Speed up NTFS disks by disabling 8.3 name creation

By default NTFS generates a short name in the 8.3 naming convention for long file names and for file names that contain characters from the extended character set. If the value of this entry is 0, files can have two names: the name that the user specifies and the short name that NTFS generates.

If the filename follows the 8.3 naming convention, NTFS does not generate a short name. Unless you have a good reason for keeping the 8.3 naming convention intact (such as if you’re using 16-bit programs), a performance gain can be achieved by disabling it.

You will need an administrator account to set the registry value that controls this process. Open the Run command and type “regedit”:

Look for the entries inside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem:

Edit the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation and set it to “1”. If you set this to “1”, NTFS does not create short file names. Although this setting increases file performance, applications that cannot process long file names and computers that use different code pages might not be able to find the files.

Finally, reboot the system to activate the changes.

If you encounter problems with programs that can’t handle non 8.3 names (old 16-bit programs), you might need to get a newer version of those programs or set the keyword’s value back to 0.