Enable 8dot3 File Name Creation

Issue

How to Enable 8dot3 File Name Creation.

Solution

8 dot 3 File Name Creation can be enabled from either an elevated command prompt or the Windows Registry

To enable 8dot3 File Name Creation from the command prompt:

1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
    

2. Execute the following command:  fsutil.exe behavior set disable8dot3 0
    

3. Windows 7 will not provide any response. Windows 8 and Windows 10 will respond with the following:  "The registry state is now: 0 (Enable 8dot3 name creation on all volumes)".
   

4. Reboot the PC.

To enable 8dot3 File Name Creation from the Windows Registry:

1. Run regedit.exe
    
2. Navigate to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
    
3. Right-click NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation and select Modify
    
4. Set the Value to 0
    
5. Reboot the workstation and verify the value remained 0

To verify that 8dot3 File Name Creation has been enabled:

1. Open a command prompt "as administrator"

2. Run the following command:
   fsutil.exe behavior query disable8dot3

3. If the 8.3 file name creation is disabled the following result will be displayed:
  The registry state of NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation is 0

The Ntdisable8dot3NameCreation value can be controlled by a local or group policy.  If the value is controlled by a Group Policy, the value may be set back to its original value after the reboot.  If the value is controlled by Group Policy the Active Directory administrator may need to make this update to their policy.

Level of Complexity 

Moderate

Applies to  

References

N/A

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