The Euro symbol has been around in Windows for quite a while since the currency was introduced. However it was a recent problem when archiving files for an Accountancy client that I can across a strange issue trying to move the files or put them in an archive folder. The common thread between the failure to copy and the inability to create a zipped compressed folder with the files in it was that the filenames either started with or containing the Euro (Alt 0128) € symbol.
The message given when trying to create the compressed file was
“The compression cannot be performed because the file or directory ‘D:testfilewitheurosymbolinname’ contains characters in its name that Compressed (zipped) folders cannot store:”
The solution in this case was to rename the files containing the offending character.
I couldn’t find a list of characters that would trigger this problem but obviously the Euro symbol is one of them so beware…
In a similar vein a folder for a particular client of the account was in the form firstname.surname and refused to be copied also with an error
Cannot recreate or replace firstname.surname: cannot find the specified file
The solution here was to go into the folder that contained the folder with a fullstop in it and using dir /x get the full name for it.
In this case the folder was called con~1.o’n and using
rename con~1.o’N con_oneil
the folder was then able to be moved