Select the existing Network Mapped Drive to your share. ( Start, All Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer) If your path length is still excessive, start this process by establishing a Network Mapped Drive at a deeper level, closer to the 256 character MAX_PATH as the starting point. Note: This allows you to browse down the sub-folders to a path length of ~512 characters below the Network Mapped Drive. If you do this, start at the root folder (or any other convenient place), and then rename or move folders/files so that they have shorter names. If possible rename or move the folder(s) so that the target files that are deeper than the MAX_PATH no longer exist.
If the length of the path and filename combined exceed ~256 characters you will be able to see the path/files via the Windows Explorer, but may not be able to delete/move/rename these paths/files.Īpplications which utilize UNC paths (such as robocopy) and Macintosh (MacOS) systems accessing CIFS do not have the MAX_PATH limitation and can cause this condition.Ī CIFS share containing a file structure which exceeds MAX_PATH may be remediated in the following 3 ways: Microsoft Windows has a MAX_PATH limit of ~256 characters.
