Windows XP and long flle names

  • Thread starter Thread starter rfdjr1
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rfdjr1

I thought Windows XP could handle long file names, that is, in excess
of eighty characters. I use Windows XP Pro and whenever I try to
change (usually shorten) the name, or even delete a file of over
eighty characters, either by highlighting in Windows Explorer and
clicking the big red X for delete, or right-clicking on the file to
choose delete or rename, Windows Explorer gives me an error message
which says Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and will shut
down, then closes. Any idea why this is? Seems to me I should be able
to work with these long files names. Most of them are usually .mp3
files which after downloading have more information than I want, like
artist, album, track number, year it was recorded, name of the
track...mp3, all of which makes up for a file name I can't work with. I do have
a program that allows me to work with the audio files but I'd like to know why
XP is crashing whenever I try to access a file with a long name. Also, it would
be easier doing it through Windows Explorer if I could. Makes no sense to me.
Thanks for any ideas.
 
I thought Windows XP could handle long file names, that is, in
excess
of eighty characters. I use Windows XP Pro and whenever I try to
change (usually shorten) the name, or even delete a file of over
eighty characters, either by highlighting in Windows Explorer and
clicking the big red X for delete, or right-clicking on the file to
choose delete or rename, Windows Explorer gives me an error message
which says Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and will shut
down, then closes. Any idea why this is? Seems to me I should be
able
to work with these long files names. Most of them are usually .mp3
files which after downloading have more information than I want,
like
artist, album, track number, year it was recorded, name of the
track...mp3, all of which makes up for a file name I can't work
with. I do have a program that allows me to work with the audio
files but I'd like to know why XP is crashing whenever I try to
access a file with a long name. Also, it would be easier doing it
through Windows Explorer if I could. Makes no sense to me. Thanks
for any ideas.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a few possibilities.

- Bad hard disk drive.

- Bad RAM.

- File/Folder corruption (could be corrupt DLLs, etc.)

- While it is true Windows XP can work with long filenames - what most
people forget to consider is *where* the file is in that. If you save the
file - for example - in My Documents (default - not redirected) and you give
it a filename of 80 characters - its total path length (including the
filename) is at least 115 characters in total at that point.

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\<80 character
filename>.<ext>

There's probably more possibilities - but... Without more information on the
exact error being recorded in the event log/on the screen - I'm flying
blind.
 
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