Operating system error 123 The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect

Introduction

This article will show how to solve an error message appear as OSError: [WinError 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: ”. The error itself appear after adding an application module to the project using a Django-based framework. After adding it to a file with the name of ‘settings.py’ exist in the root folder of the project and then run it, the error appear later on. The following is the part where the application module name exist in the ‘settings.py’ for a comparison.

The original configuration of the ‘settings.py’ file :

After editing the original configuration of the ‘settings.py’ by adding an application module with the name of ‘myapp’ :

Furthermore, the following is the actual process for creating a new project and a new application :

1. Run django-admin startproject ‘project_name’. As in this example, the following is the execution of the command pattern :

   (env) C:\programming\python\django>django-admin startproject myproject (env) C:\programming\python\django>

2. Next step, run the django-admin startapp ‘app_name’. As for the example, the following is the execution of the command pattern :

   (env) C:\programming\python\django>django-admin startapp myapp (env) C:\programming\python\django>

3. Apparently, the following is the actual tree directory structure :

   Folder PATH listing for volume Windows Volume serial number is E003-3593 Folder PATH listing for volume Windows Volume serial number is E003-3593 C:programming\python\django | +---env +---myapp +---myproject

   For further reference about the command usage of ‘tree’ to print the content of a directory, just read the article ‘How to save the directory structure of a path in Microsoft Windows to a file’ in this link.

Solution

The actual solution for the above error is simple. The above error message appear when running a virtual server using the following command path for running the Django project :