Cannot rename files in windows 10 windows#

So, when you were saving a text file, you could tell your text editor to вЂњsaveвЂќ it to the printer device, which would print it. It used multiple disks and no directories, so those special files representing devices effectively appeared everywhere, on every disk. Unfortunately, CP/M was designed for computers with very little memory and no hard drives. In 1974, this same concept was added to the CP/M operating system. In UNIX, вЂњ everything is a file.вЂќ (The same is true in UNIX-likeВ operating systems like Linux today.) Hardware devices were represented at special paths like /dev/lp0 for the first printer and /dev/tty for the console. pPbkZiE57tДЄs recently explained on Twitter, this issue dates back to 1974.

Cannot rename files in windows 10 windows#

This limitation, which is still found in the very latest Windows 10, dates back to BEFORE STAR WARS.

It is 2018 and this error message is a mistake from 1974.

What Happened in 1974, and Why Should We Care? You canвЂ™t use various special characters like the following in names, either.В Consult MicrosoftвЂ™s official documentation for more information. Of course, Windows also restricts file names in other ways. Or try renaming any file to one of these names in File Explorer. Try saving a file as вЂњcon.txtвЂќ or вЂњlpt6.txtвЂќ in Notepad. And Windows isnвЂ™t case sensitive, so it doesnвЂ™t matter whether itвЂ™s CON, con, or CoN-Windows wonвЂ™t let you use that name.

So you canвЂ™t name a file вЂњcon.txtвЂќ, вЂњcon.jpgвЂќ, вЂњor вЂњcon.docвЂќ. Note that you canвЂ™t use these file names with any file extension. Microsoft provides an official list of reserved file names, and here they are:Д¬ON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, and LPT9 This is all because of a choice made in 1974 and MicrosoftвЂ™s thirst for eternal backward compatibility. Forget calling a file вЂњcon.txtвЂќ or вЂњaux.mp3вЂќ. Windows вЂњreservesвЂќ certain file names and doesnвЂ™t let you use them anywhere.