I'd write a script that would periodically find these files, and automatically send an annoying email to rename it.
-- ME2 On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 8:45 AM, Eric Wittersheim <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for the feedback Ben. > > On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 8:02 PM, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:54 PM, Eric Wittersheim >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Is there anyway to enforce a limit (Windows Server 2000 >> > and 2003) on the length of file names? >> >> Not that I know of. If you find one, let me know, 'cause I got the >> same problem in different ways. >> >> Part of the problem is that not all parts of Windows have the same >> path/file name length limits. Reportedly NTFS itself and the innards >> of the NT kernel can handle names on the order of thousands of >> characters long, but that's mainly academic because the higher-level >> stuff falls apart much earlier. The Win32 subsystem (which >> practically everything uses) is limited to 255 characters, I believe. >> Vital system components -- like Windows Explorer and the shell >> libraries -- seem to have even shorter limits. >> >> One of my favorites is users creating files in their local profile >> that work just fine, but then the roaming profile sync code pukes >> trying to sync back to the server. (Though I haven't seen that in a >> while; it may have been fixed in XP SP2.) >> >> Another part of the problem is that path name lengths can vary >> depending on how the system is "seeing" a file. For example, if I >> have C:\Company\Shared\Quality\Public\QMSDocs on the server shared as >> QMSDocs, and the workstations map that share as drive Q:, and then >> there's >> Q:\some\really\absurdly\ridiculously\ludicrously\long\path\name\to\a\file.doc, >> then it may be okay for the mapped path on the workstation, but on the >> server it will be >> >> C:\Company\Shared\Quality\Public\QMSDocs\some\really\absurdly\ridiculously\ludicrously\long\path\name\to\a\file.doc >> which pushes Explorer over the limit. Result? You can access the >> files from Explorer on a workstation, but not Explorer on the server. >> >> The filesystems typically used on CDs and DVDs have their own limits >> which are different from all of the above. So one thing that may help >> the CD archive scenario is to put all the files into an archive format >> which handles really long file names, like 7-Zip's .7z format. >> >> -- Ben >> >> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ >> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
