Windows 10: Softwaredistribution.bak files pathnames are longer than 255 characters

Hi,


Windows updates seems to be creating file pathnames greater than 255 characters on my laptop running Windows 10 Home 64-bit .


They are in the c:\windows\Softwaredistribution.bak\. . . folder .


Some of the files' pathnames are coming in at 281 characters!


Surely this could cause problems for my c:\windows folder, hence for my system.


Can I safely delete the Softwaredistribution.bak folder, and is there any way to stop this happening?


Thanks for your help.

:)

 

Does a single file with too long pathname abort automatic File Histoy Backups?

File History backup stopped working after setting it up to run every 12 hours and observing that it did work for a few days.

FileHistory-Engine>File History backup log showed that there was a single file that had a too long pathname. The pathname was shortened to less than 255 characters and File History was manually invoked successfully a few times, each time after making a
small change to a test file. Why is the user not notified when automatic backups fail?

 

Can't open or rename file (name is too long) WTF?

You can't have a pathname more than 255 characters long. That includes ALL containing folders.

That's why I think 99% of people need to be re-taught how to zip things up.

"Can't extract, file patch exceeds 255 characters."

*sigh*

 

Windows 10 .bak file extensions not showing

Hi Riel,

Please have a look at the following - -

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/971058/how-do-i-reset-windows-update-components

It is step 4a. that I cannot get past. Can you tell me exactly what I should be doing?

That is, am I supposed to find “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.bak” and “C:\Windows\system32\catroot2.bak,

or just

“C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution” and “C:\Windows\system32\catroot2. and add the .bak or add "SoftwareDistribution" and "catroot2"

so that I end up with

“C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.bak”

and “C:\Windows\system32\catroot2 catroot2.bak

I am at a loss, and I have not been able to install an update since my machine was updated to build 14393.693, what was that 6 months ago?