The filename or extension is too long?

I'm trying to delete something I recovered off the HD, and now I can't delete it. I can't rename, delete, cut, copy, anything. I've seen people say do it from CLI like abbreviating such as "del filename~1.txt" or whatever t he extension is... but even that gives the error saying its too long. anyone know how to forcefully delete a file if its name is too long?

Maybe try this pal

DelinvFile - Utility for Deleting Invalid Files and Folders

Try to take ownership of the file ( Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista :: the How-To Geek ).

This is a path length type error.

The best way to do this is by mapping a drive to the deepest folder...

In explorer Find Map Network Drive
Select a drive letter
Browse to the folder location with the file in it
Uncheck the box about reconnect at login and click OK
You should now be able to open that folder from the drive letter in Explorer and delete the files.

You may have to rename the file if the file name is still too long, but you should be able to from this point. Give it a 1 charicter name and that should allow you to delete it.

TakeOwn probably will not work as this is most likely not a Permissions issue.

oh what the hell? I'm subscribed and I just got notifications... sorry for the late response..
I tried that link earlier and it just kept telling me I didn't have a file it folder selected. ill try to map it when I wake up in the morning. thanks. sorry about the late response. my notification came in late for some reason lol

Old thread, but it fixed my problem

I had this exact problem trying to delete some bookmarks.

Tepid's suggestion to map the folder (in this case "favorites") to a drive letter and work with it from there worked.

Thanks,
-eric-

Burn Puppy Linux to a CD. Boot to Linux, locate your file and delete it. That was the only thing that worked for me, and I tried everything else.

Most suggestions are on the money, but should they fail to resolve your problem, you might also want to run a disk check to fix possible NTFS errors:

1. Open Computer
2. Right-click the drive that you want to check, then click Properties.
3. Click the Tools tab
4. Click Check Now (you might need to respond to a UAC prompt)
5. Make sure the is a checkmark in the Automatically fix file system errors option.
6. Click Start

No idea where it came from but I have a folder with about 50 sub-folders - each one called: '-Test', each one is empty.
It will not delete - "The source file name's are larger than is supported by the file system"
I've tried all of the suggestions and many more I've found on the net to no avail.
I've laboriously renamed each of them to a single digit but the problem is not solved. An odd thing here: The deepest folder has no option to rename via the right-click menu. Also, when renaming folders a few levels above the deepest folder another sub-folder gets added (called: "-Test") to the bottom!
I've tried mapping a drive to the deepest file - cures nothing.
I cannot remove or delete the problem folder via the Command Prompt or Robocopy.
I've run chkdsk - no problems but the message: "Windows may not detect all cycles on your volume because the directory structure is too deep" appears.
I've tried moving parts of the problem folder to other areas and then deleting them. That works but there's always just one section left which then mysteriously grows back to 47 sub-folders.
I've run full malware and virus checks to no avail.
The deepest folder is odd in that the right-click menu is missing quite a few entries such as Properties, New, Delete, Rename, Cut, Copy, Send To, etc.
I've tried adding the whole thing to a zipped archive - no go.
Anyone got any further ideas?

Use Command

Use command prompt..
Navigate to the directory...
use the del command
Dont type the whole file name just use first 3 or 4 alphabets and then put * without space..
For eg if i wanted to delete file named Seveneightnineten
I will type del sev* and then enter.
Assuming you dont another file that starts with sev

My Fix

I had this same problem, but had trouble following the Map Network Drive instructions. Figured I'd register to post how I solved the issue.

I use a program called "Teracopy" for some of my file management. I simply dragged the files that were too long to rename and too long to delete (they were Steam autobackup files that were created when attempting to backup my installed Steam games) into the Teracopy window, then clicked "More", "Delete" and deleted the source files. Worked perfectly after trying to use the command prompt with various commands like "rename", "del", "rmdir", etc.

Linux would probably work too, but this way you can solve the problem natively with software you might already have installed!

Cheers