| Title | Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hard Links, Junction link and Soft Symbolic Links . |
What are Hard Links, Junction link and Soft Symbolic Links ? |
How to Create Hard Links, Junction link and Soft Symbolic Links in Windows . |
How to Create Hard Links, Junction link and Soft Symbolic Links in linux. |
Key Differences Between Hard link, Junction link and Soft link. |
Shyed Shahriar Housaini. |
07/07/2021 |
Hard Link (or file hard link) – is a file that acts like a representation of another file on the same drive without actually duplicating that file.
Junction Point (or directory hard link) is a type of hard link that acts like a representation of a directory, a partition or another volume.
Symbolic Link (or soft link) is a file similar to a shortcut in that it points to a file name or directory name, but it’s handled at the system level rather than at the application level.
Often confused with shortcuts as well as with each other, Hard links, Symbolic links and Junction Points are not the same; although like shortcuts, deleting either links or junction points usually won’t delete the target and vice versa (see exceptions below). Of the three, Symbolic Links are more similar to shortcuts than either Hard links or Junction Points, and they are generally more flexible, easier to use, and safer. When given a choice, most professionals recommend using Symbolic Links.
Although Symbolic Linking has been around since 1978 and shortly thereafter standardized in UNIX and UNIX-like Operating Systems, it’s been present in Windows only since Vista. Symbolic Linking was introduced in Vista to replace Hard Links and Junction Points and to enhance compatibility with UNIX and UNIX-like systems. Hard Linking for files and support for directory hard links (Junction Points) have been present in Windows since Win2K – often using different implementations in each succeeding Windows version. Because the development of linking in Windows has been relatively recent and ongoing, a number of different linking methods have been included, supported, or made available as third-party add-ons depending on the Windows version. Currently, Hard Links, Junction Points and Symbolic Links in Windows are only supported for the NTFS file system.
Note that Windows does not support Hard Links or Junction Points to directories on remote shares; however, Symbolic Links can point to remote files and directories on SMB network paths.
The differences between Hard Links, Junction Points, Symbolic Links, and Shortcuts are further contrasted below:
Hard Link (Links individual files):
A file that acts like a representation of a target file on the same drive Has the same size as the target without duplicating it (doesn’t use any space) Interpreted at the operating system level (SW apps act upon the target through the link) Deleting the Hard Link does not remove the target file If the target is deleted, its content is still available through the hard link Changing the contents through the Hard Link changes the target contents* Must reside on the same partition as the target file Compatible with Win2k and above in Windows
- Some text editors save changed text to a new file and delete the original file, which can break the link. This behavior can be changed in some editors by forcing a save over the original file instead. See discussion at Jameser’s Tech Tips here for more information.
Junction Point (Directory Hard Link):
A file that acts like a representation of a target directory, partition or volume on the same system Has the same size as the target without duplicating it (doesn’t use any space) Interpreted at the operating system level (SW apps act upon the target through the link) Deleting the Junction Point does not remove the target* If the target is moved, renamed or deleted, the Junction Point still exists, but points to a non-existing directory Changing the contents through the Junction Point changes the target contents Can reside on partitions or volumes separate from the target on the same system Compatible with Win2k and above in Windows *A Junction Point should never be removed in Win2k, Win2003 and WinXP with Explorer, the del or del /s commands, or with any utility that recursively walks directories since these will delete the target directory and all its sub-directories. Instead, use the rmdir command, the linkd utility, or fsutil (if using WinXP or above) or a third party tool to remove the junction point without affecting the target. In Vista/Win7, it’s safe to delete Junction Points with Explorer or with the rmdir and del commands.
Symbolic Link (Soft Link):
A file containing text interpreted by the operating system as a path to a file or directory Has a file size of zero Interpreted at the operating system level (SW apps act upon the target through the link) Deleting the Symbolic Link does not remove the target If the target is moved, renamed or deleted, the link still exists, but points to a non-existing file or directory Points to, rather than represents, the target using relative paths Can reside on partitions or volumes separate from the target or on remote SMB network paths Compatible with UNIX and UNIX-like systems and with Vista and above in Windows Shortcut:
A file interpreted by the Windows shell or other apps that understand them as paths to a file or directory File size corresponds to the binary information it contains Treated as ordinary files by the operating system and by SW programs that don’t understand them Deleting the shortcut does not remove the target Maintains references to target even if the target is moved or renamed, but is useless if the target is deleted Points to, rather than represents, the target Can reside on partitions or volumes separate from the target on the same System Compatible with all Windows versions
A symbolic link is a file-system object (file or directory) that points to another file system object (file or directory). The object being pointed to is called the target.
There are two type of symbolic links: hard and soft.
A soft link is referenced as a symbolic link and works similarly to a standard shortcut. Soft links will have a shortcut arrow icon on them. For example, when you open a soft link to a folder, you will be redirected to the folder where the files are stored.
A hard link makes it appear as though the file or folder actually exists at the location of the symbolic link, and your app won’t know any better. That can make hard symbolic links more useful in most situations. Hard links to a file will not have a shortcut arrow icon on them.
- Symbolic Links - Windows applications | Microsoft Docs
- Hard Links and Junctions | Microsoft Docs
- NTFS symbolic link - Wikipedia
- Hard link - Wikipedia
- mklink | Microsoft Docs
- New-Item | Microsoft Docs
A symbolic link can be helpful if say you wanted to sync a folder for a program. For example, if you have a program that must have its files stored at C:\Program Files and you want them stored at D:\My Location instead. You could move the original directory from C:\Program Files to D:\My Location, and create a symbolic link (soft or hard) at C:\Program Files (link) pointing to D:\My Location (target).
This tutorial will show you how to create soft and hard symbolic links (symlinks) pointing to a file or folder in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
If you have Developer Mode turned on in Windows 10, you will need to use the mklink command in a normal command prompt instead of the usually required elevated command prompt.
Option One: Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to File in Command Prompt
Option Two: Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to Directory in Command Prompt
Option Three: Create Hard Link Pointing to File in Command prompt
Option Four: Create Hard Link (Junction) Pointing to Directory in Command Prompt
Option Five: Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to File in PowerShell
Option Six: Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to Directory in PowerShell
Option Seven: Create Hard Link Pointing to File in PowerShell
Option Eight: Create Hard Link (Junction) Pointing to Directory in PowerShell
Option Nine: Delete Hard or Soft Symbolic Link
Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to File in Command Prompt
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
mklink "Link" "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path with file name and extension you want created as a soft symbolic link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the file with extension that is the target (source) you want the soft symbolic link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> mklink "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\My Documents Link.txt" "C:\Users\Brink\Documents\My Document.txt"3 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to Directory in Command Prompt
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
mklink /d "Link" "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path of a folder (directory) you want created as a soft symbolic link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the folder (directory) that is the target (source) you want the soft symbolic link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> mklink /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" "D:\Mozilla Firefox"3 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
Create Hard Link Pointing to File in Command Prompt
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
mklink /h "Link" "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path with file name and extension you want created as a hard link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the file with extension that is the target (source) you want the hard link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> mklink /h "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\My Documents Link.txt" "C:\Users\Brink\Documents\My Document.txt"3 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-hard_link_to_file_command_prompt.jpg
Create Hard Link (Junction) Pointing to Directory in Command Prompt
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
mklink /j "Link" "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path of a folder (directory) you want created as a hard link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the folder (directory) that is the target (source) you want the hard link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" "D:\Mozilla Firefox"3 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-hard_link_to_directory_command_prompt.png
Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to File in PowerShell
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "Link" -Target "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path with file name and extension you want created as a soft symbolic link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the file with extension that is the target (source) you want the soft symbolic link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\My Documents Link.txt" -Target "C:\Users\Brink\Documents\My Document.txt"3 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-soft_symbolic_link_to_file_powershell.jpg
Create Soft Symbolic Link Pointing to Directory in PowerShell
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "Link" -Target "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path of a folder (directory) you want created as a soft symbolic link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the folder (directory) that is the target (source) you want the soft symbolic link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" -Target "D:\Mozilla Firefox"3 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-soft_symbolic_link_to_directory_powershell.jpg
Create Hard Link Pointing to File in PowerShell
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "Link" -Target "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path with file name and extension you want created as a hard link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the file with extension that is the target (source) you want the hard link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\My Documents Link.txt" -Target "C:\Users\Brink\Documents\My Document.txt"3 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-hard_link_to_file_powershell.jpg
Create Hard Link (Junction) Pointing to Directory in PowerShell
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "Link" -Target "Source Target"
Substitute Link in the command above with the full path of a folder (directory) you want created as a hard link at.
Substitute Source Target in the command above with the full path of the folder (directory) that is the target (source) you want the hard link pointing to. This is the actual location where everything will be saved at.
For example:
> New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" -Target "D:\Mozilla Firefox"3 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-hard_link_to_directory_powershell.jpg
Delete Hard or Soft Symbolic Link
1 Open File Explorer (Windows 8/10) or Windows Explorer (Windows 7).
2 Navigate to the location of the symbolic link (soft or hard), and delete it. This will not delete the target (source) the symbolic link points to.
Do not delete the target (source) the symbolic link points to. You only want to delete the link itself.
mklink – a command line tool included with Vista and Server 2008 and above. The most current link creation tool included with Windows. It creates Hard Links, Symbolic Links and Junction Points.
usage: mklink [[/d] | [/h] | [/j]]
/d – Creates a Symbolic Link for a directory.
If no flag used, creates a Symbolic Link for a file (default)
/h – Creates a Hard Link
/j – Creates a Junction Point
– The name for the Symbolic Link being created
– The relative or absolute path of the target
/? – Help
To create a file hard link: mklink /H linkName target
To create a directory junction: mklink /J linkName target To create a directory symbolic link: mklink /D linkName target
To create a file symbolic link: mklink linkName target
- A hard link points a name to data on a storage device
- A soft link points a name to another name, that points to data on a storage device.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make multiple file names reference the same file using hard links and symbolic, also called “soft” links. The two common ways of creating multiple names that point to the same file in Linux are:
Creating a soft link (symbolic link) to the file Creating a hard link to the file.
A soft link is a special type of file that points to an existing file or directory. It can be used to link two files on different file systems. A soft link can point to a special file as well.
The ln -s command is used to create a soft link. Let’s consider an example:
In the following example, the ln -s command is used to create a new soft link for the existing file /tmp/file1.txt that will be named to /tmp/file2.txt:
> $ echo "Hello from file1" > /tmp/file1.txt
> $ ln -s /tmp/file1.txt /tmp/file2.txtConfirm by listing the files:
> $ ls -l /tmp/file1.txt /tmp/file2.txt
-rw-------. 1 jkmutai jkmutai 17 Feb 4 22:37 /tmp/file1.txt
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 jkmutai jkmutai 14 Feb 4 22:38 /tmp/file2.txt -> /tmp/file1.txtYou can see the first character of the long listing for /tmp/file2.txt is l instead of -. This indicates that the file is a soft link and not a regular file. (A d would indicate that the file is a directory.)
Check the contents of the symbolic link file.
> $ cat /tmp/file2.txt
Hello from file1For directory, use:
> ln -s /dir /dir2If you delete the original regular file, the soft link will still point to missing file – a “dangling soft link.”
Every file in Linux starts with a single hard link. By creating a new hard link to a file, you are creating another name that points to that same data.
The new hard link acts exactly like the original file name. It is hard to tell the difference between the new hard link and the original name of the file. You use the ln command to create a hard link – Another name that points to an existing file.
> $ echo "Hello World from Hard Link" >/tmp/hello1.txt
> $ ln /tmp/hello1.txt /tmp/hello2.txt
Where:
/tmp/hello1.txt is a path to the existing file /tmp/hello2.txt is the hard link that you want to create. Use the ls -i option to ls list the files’ inode number. If the inode numbers are the same, the files are hard links pointing to the same data.
> $ ls -li /tmp/hello1.txt /tmp/hello2.txt
2591191 -rw-------. 2 jkmutai jkmutai 27 Feb 5 08:16 /tmp/hello1.txt
2591191 -rw-------. 2 jkmutai jkmutai 27 Feb 5 08:16 /tmp/hello2.tx```t
--- Let's add third file and recheck ---
> $ ln /tmp/hello1.txt /tmp/hello3.txt
> $ ls -li /tmp/hello1.txt /tmp/hello2.txt /tmp/hello3.txt
2591191 -rw-------. 3 jkmutai jkmutai 27 Feb 5 08:16 /tmp/hello1.txt
2591191 -rw-------. 3 jkmutai jkmutai 27 Feb 5 08:16 /tmp/hello2.txt
2591191 -rw-------. 3 jkmutai jkmutai 27 Feb 5 08:16 /tmp/hello3.txt
All hard links referencing the same file have the same:
link count access permissions user and group ownerships time stamps file content Compare with ones for Soft link:
> $ ls -li /tmp/file1.txt /tmp/file2.txt /tmp/file3.txt
2442008 -rw-------. 1 jkmutai jkmutai 17 Feb 4 22:37 /tmp/file1.txt
2442949 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 jkmutai jkmutai 14 Feb 4 22:38 /tmp/file2.txt -> /tmp/file1.txt
2601927 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 jkmutai jkmutai 14 Feb 5 08:24 /tmp/file3.txt -> /tmp/file1.txt
1. A hard link is an additional name of the original file which refers inode to access the target file.
1.1 In contrast, soft link is distinct to the original file and is an alias to original file but do not uses inode.
2. When an original file gets deleted soft link becomes invalid whereas, a hard link is valid even if the target file is deleted.
3. In Linux, the command used for the creation of hard link is “ln“. As against, the command used for a soft link is “ln -s“.
4. Hard link has same inode number dissimilar to soft link, where target file and its soft link have distinct inode number.
5. Hard links are restricted to its own partitions, but soft links can cover different file systems.
6. The performance of hard link is better than soft link in some cases.
7. Relative path and absolute path both are allowed in soft links. On the contrary, the relative path is not allowed in a hard link.