git clone or checkout on Windows fails with 'error: unable to create file ...: Filename too long'. How do I enable long paths in Git for Windows?

Cause: classic Windows APIs limit paths to 260 characters (MAX_PATH), and Git for Windows keeps its long-path support turned off by default. Repositories with deep folder trees (node_modules, Java packages, generated code) cloned into a folder that already has a long path hit the limit, and git can't create the files. Fix: 1. Turn on long paths in Git for Windows: git config core.longpaths true in the repository, or git config --global core.longpaths true for all repositories (for a clone that fails before it exists, use the global setting or git clone -c core.longpaths=true <url>). Git for Windows documents this option and notes it covers its C-based git commands; some scripted commands may still fail. 2. Enable long paths in Windows itself so other tools can work with the files: set the registry value HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled to 1 (or the Group Policy 'Enable Win32 long paths'), then reboot or restart affected programs. Microsoft notes this only helps applications that declare themselves long-path aware. 3. Keep paths short where you can: clone into a short folder such as C:\src\repo instead of a deep Documents path. 4. Expect some tools to still break on long paths: Microsoft and Git for Windows note that Windows Explorer, cmd.exe, many IDEs and some bundled tools keep the 260-character limit. WSL or a container avoids the limit for the whole workflow. Verify: git config --get core.longpaths prints true, and the clone or checkout completes; git status shows a clean tree. Sources: https://gitforwindows.org/git-cannot-create-a-file-or-directory-with-a-long-path https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config