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I'm a linux user, and I only use Windows when I have to. Hence I just wrote a bunch of files from Linux to a NTFS drive to read them in Windows 8.1 64bit. While most of the files work, one file can't be read by any application. I've noticed that this particulary file has a lenghty filename, so I tried renaming it to a shorter one, which fails from both the GUI and the command line ("filename too long").

I've already figured out that surprisingly there are still filename limits in Windows (aren't we in 2017?). But how can I access the contents of that file, if I can't even rename it to a shorter filename? I'd expect that to work. Is it possible to disable the filename limit for e.g. one reboot so that I can rename that file? I haven't access to my linux right now and there should be an easier way than creating a linux thumb drive for renaming a file, shouldn't it?

Any ideas are very appreciated, thanks in advance!

LukeLR
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    Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFhlcIE0zt0 too if the marked duplicate doesn't help with your problem. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jan 29 '17 at 23:25
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    *"I've already figured out that surprisingly there are still filename limits in Windows (aren't we in 2017?)."* Yes, and if you were using the latest version of Windows (instead of one that was released in 2014), that wouldn't be an issue: [How to Make Windows 10 Accept File Paths Over 260 Characters](http://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-accept-file-paths-over-260-characters/) – Run5k Jan 30 '17 at 00:28
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    Microsoft could easily remove the path limitation in Windows Explorer and elsewhere. But all would not be well. The restriction is there to protect applications that can't deal with paths longer than 260 characters, and there are a great many of those. These are not poorly written applications, they are following rules established since the early days of the Win32 platform. The problem is more serious then the How-To Geek article suggests. – LMiller7 Jan 30 '17 at 00:49
  • And that's what I meant: No matter if it was technically possible to remove these limits, they still are the factory default. And even if it's just plenty of applications that might run in trouble with longer filenames, that still is a sign of ancientness, isn't it? It doesn't matter if it's the OS or the applications requiring this limitation, at least for me. But thanks for pointing out the other question and the YouTube video, although that still didn't help me, it gave some inspiration at least :) – LukeLR Jan 30 '17 at 14:50

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