LFN alias script available

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Date:         Tue, 27 Apr 2004 22:10:44 +0200
To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM

Hello,

The DAT drive on our LAN performs routine backups. In case of hardware
failure, any O/S installed under FAT16/32 can be readily restored.
However, my incredulity has never ceased regarding the inability of a
backup drive to restore short file names (SFNs), a.k.a. 8.3 file names
or "aliases". Aliases are frequently stored in the registry and
restoration of a file system component with the wrong alias can be
fatal to program function.

I wrote a script that, at least, records all potentially conflicting
*folder* aliases to a file which is made part of the backup set. If
the system is restored, the file can be used to reset the aliases
manually once Windows is started up on the client.

I also wanted to script the renaming of the aliases, but that proved
to be too daunting a task. The normal restore procedure would be to
restore the folders & files first to a network drive, change the
folder aliases to correspond to what existed on the client when it was
backed up, save the LFNs to a file, copy the folders & files via their
SFNs to the client over a DOS LAN connection, and restore the LFNs on
the client. However, SFN-naming rules are not identical for all MS
O/S's, so that aliases created under W98/NT4 cannot be reliably
recreated under W2K/WXP.

I'm amazed by all of the following:

1. MS allows SFN's to be used in the registry. There is no obvious
   reason for this. Windows could restrict data stored in keys and
   values to LFNs but return only SFNs when they were queried.

2. MS doesn't have any way to assign an alias to an LFN when
   restoring a system.

3. AFAIK, no backup software vendor has ever addressed this
   problem. At *least* they could compare restored aliases to the
   values present when the backup took place and signal discrepancies.

4. AFAIK, no third party tool is available to address this problem.

I'd be happy to make available a copy of the alias script ("CYA" =
"Confound Your Alias") to anyone that asks. It was written in VBScript
5.6 and tested under W2K SP4 & W98.

regards, Andy

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