Forbidden File and Folder Names in Windows

Forbidden File and Folder Names in Windows

This tip applies to all versions of Windows

Today, I was working on a tip about the Windows Control Panel and I took a screenshot. We have done a lot of tips about Control Panel and I had used about every variation of the name Control Panel I could think of to name screenshots. Today, I decided to name the two new Control Panel screenshots con and con1. But what to my bloodshot eyes should appear when I tried to name a file con.png?

This:

So – no con do, EB!

Maybe somewhere in my long ago, I knew there were system reserved names that you could not use to name a file or folder, but I sure don’t remember it. This came as a surprise to me – and I’ve been using Windows for twenty-some years.  Just goes to show you that no matter how much you think you know, there’s always more to learn.  I learned this like we learn a lot of things, by doing and trying things. That’s the best way to learn.

This is just a fun tip. If you have an inquiring mind, you just may want to know that in Windows these are the names that are reserved for Windows use only- so you can’t use any of the following names to name a file or folder in Windows:

con
prn
aux
nul
com1, com2, com3, com4, com5, com6, com7, com8, com9
lpt1, lpt2, lpt3, lpt4, lpt5, lpt6, lpt7, lpt8, lpt9

None of these names are case sensitive, so you can’t get around using the names by using all capital letters… CON is the same as con in Windows. You can substitute a zero for the letter “o” and use the names c0n, c0m1, c0m2, c0m3 … you get the picture!