Copying large files from a WebDAV share

Speaking again of Windows Explorer funniness, last week I tried to use Explorer copy some large PowerPoint presentations from a remote WebDAV share on an IIS webserver over a VPN connection. Some of the presentations were big (larger than 50 MB in size) and Explorer didn’t want to copy them. So I tried using Robocopy to copy them from the command line, but I kept getting Error 0x800700DF as Robocopy didn’t want to copy the large files either.

After a little searching online, I stumbled across the following thread in the Microsoft Answers forum that explained the situation and how to resolve it:
http://www.wservernews.com/go/1344507085635

So I opened Regedit.exe, browsed to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters, and changed the FileSizeLimitInBytes value from decimal 5000000 to decimal 10000000. I was then able to successfully copy the files to my local machine.

While Microsoft Answers targets the ordinary end-user, some of the help you can find there can be useful to IT pros as well. The next time one of your friends or family members asks you for free help with their computer, consider suggesting to them that they post their question to one of the forums on Microsoft Answers:
http://www.wservernews.com/go/1344507091526

That way not only will they get help with their problem but others will be helped too. Either that or just charge them your usual rate for billable hours 😉

The above tip was previously published in an issue of WServerNews, a weekly newsletter from TechGenix that focuses on the administration, management and security of the Windows Server platform in particular and cloud solutions in general. Subscribe to WServerNews today by going to http://www.wservernews.com/subscribe.htm and join almost 100,000 other IT professionals around the world who read our newsletter!

Mitch Tulloch is an eleven-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and a widely recognized expert on Windows Server and cloud computing technologies.  Mitch is also Senior Editor of WServerNews. For more information about him see http://www.mtit.com