Convert device path starting with \\?\ to Path

Question

I want to read and write data to a HID device in a java program.

The device's path, in Windows, is formatted like so: \\?\HID#VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX#...#{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}. The \\?\ prefix is a special windows namespace.
I can use RandomAccessFile to open the device with no problem, because the constructor requires a String.
However, when i try to convert it to a Path, this happens:

Path.of("\\\\?\\HID#VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX#...#{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}");

Exception in thread "main" java.nio.file.InvalidPathException: Illegal character [?] in path at index 2: \\?\HID#VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX#...#{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
    at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsPathParser.nextSlash(WindowsPathParser.java:212)
    at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsPathParser.parse(WindowsPathParser.java:111)
    at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsPathParser.parse(WindowsPathParser.java:77)
    at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsPath.parse(WindowsPath.java:92)
    at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileSystem.getPath(WindowsFileSystem.java:232)
    at java.base/java.nio.file.Path.of(Path.java:147)
    at ...

Since i want to use the AsynchronousFileChannel class, i have to convert it to a Path first. Is there a way to do it?

Answer 1

Replacing \\?\ with \\.\ seems to do the trick:

String rawPath = "\\\\?\\HID#VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX#...#{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}"
var newPath = Path.of(rawPath.replace("\\\\?\\", "\\\\.\\");