In the NTFS file system, there are three types of links, hard links, junction links and symbolic links. A hard link is a file system representation of any file which can be referenced by more than one path reference in the same volume. The junction link is a bit different than hard links. Junction links, also known as soft links, refers storage objects which are separate directories. These links are capable of linking directories, located on different local volumes of the same computer. The functionality are otherwise quite similar for both hard and junction links.

A junction link is created between two folder and not between files. Junctions can be created between different local drives but not between network drives and local drives.

In this article, we shall show you how to create a junction link, linking two folders. Here, one important thing to remember is that the folder to which you want to point the link should already exist. You cannot create any folder while the process is ongoing.

Steps To Create And Delete A Junction Link On Windows 10

For instance, we are going to create a junction link between a folder on the P drive from a folder in the C drive (local drive in this case). The junction link is to be created at C:\Users\wayto\Pictures\Camera Roll

Open the Start menu, type Command Prompt in the Cortana search panel. Right click on it and select Run As Administrator.

command prompt

Type the following command and hit Enter.

 
mklink /J "path to junction link" "path to target folder"

You have to change the command as per your conditions. So, the command becomes like this

 
mklink /J "C:\Users\wayto\Pictures\Camera Roll\Target" "P:\Target"

Here, keep in mind, in the “path to junction link”, the “Target” folder is the same folder of P drive. Do not create a folder with name “Target” in the Camera Roll folder. [The names are written according to my preferences. ]

junction link

The junction link is thus created.

link

To remove it, type the following command and hit Enter.

rmdir "path to junction link" 

So, here in my case, it till be

rmdir “C:\Users\wayto\Pictures\Camera Roll\Target”

target file

About 

Happiness is that best therapy. Use it to heal yourself and then others!

2 COMMENTS

  1. is it possible to remove a junction but keep the files that were made when creating the junction?

  2. great… worked!
    to remove it you can also delete the junction folder; the target files will remain. I tested.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.