What does it mean "Could not find a part of the path"?

1
votes

Is there a limit to the size of the path the get-childitem and select-string can handle? If yes what is the alternative?

When I run the following command on the path:

PS E:\KINGSTON backup5\03 Learning\Softwares\Mathematica\Mathematica 12\Mathematica Directories Backup2\C,Users,atfai,AppData,Roaming,Mathematica\Paclets\Repository\SystemDocsUpdate1-12.0.0\Documentation\English\Workflows> get-childitem -recurse -filter "*.nb" -file | select-string -pattern ".*ProcessObject.*" -casesensitive

I get the following error

select-string : The file E:\KINGSTON backup5\03 Learning\Softwares\Mathematica\Mathematica 12\Mathematica Directories Backup2\C,Users,atfai,AppData,Roaming,Mathematica\Paclets\Repository\SystemDocsUpdate1-12.0.0\Documentation\English\Workflows\ChangeTheStyleOfPointsInA2DScatterPlot.nb cannot be read: Could not find a part of the path 'E:\KINGSTON backup5\03 Learning\Softwares\Mathematica\Mathematica 12\Mathematica Directories Backup2\C,Users,atfai,AppData,Roaming,Mathematica\Paclets\Repository\SystemDocsUpdate1-12.0.0\Documentation\English\Workflows\ChangeTheStyleOfPointsInA2DScatterPlot.nb'. At line:1 char:47 + ... nb" -file | select-string -pattern ".ProcessObject." -casesensitive ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Select-String], ArgumentException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ProcessingFile,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SelectStringCommand

Moreover if I run the same command on the following path:

PS E:\Computer Backup\Downloads - Current\Windows 10 Optimization\SoftwareDistribution.old3\Download\736aed4d238d4999f5ea5b04589077ed\Package_for_RollupFix~~amd64~~17134.677.1.6\x86_wcf-system.servicemodel_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_10.0.17134.254_none_d5ff175e12d127c0> get-childitem -recurse -filter "*.nb" -file | select-string -pattern ".*ProcessObject.*" -casesensitive

I get the error this time from get-childitem

get-childitem : Could not find a part of the path 'E:\Computer Backup\Downloads - Current\Windows 10 Optimization\SoftwareDistribution.old3\Download\736aed4d238d4999f5ea5b 04589077ed\Package_for_RollupFix~~amd64~~17134.677.1.6\x86_wcf-system.servicemodel_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_10.0.17134.254_none_d5ff175e12d127c0'. At line:1 char:1 + get-childitem -recurse -filter "*.nb" -file | select-string -pattern ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ReadError: (E:\Computer Bac...5ff175e12d127c0:String) [Get-ChildItem], DirectoryNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirIOError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

What does it mean "Could not find a part of the path"? The drive E has NTFS file system which is supported by Windows so its powershell commands should be able to handle it? What is going on here?

BTW I can access both paths from the Windows explorer and open the files in the notepad. So the paths exist and files are clearly not corrupt or inaccessible.

2
powershell
why are you NOT using quotes with paths that have embedded spaces? – Lee_Dailey
Actually, the real question should be, why do you include PS E:\Computer Backup\Downloads - Current\Windows 10 Optimization\SoftwareDistribution.old3\Download\736aed4d238d4999f5ea5b04589077ed\Package_for_RollupFix~~amd64~~17134.677.1.6\x86_wcf-system.servicemodel_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_10.0.17134.254_none_d5ff175e12d127c0> in your code like this? Makes it really difficult to understand what the actual command is you are running. – FatalBulletHit
Whenever I had issues with locations (which certainly existed), using the -LiteralPath parameter helped. – FatalBulletHit
@FatalBulletHit can you tell me how to add the -LiteralPath parameter since path in this case is found by one command and piped into the other? – user13892
Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath 'E:\Computer Backup\Downloads - Current\Windows 10 Optimization\SoftwareDistribution.old3\Download\736aed4d238d4999f5ea5b04589077ed\Package_for_RollupFix~~amd64~~17134.677.1.6\x86_wcf-system.servicemodel_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_10.0.17134.254_none_d5ff175e12d127c0' – FatalBulletHit

2 Answers

1
votes

The problem is, that long paths aren't enabled on your OS, so there is a limit of 260 characters.

Depending on the version of windows you are running, this can be fixed by enabling the group policy Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem > NTFS > Enable NTFS long paths.

If you don't have that option, changing the value of the registry key LongPathsEnabled at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem from 0 to 1 does the job as well.

0
votes

If you can't use the registry or group policy fix of the other answer you may be able to work around this by using the prefix \\?\E:\folder1\...

To specify an extended-length path, use the "\?" prefix. For example, "\?\D:\very long path". [...] The "\?" prefix can also be used with paths constructed according to the universal naming convention (UNC). To specify such a path using UNC, use the "\?\UNC" prefix. For example, "\?\UNC\server\share", where "server" is the name of the computer and "share" is the name of the shared folder.

Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=cmd