Access files with long paths (over 260) - excel

Question

I'm using Microsoft Scripting Runtime (FSO) to parse folders and produce a list of all of its contents, the folders are on a network and resultant paths end up longer than 260. The minimum code I have is as below:-
Private Sub ProcessFolder(ByVal StrFolder As String)
Dim Fl As File
Dim Fldr As Folder
Dim RootFldr As Folder
Set RootFldr = FS.GetFolder(StrFolder)
For Each Fl In RootFldr.Files
Debug.Print Fl.Path
Next
For Each Fldr In RootFldr.SubFolders
DoEvents
ProcessFolder Fldr.Path
Next
Set RootFldr = nothing
End sub
At a certain level StrFolder length became 259, the Set RootFldr ... folder line worked but For Each Fl In RootFldr.Files gave the error of 76: Path not found, presumably because the content causes the path to breach the 260 limit.
There were files in the folder when looking in Windows Explorer. I am using Excel as the host for this code as I'm outputting the result to workbooks.
Just to be super clear on my question and its background, I need to use FSO (happy to be shown alternatives if they exist) to access files deeper than 260 characters deep in their network path. I need it as FSO as the tool I have is taking the folder paths and the file paths, name, size created, and modified.

Answer 1

The technique to convert MAXFILE encumbered DOS path names to native OS path names is well established and documented. Summarizing:
Prefix a path that uses a drive letter with \\?\, like \\?\C:\foo\bar\baz.txt
Prefix a path that uses a file share with '\\?\UNC\, like \\?\UNC\server\share\baz.txt.
Works well with FileSystemObject too, at least when I tested your code on Windows 10. That might not necessarily be the case in older Windows versions or with the network redirector on your server. Tested by using the FAR file manager to create subdirectories with long names and verified with:
Dim path = "\\?\C:\temp\LongNameTest"
ProcessFolder path
Produced:
\\?\c:\temp\LongNameTest\VeryLongFolderName0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789\VeryLongFolderName0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789\VeryLongFolderName0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789\VeryLongFolderName0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789\VeryLongFolderName0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789\Chrysanthemum.jpg
Which is 488 characters long. Things to keep in mind:
Native path names must be full paths, they cannot be relative paths. In other words, they must always start with a drive letter or share name and start from the root of the drive/share.
You get the native path name back, don't forget to strip the prefix off again if you display it.
Not tested but should fail, there is still a limitation on the the length of the filename itself (without the directory names), can't be longer than 259 chars. Shouldn't be a problem at all since the user can't create them either.

Answer 2

This took a little creative coding but the use of ShortPath was the answer.
This tool was to create a list of every folder and file in a root folder, the files also showing their size, and created/modified dates. The issue was when the resultant path of a file or folder was over 260, then the error Error 76: Path Not Found was thrown and the code would not capture the content of that area.
Using Microsoft Scripting Runtime (FSO) ShortPath would get around this issue but the path went from human readable to coded:-
Full path
\\ServerName00000\Root_Root_contentmanagement\DPT\STANDARDS_GUIDELINES\VENDOR_CERTIFICATION_FILES\PDFX_CERTIFICATION_ALL\2006_2007\DPT\CompantName0\Approved\Quark\India under Colonial Rule_structure sample\058231738X\Douglas M. Peers_01_058231738X\SUPPORT\ADDITIONAL INFORMATION\IUC-XTG & XML file
Short Path
\\lo3uppesaapp001\pesa_cmcoe_contentmanagement\CTS\S4SJ05~5\V275SE~8\PDM5D9~G\2N52EQ~5\HPE\GS9C6L~U\Approved\Quark\IQPSJ5~F\0CWHH1~G\DOFNHA~8\SUPPORT\A6NO7S~K\IUC-XTG & XML file
(Note I've altered the full path to protect IP and company info but the size is the same)
You can see while I could pass short path to someone and they could put it into Windows Explorer to get there, they would know know where it went by simply looking, to get around this a used a global variable that kept the folder path as a full string and followed what the short path was doing. this string is then what I output to the user. The below code is cut down but shows how I achieved it.
The short answer is ShortPath in FSO will get past the issue but the path will not be pretty.
Dim FS As New FileSystemObject
Dim LngRow As Long
Dim StrFolderPath As String
Dim WkBk As Excel.Workbook
Dim WkSht As Excel.Worksheet
Public Sub Run_Master()
Set WkBk = Application.Workbooks.Add
WkBk.SaveAs ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Data.xlsx"
Set WkSht = WkBk.Worksheets(1)
WkSht.Range("A1") = "Path"
WkSht.Range("B1") = "File Name"
WkSht.Range("C1") = "Size (KB)"
WkSht.Range("D1") = "Created"
WkSht.Range("E1") = "Modified"
LngRow = 2
Run "\\ServerName00000\AREA_DEPT0_TASK000"
Set WkSht = Nothing
WkBk.Close 1
Set WkBk = Nothing
MsgBox "Done!"
End Sub
Private Sub Run(ByVal StrVolumeToCheck As String)
Dim Fldr As Folder
Dim Fldr2 As Folder
Set Fldr = FS.GetFolder(StrVolumeToCheck)
'This is the variable that follows the full path name
StrFolderPath = Fldr.Path
WkSht.Range("A" & LngRow) = StrFolderPath
LngRow = LngRow +1
For Each Fldr2 In Fldr.SubFolders
If (Left(Fldr2.Name, 1) <> ".") And (UCase(Trim(Fldr2.Name)) <> "LOST+FOUND") Then
ProcessFolder Fldr2.Path
End If
Next
Set Fldr = Nothing
End Sub
Private Sub ProcessFolder(ByVal StrFolder As String)
'This is the one that will will be called recursively to list all files and folders
Dim Fls As Files
Dim Fl As File
Dim Fldrs As Folders
Dim Fldr As Folder
Dim RootFldr As Folder
Set RootFldr = FS.GetFolder(StrFolder)
If (RootFldr.Name <> "lost+found") And (Left(RootFldr.Name, 1) <> ".") Then
'Add to my full folder path
StrFolderPath = StrFolderPath & "\" & RootFldr.Name
WkSht.Range("A" & LngRow) = StrFolderPath
WkSht.Range("D1") = RootFldr.DateCreated
WkSht.Range("E1") = RootFldr.DateLastModified
Lngrow = LngRow + 1
'This uses the short path to get the files in FSO
Set Fls = FS.GetFolder(RootFldr.ShortPath).Files
For Each Fl In Fls
'This output our string variable of the path (i.e. not the short path)
WkSht.Range("A" & LngRow) = StrFolderPath
WkSht.Range("B" & LngRow) = Fl.Name
WkSht.Range("C" & LngRow) = Fl.Size /1024 '(bytes to kilobytes)
WkSht.Range("D" & LngRow) = Fl.DateCreated
WkSht.Range("E" & LngRow) = Fl.DateLastModified
LngRow = LngRow + 1
Next
Set Fls = Nothing
'This uses the short path to get the sub-folders in FSO
Set Fldrs = FS.GetFolder(RootFldr.ShortPath).SubFolders
For Each Fldr In Fldrs
'Recurse this Proc
ProcessFolder Fldr.Path
DoEvents
Next
Set Fldrs = Nothing
'Now we have processed this folder, trim the folder name off of the string
StrFolderPath = Left(StrFolderPath, Len(StrFolderPath) - Len(RootFldr.Name)+1)
End If
Set RootFldr = Nothing
End Sub
As mentioned this is a cut version of the code that is working for me to exemplify the the method used to get past this limit. Actually seems quite rudimentary once I'd done it.

Answer 3

I got around this once using the subst command of the command shell. It allows you to assign a drive letter to a local path (kind of like a network share).