M

11

337

Can PowerShell 1.0 create hard and soft links analogous to the Unix variety?

If this isn't built in, can someone point me to a site that has a ps1 script that mimics this?

This is a necessary function of any good shell, IMHO. :)

Momism answered 21/5, 2009 at 18:41 Comment(4)

Windows 10 users see https://mcmap.net/q/98168/-creating-hard-and-soft-links-using-powershell . Windows 10 it is built-in. Copy/Paste: New-Item -Type and press tab to cycle through the options. Hardlink, SymbolicLink, and Junction appear for me. Works Win 10, Server 2016+, or older OS with Powershell 5.0+ installed via Windows Management Framework 5.0+. – Idaline 28/9, 2016 at 21:1

I can't find decent MSDN/TechNet documentation for New-Item -Type HardLink nor New-Item -Type SymbolicLink. New-Item docs link to help about_Providers, it suggests you read help for each provider (which isn't linked). But if you google it there is plenty of buzz in the PowerShell community around New-Item -Type HardLink. It looks like the PowerShell engineering team has come up with provider extension points that stump the docs team. – Idaline 28/9, 2016 at 21:6

WARNING! -- While it is very easy to create hardlinks, it may be quite a challenge to remove them securely. That is because the tools are not easily available in native Powershell while Windows like to lock file access and keep files in memory (thus not always removable without a reboot.) Please see my post here. – Taverner 5/10, 2020 at 1:26

Can we consider removing the version 1.0 from the question? With the number of votes I'd bet 99.9% of folks hitting this page are NOT don't care about 1.0. – Idaline 8/3, 2023 at 16:10

C

316

You can call the mklink provided by cmd, from PowerShell to make symbolic links:

cmd /c mklink c:\path\to\symlink c:\target\file

You must pass /d to mklink if the target is a directory.

cmd /c mklink /d c:\path\to\symlink c:\target\directory

For hard links, I suggest something like Sysinternals Junction.

Circassia answered 5/4, 2011 at 9:7 Comment(8)

If you have a powershell profile, you can also make a quick function function mklink { cmd /c mklink $args } – Hairbreadth 6/11, 2011 at 2:19

and if you want to make a directory link, the command will be something like { cmd /c mklink /D "toDir" fromDir } – Beginner 28/3, 2012 at 15:38

adding the /H parameter to mklink will create a hard link without the need for a third party program like Sysinternals Junction. – Onerous 19/12, 2012 at 1:40

I think jocassid has the better answer. IMHO, We should try to teach how to USE PowerShell, not use exploits and hacks through cmd.exe. – Diazine 23/9, 2017 at 5:10

@CameronOakenleaf I agree whole-heartedly. – Circassia 24/9, 2017 at 14:54

it won't work in PowerShell when trying to access symbolic link as cd c:\path\to\symlink. PowerShell cmdlet: NewItem -Path c:\link -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value D:\target\file works – Breakdown 30/12, 2017 at 14:24

@SergeVoloshenko It sure does. True, using New-Item does detect if the target is a directory, but New-Item will fail if the target does not exist whereas mklink will create the symbolic link regardless. – Circassia 31/12, 2017 at 18:38

and using /j parameter instead of /h, makes a directory junction where the source folder (link) will always appear as the source folder to all applications. Using /d entering via the source folder (link) will then jump to and appear as the real target folder, which is a problem if storing paths shared in team environments. – Coly 16/10, 2019 at 5:20

M

443

Windows 10 (and Powershell 5.0 in general) allows you to create symbolic links via the New-Item cmdlet.

Usage:

New-Item -Path C:\LinkDir -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value F:\RealDir

Or in your profile:

function make-link ($target, $link) {
    New-Item -Path $link -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value $target
}

Turn on Developer Mode to not require admin privileges when making links with New-Item:

Mcreynolds answered 20/1, 2016 at 16:41 Comment(8)

This link is now broken due to MS rearranging documentation. I found a current working link at technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849795.aspx – Limitary 19/7, 2016 at 15:55

New-Item -Path C:\LinkDir -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value F:\RealDir – Jobi 16/8, 2016 at 8:43

since Windows v1703, mklink allows creating symlinks without account elevation, if Developer mode is enabled in Settings, New-Item doesn't. Hopefully in next update. – Cytoplast 29/6, 2017 at 1:46

Fascinating. So this is quite distinct from an Explorer .lnk shortcut. In explorer, a shortcut and symlink of the same name display side by side as if nothing was amiss. Their behaviors are subtly different; following the symlink shows the absolute path in the Explorer bar. Following the shortcut treats it as if the symlink parent dir is the true parent. – Fireside 18/10, 2018 at 16:3

With the accepted answer, I was able to use relative paths, which wasn't the case with the New-Item commandlet. – Fart 21/4, 2019 at 2:19

New-Item allows an -ItemType of HardLink for a file and Junction for a directory. These do not require developer mode or admin privileges. – Herschelherself 11/10, 2019 at 16:55

Also note that this solution works on Linux system too. New-Item -Path /opt/link -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value /usr/local/bin – Delight 10/2, 2021 at 12:35

I can't turn on developer mode for my work laptop. – Idaline 8/3, 2023 at 16:7

C

316

You can call the mklink provided by cmd, from PowerShell to make symbolic links:

cmd /c mklink c:\path\to\symlink c:\target\file

You must pass /d to mklink if the target is a directory.

cmd /c mklink /d c:\path\to\symlink c:\target\directory

For hard links, I suggest something like Sysinternals Junction.

Circassia answered 5/4, 2011 at 9:7 Comment(8)

If you have a powershell profile, you can also make a quick function function mklink { cmd /c mklink $args } – Hairbreadth 6/11, 2011 at 2:19

and if you want to make a directory link, the command will be something like { cmd /c mklink /D "toDir" fromDir } – Beginner 28/3, 2012 at 15:38

adding the /H parameter to mklink will create a hard link without the need for a third party program like Sysinternals Junction. – Onerous 19/12, 2012 at 1:40

I think jocassid has the better answer. IMHO, We should try to teach how to USE PowerShell, not use exploits and hacks through cmd.exe. – Diazine 23/9, 2017 at 5:10

@CameronOakenleaf I agree whole-heartedly. – Circassia 24/9, 2017 at 14:54

it won't work in PowerShell when trying to access symbolic link as cd c:\path\to\symlink. PowerShell cmdlet: NewItem -Path c:\link -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value D:\target\file works – Breakdown 30/12, 2017 at 14:24

@SergeVoloshenko It sure does. True, using New-Item does detect if the target is a directory, but New-Item will fail if the target does not exist whereas mklink will create the symbolic link regardless. – Circassia 31/12, 2017 at 18:38

and using /j parameter instead of /h, makes a directory junction where the source folder (link) will always appear as the source folder to all applications. Using /d entering via the source folder (link) will then jump to and appear as the real target folder, which is a problem if storing paths shared in team environments. – Coly 16/10, 2019 at 5:20

M

48

Add "pscx" module

No, it isn't built into PowerShell. And the mklink utility cannot be called on its own on Windows Vista/Windows 7 because it is built directly into cmd.exe as an "internal command".

You can use the PowerShell Community Extensions (free). There are several cmdlets for reparse points of various types:

New-HardLink,
New-SymLink,
New-Junction,
Remove-ReparsePoint
and others.

Mushy answered 21/5, 2009 at 19:23 Comment(8)

Good try. Though if you want to run XP or W2K3 server in either x32 or x64, New-Symlink dosen't work. In XP it will politely tell you that you should be running Vista for this command. In W2K3 server, it flat out breaks. – Momism 21/5, 2009 at 19:55

That's because XP doesn't support symlinks. That's a feature new to Vista. I believe that W2K3 server doesn't support symlinks either. You have to step up to W2K8 server to get symlink support. I'll look into why new-symlink is bombing on W2k3, it should error with a similar message to XP. – Mushy 21/5, 2009 at 21:9

I tried new-junction and that will work for me. Too bad the link functionality doesn't degrade to junctions in XP and W2K3 – Momism 21/5, 2009 at 22:6

on further use of new-junction... I get a junction to the new parse point. However ls (or get-childitem) errors stating that.."The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" If I try and enter a subdirectory from there. – Momism 21/5, 2009 at 23:24

Windows 10 users see answer https://mcmap.net/q/98168/-creating-hard-and-soft-links-using-powershell . Windows 10 it is built-in. Copy/Paste: New-Item -Type and press tab to cycle through the options. Hardlink, SymbolicLink, and Junction appear for me. Works Win 10, Server 2016+, or older OS with Powershell 5.0 installed via Windows Management Framework 5.0+. – Idaline 28/9, 2016 at 20:57

This answer is no longer correct, please see @jocassid's answer. – Pontiac 23/7, 2019 at 23:18

Answer kinda broken now (2019). Because by now PSCX commands clash with native PowerShell commands. And PSCX requires workarounds to even install. => github.com/Pscx/Pscx/issues/23 (And that ticket has been unfixed since 2017. So I don't expect a real fix anytime soon.) – Inborn 4/10, 2019 at 10:15

Agreed. Ten years ago this made sense but yeah, PowerShell has finally added built-in commands for this functionality. :-) – Mushy 6/10, 2019 at 18:1

T

30

In Windows 7, the command is

fsutil hardlink create new-file existing-file

PowerShell finds it without the full path (c:\Windows\system32) or extension (.exe).

Thursday answered 10/4, 2012 at 13:18 Comment(4)

fsutil hardlink requires new-file and existing-file to be on the same drive. If that matters to you, use cmd's mklink /c instead. – Luxe 29/1, 2015 at 19:54

@Luxe Hardlinks, by definition, must be on the same volume as the target, this is not a limitation specific to fsutil (or Windows for that matter) – Alesha 23/2, 2015 at 15:35

is there an equivalent for "soft" symlinks and junctions? – Lermontov 8/12, 2015 at 1:40

Worked also on a Windows10 system. – Evensong 21/2, 2019 at 4:9

Z

15

New-Symlink:

Function New-SymLink ($link, $target)
{
    if (test-path -pathtype container $target)
    {
        $command = "cmd /c mklink /d"
    }
    else
    {
        $command = "cmd /c mklink"
    }

    invoke-expression "$command $link $target"
}

Remove-Symlink:

Function Remove-SymLink ($link)
{
    if (test-path -pathtype container $link)
    {
        $command = "cmd /c rmdir"
    }
    else
    {
        $command = "cmd /c del"
    }

    invoke-expression "$command $link"
}

Usage:

New-Symlink "c:\foo\bar" "c:\foo\baz"
Remove-Symlink "c:\foo\bar"

Zettazeugma answered 24/10, 2013 at 14:2 Comment(2)

Windows 10 users see https://mcmap.net/q/98168/-creating-hard-and-soft-links-using-powershell . Windows 10 it is built-in. Copy/Paste: New-Item -Type and press tab to cycle through the options. Hardlink, SymbolicLink, and Junction appear for me. Works Win 10, Server 2016+, or older OS with Powershell 5.0 installed via Windows Management Framework 5.0+. – Idaline 28/9, 2016 at 20:52

Or if the file name contains them. – Sonni 30/9, 2017 at 2:32

T

13

Try junction.exe

The Junction command line utility from SysInternals makes creating and deleting junctions easy.

MS Terminology: soft != symbolic
Microsoft uses "soft link" as another name for "junction".
However: a "symbolic link" is something else entirely.
See MSDN: Hard Links and Junctions in Windows.
(This is in direct contradiction to the general usage of those terms where "soft link" and "symbolic link" ("symlink") DO mean the same thing.)

Tubercle answered 21/5, 2009 at 20:59 Comment(3)

The use of this utility correctly allows me to junction another directory and traverse it's subdirectories successfully. All in XP and W2K3. Just add the exe to a directory in your PATH and call it like normal. – Momism 21/5, 2009 at 23:31

I don't think you can use junction.exe to create symbolic links. – Circassia 5/4, 2011 at 9:4

It´s better to use mklink which is shipped with Windows. If you have a Windows version which it is shipped with. – Rosser 30/7, 2012 at 17:7

C

7

I combined two answers (@bviktor and @jocassid). It was tested on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012.

function New-SymLink ($link, $target)
{
    if ($PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major -ge 5)
    {
        New-Item -Path $link -ItemType SymbolicLink -Value $target
    }
    else
    {
        $command = "cmd /c mklink /d"
        invoke-expression "$command ""$link"" ""$target"""
    }
}

Cabana answered 3/4, 2017 at 19:55 Comment(0)

E

5

You can use this utility:

c:\Windows\system32\fsutil.exe create hardlink

Elderly answered 21/5, 2009 at 20:41 Comment(2)

It will require elevated privileges, though. Creating hardlinks usually doesn't. – Antichrist 21/5, 2009 at 23:43

This is not the correct fsutil.exe command arguments. – Obelize 8/4 at 22:22

L

3

I wrote a PowerShell module that has native wrappers for MKLINK. https://gist.github.com/2891103

Includes functions for:

New-Symlink
New-HardLink
New-Junction

Captures the MKLINK output and throws proper PowerShell errors when necessary.

Loudmouth answered 7/6, 2012 at 20:31 Comment(0)

E

1

Actually, the Sysinternals junction command only works with directories (don't ask me why), so it can't hardlink files. I would go with cmd /c mklink for soft links (I can't figure why it's not supported directly by PowerShell), or fsutil for hardlinks.

If you need it to work on Windows XP, I do not know of anything other than Sysinternals junction, so you might be limited to directories.

Elodiaelodie answered 29/4, 2011 at 15:36 Comment(0)

B

-2

I found this the simple way without external help. Yes, it uses an archaic DOS command but it works, it's easy, and it's clear.

$target = cmd /c dir /a:l | ? { $_ -match "mySymLink \[.*\]$" } | % `
{
    $_.Split([char[]] @( '[', ']' ), [StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries)[1]
}

This uses the DOS dir command to find all entries with the symbolic link attribute, filters on the specific link name followed by target "[]" brackets, and for each - presumably one - extracts just the target string.

Basipetal answered 10/4, 2013 at 15:31 Comment(1)

Is this an answer for a different question? – Kriemhild 7/7, 2015 at 14:1

Add "pscx" module

Try junction.exe

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