- Delete Folder With Long File Name Windows 7
- Delete All Files Windows 7
- Delete Too Long File Names Windows 7
Earlier this weak I was cleaning up virtual server for another round of torturous (to me) software experiments. I’ve noticed that one of heavy applications claimed to uninstall correctly, but left folders behind. Folders I was unable to delete.
After few attempts and tools like Unlocker failed (sadly I had no access to Total Commander at moment) I tried to simply browse those folders and umpteenth levels deeper I got message that path is too long to navigate.
Erase file with too long file name. By lopdog 18 replies Apr 15, 2011. Hi, I have a file that I cannot delete, rename or move, because Windows says it's name is too long or the path is to long. MAXPATH is 260 characters. The NTFS file system actually supports file paths of up to 32,767 characters. And you can still use 32,767 character long path names by accessing the Unicode (or 'wide') versions of the Windows API functions, and also by prefixing the path with?. MAXPATH was set in stone a very long time ago in the Windows world.
Theory
Microsoft offers extensive knowledge base article “You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume”. In short it tells you that very long paths are pain to kill so you better look for software that can do that or enjoy intricate operation of remaining folders until path isn’t too long.
I’d prefer to read that they taught Explorer to do perform its file managing duties with at least some kind of effort to not fail miserably.
Practice
Luckily several Google search result lower there was an article with command line script for exactly this issue. Copy/pasting it here won’t be polite (or copyright-friendly) so grab it from there.
What it does
Since article offered no explanation, except mention that it relies on robocopy I decided to look into it. Turns out it uses robocopy in rather clever way.
- Takes folder to delete as command line parameter.
- Creates empty folder in system temporary folder.
- Runs robocopy, instructing it to copy empty folder over target and destroy everything that is absent in former ( /MIR key).
Essentially robocopy is instructed to overwrite target folder tree and files in it with empty directory. And, as I tested, it does an excellent job – without any issues with long path.
Delete Folder With Long File Name Windows 7
As usual I must warn that such kind of script can be extremely destructive, use cautiously.
Overall
How to stop lip smacking while recording. It would have never occurred to me to use robocopy in such way. It shows just how powerful modern command line utilities can be, despite seemingly archaic interface paradigm.
Delete All Files Windows 7
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Delete Too Long File Names Windows 7
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