| Platform SDK: Win32 API |
If Windows 95/98 is started in single MS-DOS application mode (real mode), only the standard FAT file system (and not the long filename FAT file system) is supported. This means that long filenames that are created in a Windows environment will not be visible when the user exits to single MS-DOS application mode, although the names themselves are physically present on the media. Only the alias (the 8.3 filename) will be visible.
When down-level file systems (such as MS-DOS version 6.0, Windows version 3.1, and OS/2® version 2.11) read a floppy disk that contains long filenames created using Windows 95/98, the long filename will not be visible; only the alias (the 8.3 filename) will be visible. However, Windows NT supports long filenames. Windows 95/98 will see the long filenames of files on a floppy disk that were created using Windows NT, and Windows NT will see the long filenames of files on a floppy disk that were created using Windows 95/98. Windows 95/98 will be able to see the long filenames on NTFS or Novell NetWare's file system if there are long filenames on the server.
Because down-level systems are not aware of long filenames, they will not preserve them. If you copy a file from a floppy disk to the hard disk on a down-level system, the long filename associated with the file is not copied over. If you edit a file on the floppy disk using the alias and then save a new copy back on the floppy disk using the down-level system, the long filename associated with the file will most likely be lost. If you take the floppy disk back to the Windows 95/98 system, only the alias will be associated with the file.