LukasJul 18, 2025

Mildly cursed factoid about UNC paths:

- UNC Paths can contain IP addresses such as \\192.168.1.1\share
- IPv6 addresses are supported as well
- IPv6 addresses contain colons
- can't have colons in Windows paths since colons are reserved for drive letters

So Microsoft came up with the the ipv6-literal.net domain that's special-cased by Windows so you can to write IPv6 addresses in UNC paths as 2a0e-3c0--21.ipv6-literal.net without it hitting any resolvers.

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧
@karotte that's horrifying. thanks
Jul 18, 2025 at 5:07pmWeb
Show threadrootfakeJul 18, 2025
@whitequark @karotte Thanks, I hate it!
Show threadJona JoachimJul 19, 2025
@whitequark
Let's hope they will never forget to renew that domain
@karotte
Show threadPatrick MevzekJul 19, 2025
@jaj @whitequark @karotte Right now the domain has `clientRenewProhibited` EPP status and expires next June.
Show threadAndreas, DJ3EI, he/himJul 25, 2025

Whether that domain exists or what its DNS servers say is only relevant for users of other, non-Microsoft OSs.

@jaj @whitequark @karotte

Show threadJona JoachimJul 25, 2025
@dj3ei
Yes. This could be relevant for cross OS platforms like .NET and Java and for Windows developers that move to Unix / Apple platforms. And who knows where these platforms will be in 5 years. At least they could have chosen an invalid TLD instead of .net
@whitequark @karotte