Windows 7 / Getting Started

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How to Create Symbolic Links

By default, only administrators can create symbolic links. However, you can grant other users access using the Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies \User Rights Assignment\Create Symbolic Links setting.

To create a symbolic link, open a command prompt with administrative privileges and use the mklink command. For example, the following command creates a symbolic link from C:\Myapp.exe to Notepad in the system directory.

C:\>mklink myapp.exe %windir%\system32\notepad.exe

Symbolic link created for myapp.exe <<===>> C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe

Note Developers can call the CreateSymbolicLink function to create symbolic links. For more information, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363866.aspx.

After you create this symbolic link, the Myapp.exe link behaves exactly like a copy of the Notepad.exe file. Windows Explorer displays symbolic links using the standard shortcut symbol. However, shortcuts always have a .lnk extension, whereas symbolic links can have any extension. At a command prompt, the dir command uses the <SYMLINK> identifier to distinguish symbolic links and displays the path to the target file.

C:\>dir

Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is BC33-D7AC

 Directory of C:\

 09/18/2006 04:43 PM 		24 AUTOEXEC.BAT
 09/18/2006 04:43 PM 		10 config.sys
 12/27/2006 12:16 PM <SYMLINK> 	    myapp.exe [C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe]
 12/23/2006 04:47 PM <DIRglt;	    Program Files
 11/29/2006 03:31 PM <DIR>	    Users
 12/27/2006 08:39 AM <DIR> 	    Windows

Because a symbolic link is only a link, any changes made to the link actually affect the target file and vice versa. If you create a symbolic link and then delete the target file, the symbolic link will remain, but any attempts to access it will return a File Not Found error because Windows will attempt to access the link target automatically. If you delete a target file and later replace it with a file of the same name, that new file will become the link target. Deleting a link does not affect the link target. Attribute changes to the symbolic link, such as marking a file as hidden or as a system file, are applied to both the symbolic link and the target file.

How to Create Relative or Absolute Symbolic Links

Relative symbolic links identify the location of the target based on their own folder. For example, a relative symbolic link to a target file in the same folder will always attempt to access a target with the specified filename in the same folder, even if the symbolic link is moved. You can create relative or absolute symbolic links, but all symbolic links are relative by default. For example, consider the following commands, which attempt to create a symbolic link named Link.txt to a file named Target.txt and then attempt to access the symbolic link before and after moving the target file.

C:\>mklink link.txt target.txt
C:\>type link.txt

  Hello, world.

C:\>REM Move link.txt to a different folder
C:\>move link.txt C:\links

	1 file(s) moved.

C:\>cd links
C:\links>type link.txt

  The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\links>move \target.txt C:\links
C:\links>type link.txt

  Hello, world.

In the previous example, moving the symbolic link to a different folder causes Windows to be unable to locate the target because the symbolic link is a relative link pointing to a file named Target.txt in the same folder. When both the link and the target are moved to the same folder, the symbolic link works again.

Now consider the same example using an absolute symbolic link, created by specifying the full path to the target file:

C:\>mklink link.txt C:\target.txt
C:\>type link.txt

  Hello, world.

C:\>REM Move link.txt to a different folder
C:\>move link.txt C:\links

	1 file(s) moved.

C:\>cd links
C:\links>type link.txt

  Hello, world.

C:\links>move C:\target.txt C:\links\
C:\links>type link.txt

  The system cannot find the file specified.

In the last example, specifying the full path to the target file creates an absolute symbolic link that references the full path to the target file. Therefore, the symbolic link still works after it is moved to a different folder. However, moving the target file makes it inaccessible.