the names. Powershells and fancy scripts are currently over this users head. Is there not a reliable freeware that would help with this?

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Here’s a free app:

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