Use junction points on Windows | Qt Creator Documentation

- Qt Creator Documentation
- Use junction points on Windows
- Qt Creator 19.0.0

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# Use junction points on Windows

Long project paths on Windows might lead to builds failing.

To overcome these issues:

- Use source directory names with short absolute paths. For example, use `C:\dev` instead of `C:\Users\My Name\Projects`.
- Use short build directory paths.
- Use the Ninja generator for CMake.
- Use junction points on Windows for the source and build directories.

## Junction points

At a junction point, a directory serves as an alias to another directory on the computer.

To use the junction points for CMake configure, build, and install operations, go to Preferences > CMake > General and select Use junctions for CMake configuration and build operations.

The build system configures, compiles, and installs the project through the junction points making command line commands shorter.

Set environment variables

Qt Creator stores junction points in `C:\ProgramData\QtCreator\Links`. To use another path, set it as the value of the `QTC_CMAKE_JUNCTIONS_DIR` environment variable.

Set the `QTC_CMAKE_JUNCTIONS_HASH_LENGTH` environment variable to shorten the MD5 hash key length from its default length value of 32.

See also How to: Build with CMake.

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