Symbolic folder linking

[Lee K]

Hello, I need a bit of help with creating a symbolic link between two folders. I tried mklink but it gives me incorrect syntax error. In windows 7 of course.

I have one empty folder, C:\link\empty folder, and one folder with files in it, C:\link\files

I want C:\link\empty folder to always point to the target C:\link\files, sounds simple but I'm not well versed at doing this sort of thing..

 

[habibi]

Easy
Run Command Prompt with Admin rights

Issue the command
Mklink /j "c:/folder/files" "c:/folder/empty"

The option /j will create the link although some swear by using option /d. I'm not sure the differences but /j works for me.

 

[Lee K]

Easy
Run Command Prompt with Admin rights

Issue the command
Mklink /j "c:/folder/files" "c:/folder/empty"

The option /j will create the link although some swear by using option /d. I'm not sure the differences but /j works for me.

Unfortunately this gave me an error message, Cannot create a file when that file already exists

 

[Lee K]

I am trying to link a normally empty folder to a folder that has files in it, So that folder A (which is empty), should simply redirect to folder B (the one with files in it). Folder A in all intents and purpose is sort of like an alias folder.

 

[habibi]

In the mklink command, you don't need to create Folder A. Once you issue the command, a shortcut (Folder A alias) is created. So, that alias is created by the command. In your case, your error is because that folder exist since you created it prior to issuing the command.

 

[Lee K]

Finally success! All tested and working perfectly... now I don't have to have 2 copies of the same folder and files when I log on to server 1 or 2 and it checks for the appropriate folder/files...

The documentation is poor on the use of these commands. For instance, it does not say in the MS docs that you have to put " " quotes around both the folder locations in the command statement in order for syntax to be correct. Secondly it poorly describes where you place the folder name to be created and the hard folder (already existing) that your linking to...

I believe it ended up working like this: Mklink /d "c:/folder/empty" "c:/folder/files". The "empty" folder was non-existent and created with the command, while the "files" folder was the actual folder with the files in it....

Hope this makes sense...

 

[habibi]

Makes sense. That's how it worked for me.
Specifically, I was trying to move a few of my Steam games from my harddisk (d: ) to my SSD disk (c: ).
So I used mklink. Sorry that I wasn't clear in my explanation.