How do I create a symbolic link in Windows?

Question

Windows Vista added the ability to create symbolic links to files and directories. How do I create a symbolic link and what are the current consumer and server versions of Windows that support it?

score 115 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 21 '15 at 10:35

You can create a symbolic link with the command line utility mklink.

MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

        /D      Creates a directory symbolic link.  Default is a file
                symbolic link.
        /H      Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
        /J      Creates a Directory Junction.
        Link    specifies the new symbolic link name.
        Target  specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
                refers to.

Symbolic links via mklink are available since Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 you can use

fsutil hardlink create <destination filename> <source filename>

According to msdn.microsoft, Symbolic Links are NOT supported on FAT16/32 and exFAT. It seems Windows only supports them from or to NTFS-Partitions. Future Windows operating systems are likely to continue support for mklink.

You can read further information about this new feature on Microsoft TechNet, Junfeng Zhang's blog or howtogeek.com.

score 30 · Answer 2 · edited May 09 '11 at 14:04

30

On Windows XP you can use fsutil (built into the OS) to create a hardlink

 fsutil hardlink create c:\foo.txt c:\bar.txt

Keep in mind fsutil will only work if both are on same drive

edited May 09 '11 at 14:04

Community

1

answered May 11 '09 at 23:48

saschabeaumont

2,792

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 22 '09 at 20:13

10

One small thing, if you are using Powershell, mklink does not work directly, run it like this:

PS C:\d\eclipseInstalls> cmd /k mklink /D antRunner 3.4.2
symbolic link created for antRunner <<===>> 3.4.2

edited Sep 22 '09 at 20:13

Dennis Williamson

64,083

answered Jun 28 '09 at 16:19

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 24 '11 at 13:43

7

Use mklink or junction from Sysinternals (Microsoft). I believe mklink will work in Windows 2000 and above, but I cannot find any hard documentation on that. junction is for Windows 2000 and above.

edited Jul 24 '11 at 13:43

Peter Mortensen

2,327

answered May 11 '09 at 18:10

user2287

227

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 22:36

Didn't see this in any of the answers, but linkd.exe (in the Windows 2003 Resource kit here) allows you to create junctions, which pretty much function as a soft/hard link does in Linux. Junctions are available from Windows 2000 and up, so just copy linkd.exe to the target system and it should work.

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 24 '11 at 13:44

3

If you are still on old Windows, like XP, 2000, 2003, etc., try NTFS Link.

I use it a lot. You get a shell link right click menu option to create a junction point. Excellent stuff.

edited Jul 24 '11 at 13:44

Peter Mortensen

2,327

answered May 11 '09 at 19:35

Stewart Robinson

1,175

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered May 11 '09 at 18:08

2

See TechNet entry. I believe it is a Vista/Server 2008 and up feature.

answered May 11 '09 at 18:08

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 05 '13 at 22:07

To make sure your links work you might want to check the configuration of your server. Links can be made but unless you use the symlinkevaluation setting in the following command your links might not work.

fsutil behavior set SymlinkEvaluation L2L:1 R2R:1 L2R:1 R2L:1

See also http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754077%28v=ws.10%29.aspx. By default only the local options are activated.

How do I create a symbolic link in Windows?

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