This article has a pretty nice overview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/

This article has a pretty nice overview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa36... The MAX_PATH limitation can be avoided by using the \\?\ prefix (which also disables some kinds of path normalization, like converting / to \) or by using paths relative to the current directory. Unfortunately, most tools (including Windows Explorer and other Microsoft software) still don't work with paths longer than MAX_PATH.