Symbolic Links

Symbolic Links

• Works with both files and directories
• Can be mapped to files and directories on different drives, network volumes, etc.
• They can work with relative paths as well

:: Symbolic Link
mklink /D <Link> <Target> 
 
:: View all Symbolic Links and Junctions in a Directory
DIR /AL /S <Location>

/D Directory Link
<Link> : The target link (should not already exist)
<Target> : The actual file/folder to link

# PowerShell native approach
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path C:\LinkDir -Value F:\RealDir
 
# Calling CMD Command from PowerShell
cmd /c mklink c:\path\to\symlink c:\target\file

rmdir and del commands can be used to remove Symbolic Links. This command should to run on the target location (the Symbolic Link)

View a list of symbolic links on system? - Super User

Soft Links (Junction)

• Can be only made for Directories
• The target directory needs to be on the same computer (different volume is allowed)
• The paths needs to be absolute paths

:: Junctions
mklink /J 

Hard Links

• Can be only made for files
• Can be only used to point on files on the same volume (Drive with same letter)
• If the hard linked file changes location the hard link automatically updates
• Hard links look exactly the same as the file (Need to be careful to not delete the wrong file)

:: Hard Links
mklink /H