12 character folder length limit for XP network!?!?

[stevecomputer]

youve gotta be kidding me. i just installed XP onto my new system. usually use win98se. i shared some folders for my home network and it told me i had to rename them because they couldnt be longer than like 12 characters i think or other computer couldnt access them, and sure enough i didnt rename them and they didnt show up until i did. THIS SUCKS! please tell me that doesnt go for all the subdirectories too? whats up with this?

 

[Psychoholic]

Shares can be longer than 12 characters. I can't remember what the limit is off-hand, but it's something around 128 IIRC.

The limitation you refer to is in Win9x. It doesn't automatically show shares with a name longer than 12 characters. Once you're in a share, directory name length doesn't matter. The share limit is a carry over from the 16-bit DOS days. The 16-bit legacy support is the cause of many quirks such as this in Windows 9x.

There are 3 solutions to this.

• Name the share however you wish using more than 12 characters if necessary. To access through explorer, type the UNC name. Ex. \\server\my really long share name.
• Map the share to a drive letter.
• Rename the share to something 12 characters or less.