Has Max_path limit been fixed in Windows 10 File History?

Question

Or is there a way to set the max_path variable to a longer path name?

Answer 1

Hi AMOlson

Apparently, it has not unfortunately.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

The information below I provide is thorough and verbose, but its the truth regarding Backup in Windows 10. and the alternatives you will need to consider.

File History, System Image, Backup and Restore in Windows 10 are partially broken and they are not being actively maintained or developed. Microsoft is planning to remove them in a future release. You are seeing the effects of this. You should switch to a third party solution such as Macrium Reflect (Free).

Learn more: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/create-windows...

Answer 2

File History is not giving any notice of errors or warning via system tray notifications, etc. - but I found FH is now working after ensuring these items addressed by monitoring the Event Viewer "File History backup log" as linked from "Advanced settings" under Control Panel>File History: 1) If you see "MAX_PATH" in error: File path lengths need to be under 255 (might be 260)...while there are tweaks to the registry to allow Win10 to use files with paths' lengths greater than 255, FH is restricted. Google (don't BING - lol) "PathLengthChecker1.2.0" and change the "Root Directory" to whatever drive / folder path you're backing up and change "Min Path Length" to 255; click on 'Get Path Lengths' to scan for files that are too long.  Any software app that can do this will suffice really...typical problem files like urls, saved as shortcuts, are examples.  Rename these and it will remove the "MAX_PATH" errors.  2) FH cannot use "junction folders" so if you've done something like mklink /d "M:\symbolic" "S:\real_location" > creating a symbolic folder link this is failing on my system - remove these.   3) I've found using a .vhd as the target/destination for external drive is working (using a mapped drive to the .vhd file) but when I tried using .VHDs as the source folders this was failing; seems Win10's File History needs "physical folders" directly on local drives and not located in .VHD files.  Hope this helps, Rich