Why does the 260 character path length limit exist in Windows?

Question

I have come up against this problem a few times at inopportune moments:

• Trying to work on open source Java projects with deep paths
• Storing deep Fitne

Answer 1

You can enable long path names using PowerShell:

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem' -Name LongPathsEnabled -Type DWord -Value 1 

Another Version is to use a Group Policy in Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Filesystem: