NTFS file system uses Unicode, but standard FindFirstFile don't know about Unicode, it uses character sets. And dir command uses FindFirstFile(). If You use C then You can add #define Unicode then compiler uses Unicode version FindFirstfileW() instead ANSI FindFirstFileA() . You can use FindFirstFileW directly. Toomas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Shkabara" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 5:00 AM Subject: [PCSOFT] foreign language filenames >I am fluent in Russian and have some files on my computer that use the > Russian character set. Some programs have difficulty handling these names. > If I look at them using Windows Explorer, they show up fine. If I open a CMD > Window and issue a DIR command, the file name may look like this: > "????????.???" - in other words, the character set is not recognized. > > I also write my own programs using Visual Studio.NET 2003. The programs I > write that use FindFirstFile() have the same problem as the CMD Windows - > gives me a bunch of question marks. This is all under XP Pro and NTFS. > Searching the web, MSDN, and programming sites has not given me a clue as to > how to fix this. Apparently, "professional programmers" with companies such > as Veritas have had the same problem, since Veritas Backup had the same > difficulty with Russian filenames and would skip backing them up! > > This is not a programming support site, but I hope that some of you may be > in an environment other than English and have had some experience with this. > I can use some help here. Thank you. > > > Peter > > [log in to unmask] > > Curious about the people moderating your > messages? Visit our staff web site: > http://freepctech.com/staff.shtml > The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website, web based bulletinboard for questions and answers: Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com