BUG: Windows 95 Limits Mailslot Names to 8.3 Naming Convention (139716)

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 received 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 received 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
				

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

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