paths, such as or . The first, skips path normalization. The second, uses the raw device namespace.

In the Windows API, file I/O functions automatically convert into (except when using the prefix). Paths using standard Windows APIs (dating back to DOS and Win9x), were limited to 260 characters, or less, as defined by the environment variable . For backwards compatibility with legacy applications this limitation was not removed until Windows 10, build 1607, when