How do I know if long path is enabled?

Microsoft Windows enforces a Maximum Path Length Limitation, which unfortunately is likely to cause issues in developer usage.

In particular, our set of tools are affected by how we create isolated Python environments. For example, we cannot influence or guarantee how the Python libraries added as dependencies are named and structured.

So, to ensure the proper functioning of our tools, Windows Long Path Support needs to be enabled in your system.

How to enable Windows Long Path Support

NOTE: Microsoft Windows comes in many revisions and variants: different versions can impact how the setting is applied or if this is supported at all.

This guide and our apps work under our system requirements.

Admin permissions are required to execute the fix.

If you are working with an IT department, you should notify them to make this change into a company-wide setting using group policies, as shown in the step-by-step guide.

Applications

With the latest versions of our applications Robocorp Assistant, Robocorp Workforce Agent and Robocorp Code for VS Code, all make initial system diagnoses to detect the problem and provide an automatic way to fixing it.

Robocorp Code extension users

Support to fix the issue is integrated into the extension.

RCC users

Starting from version 7.0.7, RCC can detect the problem and fix it:

• To check run rcc configure longpaths
• To enable run rcc configure longpaths --enable (admin permissions are required)

Step-by-step guide

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor application: - Start --> type gpedit.msc --> Enter:

2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem. On the right, find the "Enable win32 long paths" item and double-click it.

3. Change the setting to Enabled

4. Exit the Local Group Policy Editor and restart your computer (or sign out and back in) to allow the changes to finish.

If the problem persists after those steps, try the following:

1. Open the Registry Editor application: - Start --> type regedit.msc and press Enter:

2. Navigate to HKEY-LOCAL-MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > FileSystem. On the right, find the LongPathsEnabled item and double-click it.

3. Change the Value data: to 1.

4. Exit the Registry Editor.

March 29, 2021

By default, the maximum path length limit in Windows is 260 characters. So if you see “Please enable NTFS long paths in your system.” error it means that the length of some paths that are processed by the Backupery application is more than 260. However, it is possible to remove the limitation on Windows 10 (v. 1607 or later). There are alternative ways to allow Backupery apps to access paths beyond the 260 characters limit:

Windows Home Users:

Filesystem Registry entry

1. 1. Press Win + R keys on your keyboard and type regedit then press Enter. Registry Editor will be opened.
   2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.
   3. Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named LongPathsEnabled and set it to 1.
   4. Restart your Windows.

Alternatively, you can download, unzip, and double-click the following REG file, it will make the registry changes automatically. Do not forget to restart your computer after applying the file.

Windows Pro and Enterprise (Windows Server 2016 or above) Users: 

There are three alternative ways to enable long paths:

Using Group Policy

1. 1. Press Win + R keys on your keyboard and type gpedit.msc then press Enter. Group Policy Editor will be opened.
   2. Go to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Filesystem, then enable the Enable Win32 long paths option.
   3. Restart your Windows.

Group Policy Registry entry

1. 1. Press Win + R keys on your keyboard and type regedit then press Enter. Registry Editor will be opened.
   2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies.
   3. Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named LongPathsEnabled and set it to 1.
   4. Restart your Windows.

Filesystem Registry entry

1. 1. Press Win + R keys on your keyboard and type regedit then press Enter. Registry Editor will be opened.
   2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem.
   3. Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named LongPathsEnabled and set it to 1.
   4. Restart your Windows.

Alternatively, you can download, unzip, and double-click the following REG file, it will make the registry changes automatically. Do not forget to restart your computer after applying the file.

After restarting your Windows just run the backup again and it should work as expected.