Windows knowhow

Windows: Enable generation of 8.3 Names

6 Comments

Hi,

in newer Versios of Windows the generation of the DOS Style 8.3 names is only enabled for Drive C: for all other volumes it is disabled by default.

If you need this “feature” you can either enabled it globally on a system or on a per volumes basis.

Check the current state

D:\> fsutil.exe 8dot3name query
The registry state is: 2 (Per volume setting - the default).
D:\> fsutil.exe 8dot3name query D:
The volume state is: 1 (8dot3 name creation is disabled).
The registry state is: 2 (Per volume setting - the default).

Based on the above two settings, 8dot3 name creation is disabled on D:

To enable it for all volumes

D:\> fsutil 8dot3name set 0

Or for a specific volume

D:\> fsutil 8dot3name set D: 0

and to disable it

D:\> fsutil 8dot3name set D: 1

Michael

Reference: Technet

6 thoughts on “Windows: Enable generation of 8.3 Names”

  1. “in newer Versios of Windows the generation of the DOS Style 8.3 names is disabled by default.”
    WRONG!

    Windows 10 – clean install 08/08/18
    C:\Windows\system32>fsutil 8dot3name query C:
    The volume state is: 0 (8dot3 name creation is enabled).
    The registry state is: 2 (Per volume setting – the default).

    Based on the above settings, 8dot3 name creation is enabled on C:

    C:\Windows\system32>

    1. What the author probably meant is that by default, it’s disabled on all drive letters besides the system drive – which is C. So why don’t you take your autistic outbursts somewhere else. That’s right, I called you autistic since you just shout “WRONG!” like an idiot.

        1. This is not the case at all. Take for example my recently fresh install (as in, from a USB stick and everything) of Win10 v2004 (and this was very much the case back in v1903 as well, as I did a similar lookup then):

          8dot3 name creation is enabled on C:
          8dot3 name creation is disabled on D:
          8dot3 name creation is enabled on F:
          8dot3 name creation is disabled on G:
          8dot3 name creation is disabled on H:
          8dot3 name creation is disabled on O:
          8dot3 name creation is disabled on P:

          Partition C and D is on the same drive. All the remaining partitions are on separate drives.

          C:\ is the OS drive, and have 8.3 filenames enabled.
          F:\ is an really old drive from 2015 or possibly even earlier, and I have no idea what it has gone through.
          G:\ was created in May 2018, so Win10 v1803 that I used at the time.
          H:\ was created in October 2019, so Win10 v1903 that I used at the time.
          D:\, O:\, and P:\ all were created on v2004.

          As you can see, the only partitions that have 8.3 filename creations enabled are the C:\ drive (enabled during install of Windows 10) and a 5+ year old partition. No other partitions created since 2018 or later have had 8.3 filename creations enabled by default.

          1. Hi Derpinator,

            ok, thx. Correct is C: enabled and all other drives disabled by default. I altered the post.

            Michael

  2. FYI, it appears that this may vary depending on the version of Windows you install. Also, if you’re imaging your machines in an enterprise environment, this setting may be customized in the image. In my case, a freshly imaged machine had 8.3 name generation disabled for all volumes via registry.

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