diff --git a/ports/alembic/portfile.cmake b/ports/alembic/portfile.cmake
index 7e2bc233fbf..1f01136b37a 100644
--- a/ports/alembic/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/alembic/portfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Alembic's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 if(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE STREQUAL static)
     message(STATUS "Alembic does not support static linkage. Building dynamically.")
     set(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE dynamic)
diff --git a/ports/avro-c/portfile.cmake b/ports/avro-c/portfile.cmake
index 087d3b3afe7..d868738dfca 100644
--- a/ports/avro-c/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/avro-c/portfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Avro-c's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 vcpkg_from_github(
   OUT_SOURCE_PATH SOURCE_PATH
   REPO apache/avro
diff --git a/ports/aws-sdk-cpp/portfile.cmake b/ports/aws-sdk-cpp/portfile.cmake
index 153c3170ccc..2bdc103bb98 100644
--- a/ports/aws-sdk-cpp/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/aws-sdk-cpp/portfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Aws-sdk-cpp's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 vcpkg_from_github(
     OUT_SOURCE_PATH SOURCE_PATH
     REPO aws/aws-sdk-cpp
diff --git a/ports/cgal/portfile.cmake b/ports/cgal/portfile.cmake
index e73547afc03..ce9553226db 100644
--- a/ports/cgal/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/cgal/portfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Cgal's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 vcpkg_from_github(
     OUT_SOURCE_PATH SOURCE_PATH
     REPO CGAL/cgal
diff --git a/ports/kinectsdk2/portfile.cmake b/ports/kinectsdk2/portfile.cmake
index 05aa1fd2ee7..a4b89b521ca 100644
--- a/ports/kinectsdk2/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/kinectsdk2/portfile.cmake
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@
 
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Kinectsdk2's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 if(VCPKG_TARGET_ARCHITECTURE STREQUAL "arm")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "This port does not currently support architecture: ${VCPKG_TARGET_ARCHITECTURE}")
 endif()
diff --git a/ports/ompl/portfile.cmake b/ports/ompl/portfile.cmake
index b0814e3b1a3..f03c3dd15db 100644
--- a/ports/ompl/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/ompl/portfile.cmake
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@
 
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Ompl's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 set(OMPL_VERSION 1.4.1)
 vcpkg_download_distfile(ARCHIVE
     URLS "https://github.com/ompl/ompl/archive/${OMPL_VERSION}.zip"
diff --git a/ports/openmvg/portfile.cmake b/ports/openmvg/portfile.cmake
index fd91a237d03..26480bb3dbe 100644
--- a/ports/openmvg/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/openmvg/portfile.cmake
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@
 #
 
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
+
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Openmvg's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 vcpkg_from_github(
     OUT_SOURCE_PATH SOURCE_PATH 
     REPO openMVG/openMVG
diff --git a/ports/xalan-c/portfile.cmake b/ports/xalan-c/portfile.cmake
index e5a9a665488..afd1b38bce3 100644
--- a/ports/xalan-c/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/xalan-c/portfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 include(vcpkg_common_functions)
 
+string(LENGTH "${CURRENT_BUILDTREES_DIR}" BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH)
+if(BUILDTREES_PATH_LENGTH GREATER 37 AND CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+    message(WARNING "Xalan-c's buildsystem uses very long paths and may fail on your system.\n"
+        "We recommend moving vcpkg to a short path such as 'C:\\src\\vcpkg' or using the subst command."
+    )
+endif()
+
 vcpkg_check_linkage(ONLY_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY ONLY_DYNAMIC_CRT)
 
 set(XALANC_VERSION 1.11)