Breaking change: The behaviour of System.IO.Path.GetFullPath has changed for some reserved filenames.

[tg73]

Description

Compare the two invocations of System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) detailed below. One returns \\.\COM3, the other returns C:\COM3.1.txt. The older system returns \\.\COM3 as our code expects, the newer system does not. This is a breaking change. I am not able to determine exactly what is responsible for this change - it could be the netfx version, the OS version, or some windows update. The filename COM3.1.txt is used as an example, but other variations are affected in the same way, for example COM3.txt, COM1.txt, PRN.txt.

Both sample systems are x64.

On a sample Win 10 system:

PS C:\> [io.path]::getfullpath("COM3.1.txt")
\\.\COM3
PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.19041.1682
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.19041.1682
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

PS C:\> [Environment]::OSVersion

Platform ServicePack Version      VersionString
-------- ----------- -------      -------------
 Win32NT             10.0.19045.0 Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0

PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Version
4.8.04084
PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Release
528372

On a sample Win 11 system:

PS C:\> [io.path]::getfullpath("COM3.1.txt")
C:\COM3.1.txt
PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.22621.608
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.22621.608
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

PS C:\> [Environment]::OSVersion

Platform ServicePack Version      VersionString
-------- ----------- -------      -------------
 Win32NT             10.0.22621.0 Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.22621.0

PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Version
4.8.09032
PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Release
533320

Reproduction Steps

See above.

Expected behavior

System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) should return \\.\COM3, as it has done historically.

Actual behavior

System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) returns C:\COM3.1.txt on some likely more-modern or more-updated environments.

Regression?

Yes, it is a regression.

Known Workarounds

No response

Configuration

See description.

Other information

No response

[ghost]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @dotnet/area-system-io
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Description

Compare the two invocations of System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) detailed below. One returns \\.\COM3, the other returns C:\COM3.1.txt. The older system returns \\.\COM3 as our code expects, the newer system does not. This is a breaking change. I am not able to determine exactly what is responsible for this change - it could be the netfx version, the OS version, or some windows update. The filename COM3.1.txt is used as an example, but other variations are affected in the same way, for example COM3.txt, COM1.txt, PRN.txt.

Both sample systems are x64.

On a sample Win 10 system:

PS C:\> [io.path]::getfullpath("COM3.1.txt")
\\.\COM3
PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.19041.1682
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.19041.1682
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

PS C:\> [Environment]::OSVersion

Platform ServicePack Version      VersionString
-------- ----------- -------      -------------
 Win32NT             10.0.19045.0 Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0

PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Version
4.8.04084
PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Release
528372

On a sample Win 11 system:

PS C:\> [io.path]::getfullpath("COM3.1.txt")
C:\COM3.1.txt
PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.22621.608
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.22621.608
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

PS C:\> [Environment]::OSVersion

Platform ServicePack Version      VersionString
-------- ----------- -------      -------------
 Win32NT             10.0.22621.0 Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.22621.0

PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Version
4.8.09032
PS C:\> (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").Release
533320

Reproduction Steps

See above.

Expected behavior

System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) should return \\.\COM3, as it has done historically.

Actual behavior

System.IO.Path.GetFullPath( "COM3.1.txt" ) returns C:\COM3.1.txt on some likely more-modern or more-updated environments.

Regression?

Yes, it is a regression.

Known Workarounds

No response

Configuration

See description.

Other information

No response

Author:	tg73
Assignees:	-
Labels:	area-System.IO, untriaged
Milestone:	-

[danmoseley]

Could you try sooner older .NET Core versions to narrow down when it changed?

[tg73]

I've realised I might have put this in the wrong repo. I'm encountering the issue with .NET Framework 4.x - and hence the challenge with identifying exactly what part of the Windows installation has caused the change.

If this is the wrong repo, could an admin move it if possible, or advise and I'll repost in the correct repo.

[danmoseley]

For what it's worth, I get the "c:" result for all versions of .NET Framework and .NET Core on my machine. Could it depend on what serial ports exist on the machine (from the OS point of view) and how they are registered? Path.GetFullPath("COM3") gives \\.\COM3 as you expect.

I am guessing that .NET Core behaves the same as .NET Framework on whatever machine is hitting this, is that right?

What does HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM have?

Also, is this breaking something or are you just curious?

[tg73]

@danmoseley try it with PRN.txt, AUX.txt or other reserved names. Unless you rollback a Windows update, you only have one 4.x version of the runtime installed on your machine, even if you target a different version. You need to try a variety of different machines with different installed versions etc. Using GetFullPath in this way is a known technique for identifying reserved filenames. I discovered the behaviour change because our unit tests broke, and code changes were required to accommodate the changes behaviour. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/naming-a-file.

[danmoseley]

Unless you rollback a Windows update, you only have one 4.x version of the runtime installed on your machine, even if you target a different version. You need to try a variety of different machines with different installed versions etc.

I used 2.0. It is side by side.

[danmoseley]

Anyway, I found the relevant change in the OS. It makes the code within GetFullPathNameW be more strict when it decides whether an input is a legacy DOS device name. Previously, extensions were ignored, now they are not. The change was apparently to make it possible to work with files from other OS, eg., in the Linux kernel repo there is a file named aux.c.

As you suspected, it's not a change in .NET. Shall we close this?

[tg73]

I used 2.0. It is side by side.

Ok! Now that's what I call checking for a regression...

Anyway, I found the relevant change in the OS.

Do you know what footprint (eg, OS version) this change has? It would be interesting and useful to know.

As you suspected, it's not a change in .NET. Shall we close this?

Given that methods like GetInvalidPathChars return a platform-specific result, I would agree that in this matter, GetFullPath is behaving in the same spirit. However, despite quite lengthy discussion of what paths can look like, including platform differences, I can find no mention in the docs docs of the reserved filename behaviour on Windows platforms. Also, I would argue that differing behaviour across relatively similar Windows platforms would come as quite a surprise to most developers (versus differing behaviour between Windows and Linux, for example). So perhaps the best resolution to this issue would be to improve the docs, including to note the unusually-differing behaviour of GetFullPath across relatively similar Windows platforms, and the affected footprint?

[danmoseley]

@tg73 missed your comment. We'd welcome a PR to improve the doc if you would like. (click pencil icon or edit button on doc page)