windows conventions windows has maximum path length of 260 characters, includes the drive letter (+ colon , backslash) folder , sub-folder names , back-slashes. under windows using ntfs file system file , folder names may to 256 characters long. the following characters invalid file or folder names on windows using ntfs: / ? < > \ : * | " , character can type ctrl key. in addition above illegal characters caret ^ not permitted under windows operating systems using fat file system. in addition these characters, following conventions illegal: placing space @ end of name placing period @ end of name the following file names reserved under windows: com1, com2, com3, com4, com5, com6, com7, com8, com9, lpt1, lpt2, lpt3, lpt4, lpt5, lpt6, lpt7, lpt8, lpt9, con, nul, , prn macintosh os 9 conventions the illegal character file , folder names in mac os 9 colon ":" file , folder names may 31 characters in length macintosh os x conventions since mac os x build on ...