Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows

OldGrantonian · 12 Jun 2023

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That looks great

Thanks.

I'm going to investigate that now.

It's a lot safer than BAT files. I'm nervous using these now. I'm likely to blow away everything.

I was just about to investigate CMD before you posted.
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Try3 · 12 Jun 2023

OldGrantonian said:

I tried OPTION FOUR, Create Junction Point to Directory in Command Prompt

Code:

mklink /j "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming" "D:\AppData_Roaming"

D:\AppData_Roaming already existed. I got the error:

Code:

Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

So I deleted the folder "AppData_Roaming". I retried mklink.

Alan,

You cannot achieve what you want this way.

In the command

mklink /j "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming" "D:\AppData_Roaming"

you are creating an object at

"C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

that, when called, reroutes the call to

"D:\AppData_Roaming"

Because you are trying to create "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming", it must not already exist.

All the best,
Denis

OldGrantonian · 12 Jun 2023

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Success:

I used Shawn's alternative code in post #68

mklink /j "D:\AppData_Roaming" "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

That code was clearly explained by Denis in #71.

I've been watching the files on D: updating second by second.

That's exactly what I need during Macrium Backups or Restores. (Drive D is never part of my Backup.)

Thanks
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Try3 · 12 Jun 2023

OldGrantonian said:

I used Shawn's alternative code in post #68
mklink /j "D:\AppData_Roaming" "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"
That code was clearly explained by Denis in #71.
I've been watching the files on D: updating second by second.

In the command

mklink /j "D:\AppData_Roaming" "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

you are creating an object at

"D:\AppData_Roaming"

that, when called, reroutes the call to

"C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

Because you are trying to create "D:\AppData_Roaming", it must not already exist.
But who are you expecting to call

"D:\AppData_Roaming"

anyway?

All the best,
Denis

OldGrantonian · 12 Jun 2023

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Try3 said:

But who are you expecting to call

"D:\AppData_Roaming"

anyway?

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I think the answer is "me"

In other words, if I now want look in Roaming, I'll look in exactly the same place as I've always been looking:

C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming <ADR>

I'm expecting to see the files that are actually physically located at D: - and will be fully up to date.

Except for testing, I would never use File Explorer to look at the phsical files in D:. I don't want to change my normal working practices. Too much danger of disasters.

I might investigate putting some kind of lock on AppData_Roaming, to prevent accidental disasters.

I'm not sure what Macrium will see in ADR. I don't care. I'm not using D: to save space. (I would prefer to spend more money if I needed more space.) I'm using D: to give me up-to-date info.

With the greatest respect to the generous volunteers here, I can't get my head around "call". I prefer the HowToGeek's use of "point" - here:

The Complete Guide to Creating Symbolic Links (aka Symlinks) on Windows

They say:

Use /J to create a hard link POINTING to a directory, also known as a directory junction:

mklink /J Link Target

All Engineers of my age are completely at home with pointers in "unsafe" languages such as C and Perl. Both of these have pointers to pointers to pointers to.... - with massive computing power. UML Sequence Diagrams are a cinch in Perl. But I don't understand Java's Refs - which I think might be similar to "call".

It's easy for me to visualize a signpost pointing to "The proper part of London".

But I just can't get my head around the idea of standing in the middle of the better part of London (assuming it's actually big enough to have a middle), and calling the signpost to find out where I am.

Thanks
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Try3 · 12 Jun 2023

You have created an object that redirects to somewhere else.
That object is, in your case, "D:\AppData_Roaming" and when anything or anybody calls it or points to it, they will be redirected to "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

This behaviour is explained in the tutorial.
It is also explained in the HTG webpage you posted a link to.
I posted links to several other explanations of the command in my ditty on junctions etc #3 - TenForums

Your command seems to be the opposite of what you said you wanted.
- The intended files must be in "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming" for a call / point to "D:\AppData_Roaming" to find them so space in your C:\ drive is used up.
- The redirection point itself, "D:\AppData_Roaming", has zero size and does not use up any space on your D:\ drive.

All the best,
Denis

OldGrantonian · 12 Jun 2023

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Try3 said:

You have created an object that redirects to somewhere else.
That object is, in your case, "D:\AppData_Roaming" and when anything or anybody calls it or points to it, they will be redirected to "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming"

This behaviour is explained in the tutorial.
It is also explained in the HTG webpage you posted a link to.
I posted links to several other explanations of the command in my ditty on junctions etc #3 - TenForums

Your command seems to be the opposite of what you said you wanted.
- The intended files must be in "C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming" for a call / point to "D:\AppData_Roaming" to find them so space in your C:\ drive is used up.
- The redirection point itself, "D:\AppData_Roaming", has zero size and does not use up any space on your D:\ drive.

All the best,
Denis

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The space-saving (if any) is a "nice to have", but has a much lower priority.
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My main objective is to ensure that some apps are updated in real time. This means that I don't need to remember to do a static Robocopy just before any Macrium Restore.

You say: Your command seems to be the opposite of what you said you wanted.

I think you're correct.

And thanks for taking the time to monitor what I'm doing.

I've only done HALF a test.

As mentioned earlier, here is my half test for CintaNotes (CN). Similar tests were done for 3 other indispensable apps.

C means:
C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming\CintaNotes

D means:
D:\AppData_Roaming

- Keep File Explorer pointing to D
- Add 2 new notes in CN
- D updates "Date modified" almost immediately. C does not change (except for a small number of exceptions - 1 or 2. Puzzling)

Here's the other half of the test - which I did NOT do.

- Close CN (to break any links)
- Open CN
- Sort notes by "Date Modified"
- Now the latest notes don't appear. (Not a disaster. I don't think I've made any genuine notes today - or any genuine changes to other apps)

D still shows the correct times for various additions and updates to notes.

I think this is what's happening. At startup, the program itself is looking in C for its data. That data hasn't been updating.

Therefore, new notes are not showing.

Question:

If I delete the links, and reverse the arguments for mklink, will that achieve my main objective: dynamic updating? (Ignore the space issue.)

Thanks

Try3 · 12 Jun 2023

Alan,

I still think your relocation experiment was the most promising route for you as long as you dealt with all the Roaming subfolders listed in the User shell folders Key.

I cannot find that thread now. I found How to move AppData files from C: to D: ? but cannot find the one in which I posted this diagram

Create Soft and Hard Symbolic Links in Windows-appdata-roaming-its-subfolders.png

All the best,
Denis

Found it - How to Add or Remove Location tab in Folder Properties - post #7 - TenForumsTutorials

OldGrantonian · 12 Jun 2023

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Try3 said:

I still think your relocation experiment was the most promising route for you as long as you dealt with all the Roaming subfolders listed in the User shell folders Key.

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User Shell Folders
I changed the entry in User Shell Folders to use
%USERPROFILE%
instead of
C:\Users\Alan

Rebooted.

Looked in Shell Folders. The format was identical to the other entries.

I stepped down the
C:\Users\Alan\AppData hierarchy until I found a Location tab.

AppData had no Location tab. Roaming had the tab. So we were back in business.

I set the target to D:\AppData_Roaming
It complained "Can't xxx into Reparse Point. Please choose a different Target path".

That makes sense, we applied a Junction Point to the folder earlier in this marathon. (The "xxx" means I can't read my own handwriting. Fortunately, I don't think that matters here.)

Reminder: We need to cancel that Junction Point that we created - for safety. I couldn't see a tutorial for that in the List of tutorials here:

Ten Forums Tutorials - Google Drive

The rest of the move operation was simple follow-the-prompts.

If I create test data for the apps that need to update dynamically, I now see the opposite to what I saw earlier after the Junction Point Creation earlier.

Now the C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming folder updates by the second.

But the timestamps in AppData-Roaming folder on D: are fixed at the exact time the move took place.

It looks good, but I'm not cheering too loudly until I find how Macrium reacts to fake folders with pointers. Should be OK. IMO, Macrium is just a dumb, byte-by-byte hex copier. I don't think it will look for files on D: (Said he, with total lack of confidence.)

TODO: Remove the Junction Point on D:

Thanks for all the help.
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Try3 · 12 Jun 2023

If, as I think, you are now pursuing the folder relocation method:-
You have not mentioned the Registry entries in my last diagram, such as %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo, that contain AppData\Roaming in their paths.
I don't know why you changed %USERPROFILE% to C:\Users\Alan. It's just six of one and half a dozen of the other.

If you were continuing to pursue the redirection point method:-
"I set the target to D:\AppData_Roaming
It complained "Can't xxx into Reparse Point. Please choose a different Target path"."
It is the C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming link that is the problem. It already exists. That's why it complains.
You could try logging out of Alan & logging into a different Admin user account then use the command prompt to delete C:\Users\Alan\AppData\Roaming and to create the redirection point at the same time using the command in post #71.
- You might well have to take ownership of the folder in order to delete it because it is currently owned by Alan.
- Don't accidentally delete C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming because that would be the folder for the other Admin user account you were currently logged in to.

All the best,
Denis