KNOWN ISSUE: PCTWiz.exe crashes with folders that have names with more than 256-characters

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

PCTWiz.exe crashes when it tries to migrate a directory or file that has more than 256 letters in its name.

Cause

Long file names are limited to 255 characters in Windows. However, the maximum path length in Windows base computers is 259 characters. The maximum path length represents the length of the filename, plus the number of characters used to represent the drive and folder where the file is located. For example:

C:\Windows\LongFileName.extension

This file has 33 characters, but the filename is only 22 characters.

Because the path length is limited to 259 characters, a long filename is limited to less than 255 characters if more than five characters are needed to represent the drive and folder where the file is located. If five characters or less are needed to represent the drive and folder where the file is located, the long filename is limited to 255 characters, even if the total path length is less than 259 characters. For example, if a file is located in the root folder of a drive, the long file name is still limited to 255 characters, even though 256 characters could be used before the maximum path length is reached.

Resolution

We don't have a workaround for this issue. The folder or filename will have to be change to have less than 255 characters long to let PCTWiz.exe to properly work. We are following the limitations that Microsoft has for the file name structure.

Applies To
PC Transplant Solution 6.5, 6.8