files - How do I create a symbolic link in Windows?

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?

Answer

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  

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.