The size of the path used to publish this GIS resource exceeds the operating system limit.
This path includes the path to the staging folder, the name of the server connection, and the name of the GIS resource within the service definition (.sd) being published. For example, if you are publishing a map service, this path would include the name of the map service definition (.msd) contained in the service definition.
Learn more about service definitions
The <value> parameter refers to the GIS resource and whether the path in question is the staging path or the input directory path on the ArcGIS server.
Solutions
If your path exceeds the limit, you can do the following to reduce the number of characters used for this path.
- Register data sources with the ArcGIS server if you publish to an ArcGIS server to which you can register data sources. If you are publishing to ArcGIS Online, you will not be able to register data sources.
Learn more about registering your data with ArcGIS Server using ArcGIS Desktop
- Change the location of the staging folder to a location
closer to the root directory, C:\temp, for example.
Learn more about changing the default service definition staging folder in ArcGIS Desktop
- Change the server connection name so that it uses fewer characters. To rename the service connection, right-click the service connection in the Catalog window and choose Rename from the menu.
- Shorten the name of the GIS resource used for publishing.
For example, if you are publishing a map service, you can shorten the name of the map document (.mxd) which, in turn, will shorten the name of the map service definition (.msd) within the service definition that is actually used in the publishing process.
- Shorten the service name.
- Change the physical path of the ArcGIS server's system directory so that it uses fewer characters. You will need administrative access to the server to do this.
Learn more about editing a server directory in ArcGIS Desktop.
More information
When you publish a service using ArcGIS Desktop, a service definition file is created and temporarily stored in a staging folder locally on disk. The default staging location is a temporary folder in your Windows user profile. For example, on Windows 7 this location is C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\ESRI\Desktop10.1\Staging. The staging directory contains separate folders for each server connection. If you have saved a service definition of a draft using a specific connection to a GIS server, you will find the service definition or draft under the server connection folder.
In addition, the service definition is stored on the ArcGIS server and decompressed during publishing. The default storage location on the server is \arcgisserver\directories\arcgissystem\arcgisinput\<service name>.<service type>\extracted.
The Windows file system has limits to the number of characters that a path can accommodate. ArcGIS warns you when the combination of the path to the staging folder and the server connection exceeds the size supported by the operating system. The same is true for the input directories on the ArcGIS server. If the directory structure for service resources on the server exceeds operating system limits, the service cannot publish successfully.