Can't do this to my own folders

Question

Hello again everybody,

I was sorting my *personal files at my windows 10 system today. But i saw that i couldn't add (Copy&paste i mean) files/folders anymore after adding inside of other folders (Yeah my grammer is broken but i couldn't find any way to explain this). Or let me say like this:

Here's my path of my first folder to last one:

\?\C:\Users[Moderator note: PII removed]\Desktop\YKS'DEN SONRA AÇ\SON UYARI - SADECE YKS'DEN SONRA AÇ - SON UYARI\YKS'DEN SONRA AÇ 5 ASLA SİLME\SAKIN SİLME - Diğer tüm dosyalar - SAKIN SİLME\Diğer dosyalar\SAKIN SİLME - Tüm dosyalar burda - SAKIN SİLME\Güzel müzik & ses dosyaları\Karışık müzik videoları

I tried to say like this path is longer than what my windows 10 system expected (As far as i see). I tried to solve it from what i see at internet but i wanna see complete fix way to this problem. Now like i can't change the names of files/folders after some point and this error is showing up after trying it:

https://imgur.com/a/6inNRey

Also is this problem happening also at windows 11? Thanks

Note: I have looked it from internet to solve it but i don't wanna break my system so but i have tried the fix way of regedit of LongPathsEnabled's ones but i couldn't saw any positive changes so (And i restarted the pc for sure too)

Answer 1

Hello Lyc,

Sorry for my late respond but i gotta say cheers for your comment but i wanted to see like more easier fix ways.

First fix way you told me isn't that great (Like everywhere is saying that already). And if i had option to shorten it i would do but i can't shorthen the any of these file/folder names so (These folders are not mine completely like for my turkish other friend like he was gonna use these at university).

And Lyc is that second option you gave me fixes all problems that i told you here? (If yeah can you tell me in different way because i didn't understood it excatly what you mean't there). And do i have to do this second fix way to every single folder?

Okei if you really saying like these fix ways are only solution ways but i am not native talker of this language so i couldn't figure out like what else i could be write to google anyways (For finding solution by myself). Also i use this teracopy named program:

teracopy

But if you know better than this one can you please give me it's name and i can use it Lyc? And if they didn't fixed this simple problem at windows 11 why the heck we need another system for nothing?

Answer 2

Hi Truem,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I understand the frustration when you are working with your own folders and suddenly cannot rename, copy, or paste files. Like what you suspected, Windows Explorer has limits when file/folder paths become too long and contain non‑ASCII characters.

Even though Windows internally supports longer paths, Explorer.exe does not fully handle them in all scenarios. LongPathsEnabled only helps apps built with modern Win32 APIs, meanwhile File Explorer is not fully covered so the registry changes often don’t help.

1 - Shorten the path

• Move the folder higher (e.g. under C:\Work)
• Rename the folders to shorter names
• Reduce the number of folders.

2 - Generate a drive letter

• If you currently cannot manually make changes anymore, try this.
• Copy the path to the parent folder of a folder with long name.
• Press Win + X > choose Terminal (Admin) to open PowerShell
• Run this command: subst X: “PASTE THE PATH HERE” > Enter
• Drive X: appears (or different if you use another letter)
• Rename the long file / manage works in there.
• If you don’t need it anymore, run this subst X: /d

Windows 11 behaves the same in File Explorer, meaning the limitation is still present and long paths are not fully fixed. Shortening paths by changing folder names is often the best fix.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 3

It seems that you are encountering issues with file and folder operations due to the length of the path exceeding the maximum path length limitation in Windows. In versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 version 1607, the maximum path length is defined as 260 characters, which can lead to problems when trying to manage files and folders with long paths.

To resolve this issue, you have a couple of options:

1. Shorten the Path: Try to shorten the names of the folders in your path or move your files to a higher-level directory that has a shorter path.
2. Enable Long Path Support: If you are using Windows 10 version 1607 or later, you can enable long path support by modifying the registry or using Group Policy. This allows you to bypass the 260-character limit. Here’s how to do it via the registry:
   • Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
   • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.
   • Find the key named LongPathsEnabled and set its value to 1.
   • Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Make sure to back up your registry before making any changes to avoid any potential issues. After enabling long path support, you should be able to manage your files and folders without encountering the path length limitation.

---

References:

• Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces
• Maximum Path Length Limitation