"Destination Path Too Long" after enabling long path names in registry?


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Triad

Triad

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I am migrating data from one PC (Windows 10) to a new PC (Windows 11).

My W10 PC had some nested folders, some of which contained longer than usual names. My W10 PC handles them fine, but when I copy them to my W11 PC, I get the "Destination Path Too Long" error message for certain subfolders.

I followed articles' instructions to change the registry setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem --> LongPathsEnabled from 0 to 1, and restarted the machine.

I still get the error message when trying to copy over the same subfolders.

Edit: It's Win11 Home, so I don't have the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). I downloaded PolicyPlus and am looking for instructions on how to set the group policy there. It doesn't have the same folders / categories as what is expected based on the YouTube videos I'm watching, nor the regular Group Policy Editor categories so I'm going to have to do more digging.

Context: I am copying files for existing video editing projects. Media has been linked to various clips in large projects within software, hundreds of separate clips and elements. I could rename many folders and filenames in the copy, but that would require manually examining and potentially re-linking hundreds of files.

Edit: I see some saying that Windows Explorer does not support long paths, even with the above instructions. Which is odd.. the paths are the same length on my Win10 PC and it works..
I see multiple people recommending Directory Opus in other forums regarding this issue, as it supports long file paths, but it costs $.

Please advise?
 
Last edited:

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I use the utility TLPD to find offending files and change their path / name to keep within the 255 character limit.
TLPD.
 
Last edited:

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The culprit in my case has always been the folder depth.
Folder name/folder name/folder name/folder name/*.file

Using the tool @Steve C suggests then moving the offending folder closer to the root of the drive works for me.
 

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Triad said:
I am migrating data from one PC (Windows 10) to a new PC (Windows 11).

My W10 PC had some nested folders, some of which contained longer than usual names. My W10 PC handles them fine, but when I copy them to my W11 PC, I get the "Destination Path Too Long" error message for certain subfolders.

I followed articles' instructions to change the registry setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem --> LongPathsEnabled from 0 to 1, and restarted the machine.

I still get the error message when trying to copy over the same subfolders.

Edit: It's Win11 Home, so I don't have the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). I downloaded PolicyPlus and am looking for instructions on how to set the group policy there. It doesn't have the same folders / categories as what is expected based on the YouTube videos I'm watching, nor the regular Group Policy Editor categories so I'm going to have to do more digging.

Context: I am copying files for existing video editing projects. Media has been linked to various clips in large projects within software, hundreds of separate clips and elements. I could rename many folders and filenames in the copy, but that would require manually examining and potentially re-linking hundreds of files.

Edit: I see some saying that Windows Explorer does not support long paths, even with the above instructions. Which is odd.. the paths are the same length on my Win10 PC and it works..
I see multiple people recommending Directory Opus in other forums regarding this issue, as it supports long file paths, but it costs $.

Please advise?
Click to expand...
I use TeraCopy and FastCopy when I copy files and folders. I never tried copying files with very long names so I don't know if one of the programs would work or not. You can also do a search for free File Explorer alternatives and see if one of the free programs will copy over the long file names.
 

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Steve C said:
I use the utility TLPD to find offending files and change their path / name to keep within the 255 character limit.
TLPD.
Click to expand...
Would they have to rename or move the files and folders so they can be copied? @Triad said that they have hundreds of files.
 

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  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Pro 25H2Intel Core i7-10700K16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    OS
    Windows 11 Pro 25H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-10700K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
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    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
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    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
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    Realtek Audio
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    #1. LG ULTRAWIDE 34" #2. AOC Q32G2WG3 32"
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    Logitech K270
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    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
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    Webroot SecureAnywhere CE 26.1

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    Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-A
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    16 MB DDR 4-2666
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    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
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    Logitek K270
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You can use Robocopy.exe, which doesn't care about very long filenames.
Code: 
robocopy /E C:/path/with/very/long/names C:/new/path
 

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