On average, I get asked the following question about once a month:
Are there symbolic links in Windows, similar to the
ln -s target_name link_nameon Unix?
Let me answer it here once(*) and for all. The answer is “yes”. NTFS supports a similar concept called junctions. Sysinternals even has a free utility for you to manipulate junctions.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Junction.html
To create a junction, say junction link_name target_name.
(*) although in reality I don’t expect most that will ask me such questions to read this blog…
Any ideas on a free command line app to do hardlinks, other than to sell a copy of the resource kit to customers?
Actually junction points are very much like hard links. So Junction from Sysinternals should be what you want. (I guess I should have left out the -s to be more accurate.)
The real “soft links” in Windows are shortcuts (like those in the Start menu). Only Explorer and a very limited selection of applications support shortcuts.