Windows 10 Can't rename file: "The file name you specified is not valid or too long."

[Decèdere]

I have a bunch of files on a second hard drive. The files were named on Linux and a bunch of them contain characters that Windows disallows. Apparently Windows doesn't allow removing those characters either because I get that error in the title whenever I try. I tried powershell "rename-item" and it gives the same error. How can I rename these goddamn files? I really don't want to have to reboot and use a live distro to rename them because there are so many and I'm in the process of going through them.

[Todd420]

Google it. I did. 1st hit.

[Decèdere]

Ok. I found a bunch of solutions on how to delete the file. Like 3rd party software. I'll try again and try harder this time, thx.

[Decèdere]

Coming up with nothing so far. No special syntax or command seems to work, and 3rd party "file unlock" software seem unable to work with these files for some reason. These files have question marks in them, btw. You'd think some application would be able to open them and copy them byte for byte or something... So far it's looking like a live distro is the only solution. ?

[worik]

On 6/15/2020 at 4:56 PM, Seelenlos said:

and a bunch of them contain characters that Windows disallows

I wonder what those are ? ?

Anyway, I would just name them on the Linux system into something that Windoze10 can digest and transfer them to your W10 again.

 

[Decèdere]

It's my music library. I keep finding songs that have illegal characters and Windows can't do a single thing with them, not even delete them. I keep searching google using different terms but I'm not finding anything useful. I'm surprised there isn't software specifically for this problem. I'll just use a Linux distro and find something that can do a search & replace.

[landess]

The whole thing smacks of negative marketing. You can be the good guy and win the affections of potential users, or be the bad guy and discourage the use of competing options. Guess which route Microsoft took?