Powershell > Path not found but it really exists

Question

I have following powershell to move files from server to local. I keep getting path not found. The path is long like 280 characters + the file name is about 30 to 70 characters. What to do?

$destDir = "C:\test\Files\"
$csv = import-csv 'C:\test\FilesWithPath.csv'

#For each line in the CSV
$csv | % {                                                           

            robocopy $_.SourceFilePath $destDir $_.SourceFileName 
        }

You exceed the maximum path limit of 256 characters, is there any way you can move the single file or simplify the path? — Marcus, May 24 '13 at 14:13
Well, Idea is to move these files (from long server path) to local so that I can use another script to move these file from local drive to SharePoint. — torres, May 24 '13 at 14:15
Use robocopy: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/12179.net-powershell-path-too-long-exception-and-a-net-powershell-robocopy-clone.aspx — CB., May 24 '13 at 14:17
why did you edit your question to actually be an answer? Without the original question the Q&A format is lost. The answer is already below. Revert your question to the original non-working version. — x0n, May 24 '13 at 20:42
[Find long file path](http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Function-to-get-file-and-475aeb3a) but the same idea applies with moving data. — E.V.I.L., May 24 '13 at 20:44

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

1

My suggestion is this: Use this to find all the files that have a path longer than 256 chars - How do I find files with a path length greater than 260 characters in Windows?

Save to CSV and write another script to CD to the location and copy/move using only the filename and target path.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

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answered May 24 '13 at 14:16

Marcus

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 24 '13 at 15:07

Credit goes to C.B.

Here is the code that works with LONG file path with Robocopy.

$destDir = "C:\test\Files\"
$csv = import-csv 'C:\test\FilesWithPath.csv'

#For each line in the CSV
$csv | % {                                                           

            robocopy $_.SourceFilePath $destDir $_.SourceFileName 
        }

Ansgar Wiechers · Answer 3 · 2013-05-24T21:45:47.173

0

One possible way to deal with this issue is to subst the parent directory to a drive letter and copy the file from there:

$csv | % {
  $i = $_.SourceFilePath.LastIndexOf('\')
  $d = $_.SourceFilePath.SubString(0, $i)
  $f = $_.SourceFilePath.SubString($i+1)

  subst T: $d
  Copy-Item "T:\$f" $destDir
  subst T: /d
}

edited May 24 '13 at 21:45

answered May 24 '13 at 15:30

Ansgar Wiechers

193,178
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Powershell > Path not found but it really exists

3 Answers3