How-to: Create symbolic link in windows

Kian Lee Teo

Run command prompt as administrators.

mklink /D {dir_name} {source_dir}

# Example to create a link from 
# d:\project\mysite (source) to d:\tomcat\webapp\mysite (destination)

$ cd d:\tomcat\webapp
$ mklink /D mysite d:\project\mysite

Kian Lee Teo

Alternatively, you can also use junctions.

$ mklink /J mysite d:\project\mysite

So what is the difference between symbolic links and junctions?

	Junction	Symbolic Link
Storage requirement for target	Directories (paths) must be on local computer	Any path – local or remote, relative or absolute SMB file or path
Relative path allowed?	Not allowed; path becomes absolute when saved	Allowed
Works on files?	No	Windows Vista or later
Works on folders?	Yes	Windows Vista or later

Kian Lee Teo