Why can't I create groups in Windows 2000 and later using Windows NT 4.0-compatible names?

A. Windows has always prevented users from adding the following characters to group names:

" /  [ ] : ; | = , + * ? < >

A bug in NT 4.0, however, lets you use these characters. Microsoft fixed the bug in Win2K, which is why you can no longer use these characters in group names. When you upgrade from NT 4.0 to Win2K, Windows doesn't alter group names that contain these characters. However, I strongly recommend that you rename these groups to prevent possible future problems.

Local group names can be up to 256 characters long. Domain local group, global group, and universal group names can be up to 64 characters in length (but Windows uses only the first 20 characters for the NT 4.0 global-group-compatible name).