Maybe long path issue with legacy software

[marco_a]

I am migrating some legacy software (native for Win95, Win98, NT4.0 as AutoCAD 2000, Autolisp/ARX libraries, plot /CNC drivers) from an old XP computer to another computer running Win 7. This legacy software runs with no issue on Win 7 32bit with a few tricks (run as administrator, run in compatibility mode XP2) but, during installation, I've found a problem; I tried to run an executable from a long path but it didn't work:

C:\Users\cad2000\Desktop\ASUS_Q87M-E\Aggiornamenti_AutoCAD2000\risolve_stampa_autocad_2000\Plotupdate2000\Plotupdate2000>setup.exe
Impossibile eseguire il programma specificato.

Sorry for the italian language. I suppose it translates to: unable to execute the specified program or the system cannot execute the specified program.

But modern software runs from the same folder with no problem at all.

Then I moved the folder of the same legacy software to the desktop and the executable worked fine with no issue:

C:\Users\cad2000\Desktop\Plotupdate2000>setup.exe

The only difference I can see is the length of the path.

Do you think the legacy software can have problems with long path names?

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by marco_a
missing information

[jaclaz]

There is (was) a limit to 256/260 characters in paths, so-called MAX_PATH:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation

https://learn.microsoft.com/it-it/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation

You can try using the \\?\ prefix in some cases, but this might or might not work specifically (i.e. if the call to a long path is from within an installer or whatever other program), BUT the long path you posted is much shorter than 256 characters, so the reason is *something else*, unless (since it is an installer) it tries to create a longer path to (say) decompress some files, like:

C:\Users\cad2000\Desktop\ASUS_Q87M-E\Aggiornamenti_AutoCAD2000\risolve_stampa_autocad_2000\Plotupdate2000\Plotupdate2000\a_subfolder_inside_another_subfolder\that_we_will_use_for_temporary_files\temporary_file_folder\yes_really_temporary\

Permissions?

It is NOT the OS version (as it works from another place).

jaclaz

 

[marco_a]

Thank you jaclaz,

I did further experiments and it seems that permissions are not related to this problem.

Then I moved the whole folder containing this installer to another PC running XP and it had exactly the same behavior: the short path does work, the long path doesn't.

Eventually I moved the same folder to another PC running Win98 and it had exactly the same behavior BUT with a verbose error message (photos in attachment).

You are right: the problem is not related to the OS but it is related to this installer. I think I don't need further investigation.  

 

[jaclaz]

It's strange, Error 105 and that message is an InstallShield error message, and seemingly it is often connected with a corrupted file, but in this case it could well be another error (caused by the Windows 98) that has nothing to do with the issue on XP and 7, anyway it helps to identify the installer as Installshield, that has a whole lot of functions related to long path names, it is likely that (in the installer) some of this functions are incorrectly used and are "triggered" by a long enough (but not full 256/260 long) path.

jaclaz