Re: [Mingw-users] msys and \\?\ UNC paths

[Greg C. <gch...@sb...>]

On 2010-05-31 12:48Z, Arnold Hendriks wrote:
> I'm having trouble starting MSYS sh.exe from a process, and I think I've 
> narrowed it down to our use of UNC paths (we use UNC paths to avoid 
> dealing with the 255-path length limit on Windows)
> 
>   I seem unable to start the msys tools using \\?\ UNC paths (on WinXP 
> SP3). I have installed the shell into C:\blexdev\msys\bin
> 
> Start > Run > C:\blexdev\msys\bin\sh.exe works fine, and so does typing 
> "start C:\blexdev\msys\bin\sh.exe" in a cmd.exe window.
> 
> However, if I try to invoke the shell with
> 
> Start > Run > \\?\C:\blexdev\msys\bin\sh.exe
> or
> "start \\?\C:\blexdev\msys\bin\sh.exe "
> 
> I see a quick screen flashing by, which immediately disappears.
> 
> Starting notepad works fine this way, and "dir 
> \\?\C:\blexdev\msys\bin\sh.exe" shows the shell, so the syntax looks ok 
> to me. Does anyone have an idea where to start looking?

I ran this in a CMD prompt:

C:\temp>\\?\C:\msys\1.0\bin\sh.exe
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\temp>C:\msys\1.0\bin\sh.exe
sh-2.04$ exit
exit

Same symptoms for solitaire:

C:\temp>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SOL.EXE

C:\temp>\\?\C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SOL.EXE
The system cannot find the path specified.

A little googling suggests it might have something to do with:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor\DisableUNCCheck