Installing Windows 11 without 8.3 short file name support

Modern Windows 11 installation should not need or rely on 8.3 short file names support. Stripping these short file names support off of install.wim file may slightly increase speed of Windows.

You may refer to Installing Windows 10/11 without 8.3 file names for further instructions.

There are several ways to apply the stripping procedure in above-referenced web site.

When I read the article in Schneegans.de web site above, I found the article quite clear about how I should apply the procedure delineated in there.

It is really very easy to strip 8.3 file name support from install.wim file. I created one for testing in Hyper-V VM. The procedure found 107739 short file name references in Windows 11 .wim file and stripped them.



For those that may not know 8.3 file name support, it is this:

If at C:> command prompt, you type in PROGRA~1 or PROGRA~2 or PROGRA~3 and you see C:>PROGRA~1 or PROGRA~2 or PROGRA~3, then your Windows 11 installation has 8.3 short file name support. This support is a burden on Windows 11, especially for low spec machines. PROGRA~1 is for "Program Files" directory and PROGRA~2 is for "Program Files (x86)" directory and PROGRA~3 is for ProgramData directory.



When you install Windows 11 with stripped 8.3 file name creation, then you see this:



I describe here (courtesy of schneegans.de) one of the ways on what you should do, should you choose to strip Windows 11 installation off of 8.3 file name support.

PROCEDURE:

Make a folder in C: drive and name it mt. It should look like C:\mt (Note: You can use any other drive of your choice but you must also modify the powershell script to point to the new location)

Find an install.wim file and put it C:\USB\sources folder. (Note: You can use any other drive of your choice but you must modify the powershell script to point to the new location)

You also need \Program Files\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe executable. You can download the tool from:


This program should be installed into C:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite folder and it must exist in Environment Variables window.



Open a Powershell window with admin privileges

Copy the code lines starting with function Remove.... between but excluding dashed lines and paste them into Powershell window and press Enter/Return key on the keyboard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function Remove-WimShortNames {
[CmdletBinding()]
param(
[Parameter( Mandatory )]
[string]
$WimFile,

[string]
$MountDirectory = 'C:\mt',

[ValidateSet( 'Errors', 'Warnings', 'WarningsInfo' )]
[string]
$LogLevel = 'Errors',

[string]
$PsExecPath = "$envrogramFiles\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe"
);

if( -not [System.IO.File]::Exists( $WimFile ) ) {
throw "File '$WimFile' does not exist.";
}

if( -not [System.IO.File]::Exists( $PsExecPath ) ) {
throw "File '$PsExecPath' does not exist.";
}

$params = @{
LogLevel = $LogLevel;
};

mkdir -Path $MountDirectory -ErrorAction 'SilentlyContinue' | Out-Null;
Get-WindowsImage -ImagePath $WimFile @params | ForEach-Object -Process {
"Now processing edition '{0}'. Mounting to '{1}'." -f $_.ImageName, $MountDirectory | Write-Host;
Mount-WindowsImage -Path $MountDirectory -ImagePath $WimFile -Name $_.ImageName @params;
& $PsExecPath -s "$env:windir\system32\fsutil.exe" 8dot3name strip /f /s $MountDirectory;
if( $LASTEXITCODE ) {
throw "fsutil.exe exited with error code $LASTEXITCODE.";
}
Dismount-WindowsImage -Path $MountDirectory -Save @params;
};
Remove-Item -LiteralPath $MountDirectory -Force;
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After that, you should run the command below in Powershell (copy-paste the whole line including the semi-colon at the end):

Remove-WimShortNames -WimFile 'C:\USB\sources\install.wim';

That's it. The install.wim file will be ready in a few minutes with 8.3 short file names removed.

If your .wim file contains more than one edition of Windows, all will be stripped.

You can replace this install.wim file with the one in Windows install USB drive.

When you clean-install Windows, you will not have installed 8dot3 file name references. After Windows is installed, you should also run

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem /v NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f

to eliminate possible future creation of short file names. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Not all files and folders with 8.3 file names may be removed. There may be a few entries still with 8.3 short file names. But you will have removed more than
100 thousand 8dot3 file name references from Windows installation.

I do not know if you have legacy programs that still rely on 8.3 file names support.

Hope this helps.

Edit: You may see an emoji. It is not an emoji. Forum format puts it as emoji. It is actually a colon and P letter.

You can run into issues doing this as some 16-bit, 32-bit or 64-bit programs may not be able to find files/directories that have long file names.

@KevTech Thanks for the input. It will be very helpful if you may give names of example programs that still rely on 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit short files name support in Windows 11.

suatcini54 said:

Edit: You may see an emoji. It is not an emoji. Forum format puts it as emoji. It is actually a colon and P letter.

Click to expand...

Wrap it in a code block.

[string]$PsExecPath = "$envrogramFiles\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe"

suatcini54 said:

Stripping these short file names support off ... may slightly increase speed of Windows.

Click to expand...

Does it actually do this?
If so, by how much?


Denis

pseymour said:

Wrap it in a code block.

[string]$PsExecPath = "$envrogramFiles\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe"

Code:

[string]$PsExecPath = "$env:ProgramFiles\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe"

Click to expand...

Thanks. Is this O.K. ?

[string]
$PsExecPath = "$env:SystemDrive\ProgramFiles\SysinternalsSuite\PsExec.exe"

Edit: This does not work. I tested it. Sorry.

Quick question: Is the performance difference noticeable? I don't think it is, and I don't want to reduce compatibility with older applications (such as PaintShop Pro 3.12) and old games. I play a lot of MS-DOS games through DosBox and I have also installed a third-party NTVM so I can play old 16-bit Windows games. If I strip 8.3 filename compatibility all of these will give an error, no thanks.

Try3 said:

Does it actually do this?
If so, by how much?


Denis

Click to expand...

I said "may slightly". Theoretically. I am not able to test it.

If you're familiar with DISM and offline images, stripping 8.3 from the mounted image is the preferred way to go.

But it can only be done one image at a time. Assuming you only install from one image in the WIM/ESD, then you can ignore the other images. On the other hand, if you're preparing a general purpose ISO when someone could select either Home or Pro, then your changes would have to be applied to the Home and Pro images separately (run the script multiple times).

IMO, the answer to a question that shouldn't have been asked. You're stripping away compatibility with older programs for a minimal and likely indistinguishable performance enhancement? Why would you do that?

spapakons said:

Quick question: Is the performance difference noticeable? I don't think it is, and I don't want to reduce compatibility with older applications (such as PaintShop Pro 3.12) and old games. I play a lot of MS-DOS games through DosBox and I have also installed a third-party NTVM so I can play old 16-bit Windows games. If I strip 8.3 filename compatibility all of these will give an error, no thanks.

Click to expand...

I am sorry. Stripping 8dot3 short file names off of Windows install image is not a one-size-fits-all thing. You may do as you please. This article is for informational purposes only and for the interested.

Happy computing.