Unable to copy long Paths from one windows server to another windows server

Question

I am unable to copy long file paths from one Windows Server to another. I tried using the robocopy command but some files were still skipped. Could you please help me copy long paths without missing any files?

Answer 1

Yep - long file paths (over 260 characters) can cause issues on Windows. However robocopy does provide long path support if you configure it appropriately:

Start by enabling long path support on both servers

1. Open Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
2. Go to:

      Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem
   

3. Enable: "Enable Win32 long paths"
4. Reboot the system.

Alternatively, you can modify the registry directly

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"LongPathsEnabled"=dword:00000001

Next, run this command in Command Prompt (as Administrator):

robocopy "\\source\path" "\\destination\path" /E /COPYALL /R:3 /W:5 /LOG:copylog.txt /NFL /NDL /NP

Flag explanation:

• /E: Copy subdirectories including empty ones.
• /COPYALL: Copy all file info (including timestamps and permissions).
• /R:3: Retry 3 times on failure.
• /W:5: Wait 5 seconds between retries.
• /LOG: Output log file to track skipped files.
• /NFL /NDL: Suppress file and directory listings in the log (optional).
• /NP: No progress shown.

Use UNC Paths to Avoid Path Length Limits

Always use UNC paths (with \\?\) to bypass the 260-character limit:

robocopy "\\?\C:\Very\Long\Path\To\Source" "\\?\D:\Very\Long\Path\To\Destination" /E /COPYALL /R:3 /W:5 /LOG:copylog.txt

If this doesn't work out, here are a few alternatives:

• GS RichCopy 360 (commercial)
• FastCopy (free)
• PowerShell Script with Get-ChildItem and Copy-Item (with -LiteralPath and long path support)

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hth

Marcin