Long file path issues in Windows 11 Pro with Microsoft VS Code and File Explorer

Anonymous

I spent way too long debugging a compile error in MS VS Code (64bit version 1.66.2). It would fail with 'file not found' or 'unable to access file' errors. The workspace is located in "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Workspaces\firmware", with several levels of nested source folders below.

Initially, I got several linking errors due to Controlled Folder Access protection using the Ransomware protection built-in to Windows Security. I whitelisted ar.exe and as. exe, but the errors persisted. I even turned off Ransomware protection. Seeing a thread online about long file paths reminded me I hadn't enabled that on Windows 11 yet (fresh install), so I changed the following settings and rebooted the PC:
Registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled set to 1.

Group Policy: System "Configuration>Administrative Templates>System>Filesystem>Enable Win32 long paths" enabled.

About that time I noticed an issue with not being able to delete or rename files on an SMB share that were in a deep path. If I went to the other system and moved them up a few folders I was again able to rename the files.

Both of these scenarios work fine from my Windows 10 Pro PC. My Windows 11 Pro PC is a fresh install (Version 21H2 Build 22000.613).

So I believe Windows 11 isn't respecting my Long Paths settings. As a final test, I moved my VS Code Workspace folder to system drive root (C:\firmware) and it compiled without error.

I've seen other questions on here about Windows 11 path length issues that were brushed away because they were encountered using non-Microsoft 3rd Party software, but this is all built-in File Explorer and Microsoft's own VS Code product.

My question is, how do I actually allow long file paths in Windows 11 Pro?

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77 answers

Anonymous

2023-11-19T16:10:35+00:00
Pardon me

I have do an error with the content of xml file

the correct is this

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">

<asmv3:application>
```
  &lt;asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns:ws2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2016/WindowsSettings"&gt;

     &lt;ws2:longPathAware&gt;true&lt;/ws2:longPathAware&gt;

  &lt;/asmv3windowsSettings&gt;
```
</asmv3:application>

</assembly>

Thanks
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Anonymous

2023-11-19T15:59:04+00:00
Hello Vousdoo,

could you be clearer on how to write the .XML file and how to make explorer.exe read it?

If I create the explorer.xml file like this

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
```
&lt;compatibility xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:compatibility.v1"&gt; 

    &lt;application&gt; 

        &lt;!-- Windows 10, version 1903 --&gt; 

        &lt;maxversiontested Id="10.0.18362.1"/&gt; 

        &lt;supportedOS Id="{8e0f7a12-bfb3-4fe8-b9a5-48fd50a15a9a}" /&gt; 

    &lt;/application&gt; 

&lt;/compatibility&gt; 
```
</assembly>

Is this correct or are there errors?

Then, I copy it into the c:\windows folder where explorer.exe is.

What else do I have to do to make it work?

I thank you very much for your help

******@gmail.com
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Anonymous

2023-05-31T17:58:50+00:00

Application manifest is described here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sbscs/application-manifests
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Anonymous

2023-04-06T16:14:54+00:00

i've sat both the GPEDIT and REGEDIT to 1 for enabling the long paths, but both didn't worked for me.
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Anonymous

2023-04-06T11:34:45+00:00

Hi,

Can you please explain as to how do I run this command in steps?
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