BUG: Windows 95 Limits Mailslot Names to 8.3 Naming Convention

ID: Q139716

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK), version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you use Mailslots with Windows 95 or Windows 98, the mailslot name is silently limited to the MS-DOS 8.3 naming convention including subdirectories. For example, if a mailslot is created in Windows 95 or Windows 98 with this name:


   \\ComputerName\Mailslot\Test_slot

then although CreateMailslot returns success, the actual mailslot name is set to this:


   \\ComputerName\Mailslot\Test_slo

The mailslot file name is truncated to eight characters and the file extension is truncated to three characters. Therefore, when a client running under Windows NT sends data to \\ComputerName\Mailslot\Test_slot, the data is never recieved by the Windows 95 or Windows 98 server. This is because the names of the two mailslots do not match.

However, when a Windows 95 or Windows 98 client sends data to \\ComputerName\Mailslot\Test_slot, the data is recieved by the server. This is because both computers are running Windows 95 or Windows 98, so they both truncate the mailslot name to store the name as:


   \\ComputerName\Mailslot\Test_slo

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

This problem also occurs if a server is running under Windows NT and the client is running under Windows 95 or Windows 98. Because the Windows 95 or Windows 98 client truncates the name of the mailslot, the Windows NT server is unable to receive the data. Here are examples of names that will not work:


   \\ComputerName\mailslot\test_slot.slot
   \\ComputerName\mailslot\test_slo.slot
   \\ComputerName\mailslot\path1\path2\test_slot.slot

Here are examples of names that will work:


   \\ComputerName\mailslot\test_slo.slt
   \\ComputerName\mailslot\test_slo.slo
   \\ComputerName\mailslot\path1\path2\test_slt.slt

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbnetwork kbAPI kbSDKPlatform kbWinOS95bug kbGrpNet
Version : WINDOWS:4.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug