Using Symlinks in Windows

• Using Symlinks in Windows Vista

One of the long-awaited features in Windows Vista was the ability to use symbolic links, the way you can in linux

For instance, if you wanted to make the folder C:\Users\Geek\TestFolder available from C:\TestFolder as well, you could use the following command.

C:\mklink /D C:\TestFolder C:\Users\Geek\TestFolder

symbolic link created for C:\TestFolder <<===>> C:\Users\Geek\TestFolder




Hard Link

A hard link directly points to the file, and acts to the operating system as if it is the file itself. You’ll want to use this option the majority of the time if you are trying to fake an application’s directory.

Soft Link

A soft link is essentially a shortcut to a file or folder – if you are using Windows explorer, you’ll be redirected to the directory if you double-click on a shortcut, it won’t pretend its part of the filesystem. You can still directly reference or open a file with the symlinked path, and it mostly works.

Deleting Symlinks

To delete a symlink, you can just delete the link. Just make sure you don’t delete the original file.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-symlinks-in-windows-vista/