To create symbolic link in windows 7,then easiest way is to use command mklink.
C:\Windows\system32>mklink Creates a symbolic link. 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. |
Normally,we can use the option /D to create symbolic link.
Note:You need the admin privileges to run this command
Example:
To create a symbolic link named MyDocs from the root directory to the \Users\User1\Documents directory, type:
mklink /D \MyDocs \Users\User1\Documents |
Also we can use junction.exe or linkd.exe to create symbolic link in windows 7,you can try them after put them to C:\windows\system32 if you have the interest.
What is the difference between:
1. directory symbolic link
2. symbolic link
3. hard link
4. directory junction
What is the difference between:
1. directory symbolic link
2. symbolic link
3. hard link
4. directory junction
There is a little utility I discovered for creating sybolic directory links in Windows 7 that works great
dirlinker.codeplex.com
Thank you tom for the utility. I could not actually get the command to work strangely enough, but that utility did just what I needed it to do, thank you very much again
.
@Don Williams
Hello, my answer can not be 100% exactly but I guess:
1. directory symbolic link – creates a folder symbolic link(if you don’t specify \D \J …by default it creates a file )
2. symbolic link ( maybe a file and not folder…not sure)
3. hard link(no ideea)
4. directory junction
C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs>mklink /J C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs\Test “E:\work\Test”
Junction created for C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs\Test <> E:\work\Test
A folder named Test will be created at C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs and this folder(Test) will point to the folder
E:\work\Test
Junction = if you modify something in C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs\Test the changes will also occur in E:\work\Test and viceversa
if you would have used /D instead of /J like in my example you would have created a directory symbolic link. In this case ONLY changes in E:\work\Test will occur in C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs\Test, but if you modify something in C:\WEB\xampp\htdocs\Test this will not modify the contents from E:\work\Test.
Hope this helps.
[...] [...]
@gargamel you’re answers aren’t quite right.
1. This is right
2. Symbolic link, this is just a “virtual” file or directory. From the view of the user it creates what appears to be another file, but this just referencing the hard location under the hood in the file system. e.g. If you have C:\mytext.txt and a symbolic link c:\users\user\readthis.txt. Clicking it would open the mytext.txt and any changes would be to mytext.txt regardless of which file was opened. However, deleting the readthis.txt will not delete the mytext.txt file.
3. Hard link this creates and actual link to the file. So things would appear the same as above, but if you delete readthis.txt it will also delete mytext.txt
4. This is much like a symbolic link with the /D flag, the difference is just a technical feature of NTFS and how the information is stored. The /J flag will not allow you to network locations.
Hopefully that clears things up a little.
How does one tell easily if a specific file is a soft link or not?
you are crazy!!!
Actually I believe that the syntax is incorrectly defined by Microsoft.
When I tried to create a directory symlink using:
mklink /D D:\Users\Jirka\Test Test
I got an error message that I cannot create file that already exists.
When I switched the new symlink name and target directory, it worked just fine:
mklink /D Test D:\Users\Jirka\Test
symbolic link created for Test <> D:\Users\Jirka\Test
So there’s no need for using any 3rd party tools to create links, just specify the new symlink name as a target and vice versa and voila!
Oh, my bad, I did not read the initial post very thoroughly.. Now I can see that in English version has it correct – it is my (Czech) localization that is apparently not so flawless..
The Link and Target parameters are switched in the man page..
Bryan your’re not quite right too:
3. Hard link this creates and actual link to the file. So things would appear the same as above, but if you delete mytext.txt (original file), the file readthis.txt will still be accessible and will contain all content of file mytext.txt. Actual file data will be removed only when there is no hard link of that file left.
More on hard links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link
Works!.. Thank you!
Is it possible to remove hard link by command line? How?
Tks for any help.
I’ve found how!
supose c:\file d:\file
(d:\file is a link from c:\file)
the command are one of these:
del d:\file (if it’s a file link)
rmdir d:\file (if it’s a dir link)
cheers!
Is there a way to make a symbolic link WITHOUT admin access?
hello
Is it possible to remove hard link by command line? How?
thanks
This is to TOM for recommending dirlinker! THANK YOU!! I’ve done this awhile ago the hard way… and now I need to do it again but forgot how so I had to research it and I found this forum!
[...] is running Win7 and one that is still XP. Windows 7/Vista supports the creation of symbolic links natively. We can create this by going into an administrative command prompt (go to start menu and type cmd [...]
Link Shell Extention
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html
I love it!!!
Good luck
[...] each folder, create a symbolic link from your original location to the new one inside your Dropbox by running mklink from an [...]
Thanks!
Great work! That is the type of info that should be shared around the web. Disgrace on Google for no longer positioning this submit higher! Come on over and discuss with my site . Thank you =)
My understanding of the difference between ‘hard’ vs ‘symbolic’ links comes from the Unix world and is as follows:
Hard links are like pointers in C/C++. However, instead of pointing to an address in memory, they point to a sector on disk. Because of this, a hard link can only point to a sector within its’ own partition.
A symbolic link is basically a string. It holds a name where the file/folder resides. Because of this it can point to anywhere the PC has access to, including files on networked computers.
Hope that helps.
[...] [...]
If you create a link and have to remove it, you can’t do it via the folder browser. You have to use the command line to remove a symbolic link. Navigate to the directory that holds your link and type rmdir /S /Q linkName
I second LSE, Link Shell Extension
@Andrew – I can delete symlinks on my win 7 system with the del or shift/del key, no need for the command line.
The Lopesoft Filetools shell extension has Create Symbolic Link feature. It’s not nearly as comprehensive as Link Shell Extension, but its good enough for occasional use.
It is cool! Save your free disk space by using symbolic link yöur packages and updating directories if they are needed while programs are running. With this link you save all free disk space for windows 7 system.
You can burn all World of Tanks or other online packages to dvd, other sds or hds.
If you remove the program or game, no matter, symbolic link is stupid alone.
Remember that the symbolic link can activate only from command console… deactivate…See other instructions before.
Please note:
Symbolic links do not work on RAM disks!
Attempting to create one will result in:
The device does not support symbolic links.
[...] [...]
There has been great confusion for years over what links do, how the types differ, and how to create and delete them.
Wouldn’t you think Microsoft should feel some responsibility to publish a clear explanation about links?
Use sysinternals junction utility.. works like a charm
Hi I created a mklink junction between C:\My Documents and D:\My Documents as my C: drive is running out of space. But when I add files in to D:\My Documnets the size of free space in C: also goes down is this normal or have I done something wrong
These are the cmd’s I ran
1. robocopy “C:\My Documents” “D:\My Documents” /E /COPYALL /XJ
2. rmdir “C:\My Documents” /S /Q
3. mklink /J “C:\My Documents” “D:\My Documents”