In the past, long filenames typically appeared on network servers that used file systems other than the Microsoft® MS-DOS® file allocation table (FAT) file system. In Windows 95, however, long filenames are available for use with network servers and with local disk drives supporting the protected-mode FAT file system.
This article describes the long filename functions and explains how to create and use long filenames in applications written for MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows version 3. x. Microsoft® Win32®-based applications automatically have access to long filenames through the use of the corresponding Win32 file management functions.