Best way to resolve file path too long exception

The solution that worked for me was to edit the registry key to enable long path behaviour, setting the value to 1. This is a new opt-in feature for Windows 10

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem LongPathsEnabled (Type: REG_DWORD)

I got this solution from a named section of the article that @james-hill posted.

https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/desktop/FileIO/naming-a-file#maximum-path-length-limitation

There's a library called Zeta Long Paths that provides a .NET API to work with long paths.

Here's a good article that covers this issue for both .NET and PowerShell: ".NET, PowerShell Path too Long Exception and a .NET PowerShell Robocopy Clone"

As the cause of the error is obvious, here's some information that should help you solve the problem:

See this MS article about Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces

Here's a quote from the link:

Maximum Path Length Limitation In the Windows API (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), the maximum length for a path is MAX_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters. A local path is structured in the following order: drive letter, colon, backslash, name components separated by backslashes, and a terminating null character. For example, the maximum path on drive D is "D:\some 256-character path string<NUL>" where "<NUL>" represents the invisible terminating null character for the current system codepage. (The characters < > are used here for visual clarity and cannot be part of a valid path string.)

And a few workarounds (taken from the comments):

There are ways to solve the various problems. The basic idea of the solutions listed below is always the same: Reduce the path-length in order to have path-length + name-length < MAX_PATH. You may:

• Share a subfolder
• Use the commandline to assign a drive letter by means of SUBST
• Use AddConnection under VB to assign a drive letter to a path

You can create a symbolic link with a shorter directory. First open command line for example by Shift + RightClick in your desired folder with a shorter path (you may have to run it as administrator).

Then type with relative or absolute paths:

mklink ShortPath\To\YourLinkedSolution C:\Path\To\Your\Solution /D

And then start the Solution from the shorter path. The advantage here is: You don't have to move anything.