Command-Line Filenames Appear Limited to 127 Characters (121059)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95

This article was previously published under Q121059

SYMPTOMS

When you are working in an MS-DOS Prompt session within Windows 95 or when you boot Windows 95 to a command line, command lines are limited to no more than 127 characters.

CAUSE

The default command-line character limitation is 127 characters. In this default configuration, the MS-DOS environment does not allow more than 127 characters to exist in a given command line.

RESOLUTION

The global command-line character limitation can be increased to its maximum by placing the following line in the CONFIG.SYS file:

   shell=c:\windows\command.com /u:250 /p

This command affects all MS-DOS virtual machines (VMs) as well as the Windows 95 command line.

NOTE: If the SHELL command is already present with the /u switch, increase the value to 250.

MORE INFORMATION

With the command-line character limitation set to its maximum, filenames are limited to 250 characters minus the number of characters in the command line. For example, if the command line reads

   copy con "<long filename>"

the maximum length of <long filename> is 244 characters (that is, 250 minus the 11 characters of the command line).

NOTE: It is necessary to put the filename in quotation marks only if the filename contains special characters (such as spaces).

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	12/17/2000
Keywords:	KB121059