Create symbolic link windows server 2003

This user right determines if users can create a symbolic link from the device they are logged on to. A symbolic link is a file-system object that points to another file-system object.

The object that's pointed to is called the target. Symbolic links are transparent to users. The links appear as normal files or directories, and they can be acted upon by the user or application in exactly the same manner.

Symbolic links are designed to aid in migration and application compatibility with UNIX operating systems. Microsoft has implemented symbolic links to function just like UNIX links. Warning: This privilege should only be given to trusted users.

The files have the same names under mydir that they had under yourdir. In this case, none of the old names may be a directory. In some cases a file may have the same name as the link you are trying to set up.

This file is referred to as the conflicting path name. To deal with a conflicting path name, ln follows these steps. If you have specified -i , ln writes a prompt to standard error to ask if you want to remove the conflicting path name. If you answer affirmatively, ln attempts to remove it. If you have specified -f , ln attempts to remove the conflict silently. If it is going to get rid of the conflicting path name, ln attempts to do so in the same way that rm does.

If ln can't get rid of the conflicting path name, it does not attempt to establish the new link; it simply prints an error message on the standard error and goes on to process any other files. If ln successfully removes the conflicting path name, it then establishes the link. Any change to the user rights assignment for an account becomes effective the next time the owner of the account logs on.

Settings are applied in the following order through a Group Policy Object GPO , which will overwrite settings on the local computer at the next Group Policy update:. This setting can be used in conjunction with a symbolic link file system setting that can be manipulated with the command-line tool to control the kinds of symlinks that are allowed on the computer.

This section describes how an attacker might exploit a feature or its configuration, how to implement the countermeasure, and the possible negative consequences of countermeasure implementation.

Users who have the Create symbolic links user right could inadvertently or maliciously expose your system to symbolic link attacks. Symbolic link attacks can be used to change the permissions on a file, to corrupt data, to destroy data, or as a DoS attack. Do not assign the Create symbolic links user right to standard users. How do I create a symbolic link and what are the current consumer and server versions of Windows that support it? Symbolic links via mklink are available since Windows Vista and Windows Server According to msdn.

Future Windows operating systems are likely to continue support for mklink. You can read further information about this new feature on Microsoft TechNet , Junfeng Zhang's blog or howtogeek. Use mklink or junction from Sysinternals Microsoft. I believe mklink will work in Windows and above, but I cannot find any hard documentation on that. Didn't see this in any of the answers, but linkd. Junctions are available from Windows and up, so just copy linkd.

If you are still on old Windows, like XP, , , etc. I use it a lot. You get a shell link right click menu option to create a junction point. Excellent stuff. See TechNet entry. To make sure your links work you might want to check the configuration of your server.

Links can be made but unless you use the symlinkevaluation setting in the following command your links might not work. By default only the local options are activated.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.