Create a symbolic link in Windows Visa/7 using the tool Junction

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

Junction v1.06

By Mark Russinovich

Published: September 8, 2010

 Download Junction
(77.7 KB)

Introduction

Windows 2000 and higher supports directory symbolic links, where a directory serves as a symbolic link to another directory on the computer. For example, if the directory D:\SYMLINK specified C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 as its target, then an application accessing D:\SYMLINK\DRIVERS would in reality be accessing C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. Directory symbolic links are known as NTFS junctions in Windows. Unfortunately, Windows comes with no tools for creating junctions—you have to purchase the Win2K Resource Kit, which comes with the linkd program for creating junctions. I therefore decided to write my own junction-creating tool: Junction. Junction not only allows you to create NTFS junctions, it allows you to see if files or directories are actually reparse points. Reparse points are the mechanism on which NTFS junctions are based, and they are used by Windows' Remote Storage Service (RSS), as well as volume mount points.

Please read this Microsoft KB article for tips on using junctions.

Notethat Windows does not support junctions to directories on remote shares.

If you want to view reparse information, the usage for Junction is the following:

Using Junction

Use junction to list junctions:

Usage: [-s]

-s    Recurse subdirectories

Examples:

To determine if a file is a junction, specify the file name:

junction c:\test

To list junctions beneath a directory, include the –s switch:

junction -s c:\

To create a junction c:\Program-Files for "c:\Program Files":

C:\>md Program-Files

C:\>junction c:\Program-Files "c:\Program Files"

Note: I actually found that I need to reverse the arguments on Windows 7. Also make sure the source directory exists.

C:\>junction "c:\Program Files" c:\Program-Files

To delete a junction, use the –d switch:

junction -d c:\Program-Files