Installation Path Length Problem

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During product installation, the 'system path length' problem can stop the installation on Windows platforms. The 'system path length' problem is not related to limits on file names.

'Long Path' Warning

If the installer detects a path longer than 1800 characters, the install can either fail or display a warning/error message telling you that your System Path is getting dangerously close to the Windows limit. A message is displayed such as:

Our installer needs to add a few items to your system path.  It appears your path is already quite long and may cause Windows trouble if the installer proceeds.  We recommend that you stop and reduce your path length at this time, OK?

Why am I here?

You have reached this page as a result of exiting our installer when you received a 'long path' warning.

The maximum length of the Windows environment variable called PATH can vary, depending upon your operating system version, bit level, and a few other factors. The length of "expanded" variables in your path also gets counted in this total, so even if your path looks shorter, it might be too long. For technical details on path lengths and limits for your environment, please visit Microsoft's site and view their knowledgebase.

What can I do to shorten my PATH variable?

1. Open the Run dialog by pressing Windows Key + R and type sysdm.cpl <Enter>
2. In the System Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Environment Variables button.
4. In the lower System variables panel, select the Path variable, and click Edit.

In the Edit System Variable dialog box, the path string is only on a single line, so you might want to copy/paste the path into Notepad or your favorite text editor so that you can modify the path more easily. Then copy/paste the shortened path back to the Edit System Variable dialog when you are done.

Things you want to look for immediately to remove:

• True duplicate entries.

Remember that paths in Windows are not case sensitive, so c:\windows and C:\WINDOWS are equivalent. Feel free to safely get rid of one of those duplicates if you know they are actually the same.

• Orphaned application references.

Many Windows uninstallers do not clean up well after themselves, and as a result there might be references in the path to apps that are no longer on your system.

What will happen if I ignore the warnings and proceed with the install?

Our installer will add roughly 100-220 characters to your path, so make sure you have room.

We have seen extreme cases where the Windows path gets destroyed and some Windows functionality stops working correctly.

It is a good practice to keep your path statement to a reasonable size to avoid these kinds of problems.

My path got overwritten, how can I fix this?

We now take a snapshot of your path before and after the install. Using the saved paths, you can always restore if needed. You can find these files in the product installation directory.

The files are called:

• Path-Before-Install.txt
• Path-After-Install.txt