Windows 7 - Shared Shortcut to non-shared folder.

Hey everyone.

I use both Linux (Ubuntu 10.04, 2.6.33-AMD64) and Windows 7 professional, and sometimes I get a little boggled at the apparent lack of functionality in Windows 7 in the following situation.

I have a network share in the root of my drive that I've called "DropBox" where my boss and I can both put files to be shared via the network. I have a bunch of files in "Downloads" directory that I'd like to be able to share at various times, but would rather not have my downloads directory directly shared as it violates my sense of order. IE, I would much rather have one shared folder from which you can reach all the other content I need to share on the drive, and if I need to un-share something, simply delete the shortcut, and Voila! instant anti-sharing.

Figure 1. Clean Sharing




In Ubuntu, you can create a symlink within a shared folder that points to a non shared folder which allows network users to access that non-shared folder.

Does this functionality exist in Windows 7?

Thanks,
NYTCG

Okay, so I solved this issue on my own =) TGFG! The answer lies in the MKLink command.

Specifically: mklink /D /J Downloads "C:\Users\Robert\Downloads\"

Works like a charm. All networked machines have access to my non-shared directory through the shared folder, and it looks nice and clean on the viewers end.

Thanks for letting me rubber duck this one.
NYTCG