It is by default in Windows that you cannot access a path that is longer than 260 characters. That includes path and file name. You may see The file name(s) would be too long for the destination folder type of error messages. Now for a normal user, it is not a problem. But for some people who name their files with longer names, it will be a problem. The only solution for them is to enable NTFS or Win32 Long Paths in Windows 11/10.
How to Enable Win32 Long Paths in Windows 11/10
There are two ways we can use to enable or disable Win32 long paths in Windows 11/10. Let’s see how we can enable or disable through them.
Make Windows accept File Paths over 260 characters
Enable Win32 Long Paths through Regedit
To enable Win32 long paths through Regedit- Let’s get into the details of the process. Click on the Start Menu and type RegEdit. You will see Registry Editor in the results. Open it. In the Registry Editor windows paste the following path to the FileSystem folder in the address bar and press Enter.
In the FileSystem folder, find the LongPathsEnabled and double-click on it.
You will see a small DWORD window. Change the value from 0 to 1 and click on OK to save the changes.
It will enable long paths on your PC. If you want to disable it, you can change the value from 0 to 1 anytime. Read: Source Path Too Long? Use SuperDelete to delete files with such errors.
Fix: Path too long Error 0x80010135
Enable Win32 Long Paths through Local Group Policy Editor
To enable Win32 Long Paths through gpedit or Local Group Policy Editor, Let’s get into the process of details. Click on the Start Menu and search for gpedit.msc and open it from the search results. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, go to: System Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem. In the components of the Filesystem folder, double click on Enable Win32 long paths to open it.
Then, in the Enable Win32 long paths window, check the radio button beside Enabled to enable long paths and click on OK at the bottom of the window to save the changes.
It will enable long paths on your PC. You can disable the long paths anytime by checking the radio button beside Disabled. Do note that Windows Home editions do not have Group Policy Editor. You need to add it. TIP: Long Path Fixer tool will fix Path Too Long errors.
