Folder/File path too long issue

Question

Hi all,
My users (Windows 10) often create a directory tree structure that is too long , for ex : "D:\11111111\222222222222\333333333\4444444444\55555555555\66666666\77777777\88888888\99999999\10000000..."

It leads to some troubles , such as :

• User cannot access some of the deepest levels in the directory tree, they get error "reparse point invalid"
• Cannot delete folder , I tried rmdir /s /q "folder path"

But I get error "not empty folder"
How can I fix it ? I want to delete folder completely.

Answer 1

I see in your replies that you reference the 8.3 folder names. Here is a Powershell script that will try to delete files/folders one by one recursively using the 8.3 name. If it encounters an error on a delete it will pause. I would suggest just stopping the script at that point because you'll just get more errors when it tries to delete the parent folders.

See if it gives you any more information about what it can't delete.

# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16995359/get-childitem-equivalent-of-dir-x  
  
function Get-ShortPathName  
{  
    Param([string] $path)  
  
    $MethodDefinition = @'  
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, EntryPoint = "GetShortPathNameW", SetLastError = true)]  
public static extern int GetShortPathName(string pathName, System.Text.StringBuilder shortName, int cbShortName);  
'@  
  
    $Kernel32 = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $MethodDefinition -Name 'Kernel32' -Namespace 'Win32' -PassThru  
    $shortPath = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder(500)  
    $retVal = $Kernel32::GetShortPathName($path, $shortPath, $shortPath.Capacity)  
    return $shortPath.ToString()  
}  
  
Function LookDeeper($pf){  
    if ($pf.substring(0,1) -match 'c') {  
        "I do not process the C drive."  
        return  
    }  
    if ((get-item $pf).LinkType -eq "SymbolicLink") {  
        "Its a SymbolicLink. Skipping.  $pf"  
        return  
    }  
    $sn =  Get-ShortPathName $pf                      # get 8.3 name   
  
    if ($sn -eq "") {  
        "No shortname, unable to continue processing $pf"  
        return  
    }   
  
    try {  
        $sf = Get-ChildItem $sn -Directory -force -ErrorAction Stop             # get a list of all subdirectories  
        foreach ($f in $sf){  
            LookDeeper($f.fullname)                                            # analyze the subfolder   
        }  
          
        $sf = Get-ChildItem $sn  -force -ErrorAction Stop                      # get a collection of everything     
        foreach ($f in $sf){  
            $sn =  Get-ShortPathName $f.fullname                                # isssue delete for 8.3 name   
            if ($sn -eq "") {  
                "No shortname, skippng {0}" -f $f.fullname   
            } else {  
                "Removing $sn "  
                if ((get-item $sn).LinkType -eq "SymbolicLink") {  
                    "Above file is a SymbolicLink."  
                    (get-item $sn).delete()  
                } else {  
                    remove-item $sn -force  -ErrorAction Stop       # add the -WhatIf switch to test without actually deleting anything.  
                }   
            }    
        }  
  
  
    } catch {  
        ""  
        "Crash: {0} " -f $_.exception  
        ""  
        "Item analysis......."  
        Get-Item $sn | Format-List -Property *  
        pause  
    }   
}  
  
  
Set-Location 'G:\old\'  
LookDeeper('G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN')             # this starts the recursive delete   
  

Answer 2

Hi @MotoX80
This is output

rd /q /s "G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN"  
G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\OPERAT~1\ELECTR~1\KIEMTR~1\THONGS~1\KIEMTR~1\AAATON~1\AAALUA~1\AAATEM~1.21\THANHT~1.21)\304012~1 - The directory is not empty.  
  
dir /al /s "G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN"  
 Volume in drive G is DATA  
 Volume Serial Number is E847-0B02  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN  
  
24/10/2022  03:23 PM    <DIR>          Operation  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          ELECTROLUX-HN  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          THONG SO KT  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          AAA TONG HOP  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\AAA TONG HOP  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          AAA LUAT KTCL  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\AAA TONG HOP\AAA LUAT KTCL  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          AAA TEM MOI 1.21  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\AAA TONG HOP\AAA LUAT KTCL\AAA TEM MOI 1.21  
  
24/10/2022  03:22 PM    <DIR>          THANH TOAN (den 1.6.21)  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes  
  
 Directory of G:\old\Operations (OPS) - HAN\Operation\ELECTROLUX-HN\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\THONG SO KT\KIEM TRA CHAT LUONG\AAA TONG HOP\AAA LUAT KTCL\AAA TEM MOI 1.21\THANH TOAN (den 1.6.21)  
  
24/08/2022  06:25 PM    <DIR>          304012188120  
               0 File(s)              0 bytes