Path Length in Windows

Posted by Dexter on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Dexter
Published on 2012-07-11T08:59:02Z Indexed on 2012/07/11 9:17 UTC
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Windows

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path

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Microsoft

Is there any reason paths are still limited to ~250 characters in Windows? I'm not asking about a solution here (since there isn't one, other than \\?\ perhaps), but about why this is still an issue in 2012.

Microsoft itself has failed to provide an explanation, so I'm hoping that maybe someone here, who has more insight into this than me, can provide an answer.

Also, if \\?\ is supposed to be the "cure" to this, why aren't paths implicitly converted to the \\?\ notation by Microsoft's own programs?

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