Truncated Folders May Not Migrate When You Upgrade from Windows 95 or Windows 98 to Windows XP

If you upgrade from either Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98 to Microsoft Windows XP, and the Disable Long filename preservation for old programs option is used, the programs that reside in truncated folders (for example, C:\Progra~1 rather than C:\Program Files) may not be properly migrated.

This problem can occur because in either Windows 95 or Windows 98, you can use the Disable Long filename preservation for old programs option to disable long file names. Windows XP, however, does not have this option to disable long file names.

Windows XP Setup does not check for the prior use of the Disable Long filename preservation for old programs option during an upgrade. Instead, a new long filename folder is created alongside the truncated folder to store Windows XP program files. For example, "C:\Progra~1\Folder1" does not have the same path as "C:\Program Files\Folder1".

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.