SymLinks: The Hidden "SUPER Shortcut" Feature in Windows

[@ThioJoe]

Fun fact i spent like 5 hours on that thumbnail

[@baribari1000]

oof

[@sangitakumari5482]

Yeah it looks 👍👌👍

[@_SJ]

😮

[@cubeir]

Good job, Looks click-baity, as always.

[@dinkarfowkar999]

wtf 5 hours that time it takes me to write 2 fricking chemistry chapters

[@Nabeelco]

Re: Hard Links: It doesn't matter which one you delete, as long as there is one version of the hard link in existence, the file will still exist. Hard links are like two entries to the same paragraph in the table of contents of a book. So long as one entry remains, the location of the file will always be known.

[@harrybagg7325]

wat ._.

[@maciejzettt]

So, if I get it right, hard links are just a regular file system entry referncing to a physical space already referenced by another entry and file system treats them equally. As a consequence, as long as there is at least one reference to a file, corresponding physical address won't be marked as unused, right?

[@soumyaranjanmahunt1452]

So if my hard link is in another partition, I can never delete the original file?

[@maciejzettt]

@@soumyaranjanmahunt1452 I assume that's why you can't have a hard link to a different volume.

[@the-niker]

Wow so you can make some files effectively undeletable by holding multiple references to them? Sweet.

[@pikatrainer3835]

12:46 Shift + 'Right click' > Copy as Path to get the whole File/Folders Path
Wow i have been living in darkness getting full paths, thanks for the Tip man!

[@joemck85]

Tip, when deleting a directory symlink, make sure you're using Explorer or another program that doesn't do its own recursive deletion, or it *will* delete the files inside the orginal directory. You can find out by making a test folder full of stuff you don't care about, a directory symlink to it, and delete the symlink with whatever program.
Symlinks are pretty nice when dealing with stubborn software. I've used it to put part of my Chrome profile on my NAS when I was playing a browser based game that was continually writing lots of stuff there and putting pointless wear on my SSD. I also used them when Dropbox absolutely refused to let me have my Dropbox folder on a removable drive. I was using a mini laptop with very little space in C: and no way to add a bigger disk, but it had a MicroSD slot so that's obviously where I wanted bulk files put.

[@Daniel_A_Hernandez]

Great video, I’ve used hard and soft links in Linux before, I never knew they existed in windows! Thank you for the useful information.

[@EinChris75]

Basically links are a feature of a file system. NTFS supports them since a while. But user tools are not that easy to use. Hence, no one knew about them.

[@samuvisser]

Already knowing about symlinks, what this really teached me is again how amazing Notepad++ is lol

[@Guru_1092]

It's shocking how it isn't a default at this point tbh.

[@gavinthecrafter]

I wonder why this feature isn't more user accessible, requiring you to go to the command prompt to access it.
Maybe they thought it might be too confusing for some people? It's far too useful to hide it away though, even if it's a bit confusing.

[@EwanMarshall]

There is a shell extension for explorer available to add such features to the right click menu.

[@ThisCanBePronounced]

Confusion and lack of clarity brings some "danger." He pointed out how in one type of link, it's not easy to recognize that it is one. I would add related possible situations like: deleting the target forgetting something was linked to it because the target shows no signs that it's being linked to, going too link-happy and creating too many that aren't useful or even recursive ones, and using it to get around issues you should manage in a different way. Shortcuts and drive-mapping should do the trick for most of the time that you just want convenience.
I think I mainly only use it for the Dropbox trick, and I've used it before to make iTunes put backups on another drive. Some programs actually can't work through the links, and if you have storage space away from your system drive, you should manage your stuff differently, and drive mapping is another option.

[@EwanMarshall]

@@ThisCanBePronounced If handled at the filesystem level, it is transparent to the application unless the application specifically asks for the information to find out it is a symlink link. A shortcut is not, as that is just given to the application as another file. The biggest reason they are not more common and obvious in windows is FAT doesn't support them, only NTFS.
If a program can't work through links then it is deliberately working to block it, the question you should ask is why?

[@ThisCanBePronounced]

@@EwanMarshall interesting, thanks for the clarification and extra details. L
But I don't see how FAT not supporting it means anything. it's been like 20+ years with NTFS around. I don't know how long Linux / Unix / macs have had them though.

[@EwanMarshall]

@@ThisCanBePronounced "ln appeared in Issue 2 of the X/Open Portability Guidelines", issue 2 was released in 1987.
"Symlinks were introduced in 4.2BSD Unix from U.C. Berkeley", 4.2 was released 1984.
And more if someone tries to use them on an external drive or memory stick.

[@Kid574]

I love how symbolic links are so simple yet so damn difficult to explain to someone who doesn't know about them 😂

[@ClaudioBosgraaf]

Why not try "transparent" link, as for explaining. Since most programs don't see it as a link, but just as any other file.

[@damgam98]

As soon as i've read "super shortcut" i knew it's gonna be about Symlinks...
Such a powerful tool to take stuff away from C drive xD

[@xfuglen3147]

Could you symlink the Windows folder?

[@RYANTHORNTONCALL]

@@xfuglen3147 I believe it's possible to, though likely it will break since files that load the filesystem are in there to.

[@wohao_gaster7434]

@@RYANTHORNTONCALL Ha asks could you please symlink the windows folder for me?

[@YayaVT]

I actually use symlink a lot, I want my C drive to be used only for windows itself, so for all those stubborn programs that require to install into C, I just move them elsewhere and symlink it 🤣

[@TheDragShot]

@@YayaVT now that's a use case I never thought of. Brilliant!

[@bbbl67]

Yes, I knew about these symlinks already, and I actually find the hard links are much more useful than symlinks. The symlinks themselves are files that take up one additional cluster to point to another file, whereas the hard links are just a simple entry in an existing pointer to an existing file without adding any additional clusters to the filesystem. It's very useful for categorizing files into multiple folders without having to take up any additional space on the drive by duplicating the files. For example if you have some photographs that you took, and you categorize them into folders for "family photos", "nature photos", etc. If a certain photo fulfills both categories, then you can put the photos in both folders, without having to copy them to both folders and using up twice the space on the drive.
You can also list all hardlinks that a particular file possesses by using the "fsutil hardlink list" command on command-line or a Powershell prompt.
Also there are Explorer extensions available that will make this simple by doing everything from the File Explorer interface without having to use the command line. One example is a program called "Symlink Creator".

[@hereelabs]

This was so useful for moving my music, videos, and pictures to a seperate drive without losing the paths. My playlists are saved!

[@beardalaxy]

This is how Vortex mod manager handles deploying mods! It stores the actual mod files in one location and whenever you deploy a mod, it puts symlinks in the correct location in the game's folder. This means that it's possible to have multiple profiles or easily turn mods on and off without having to move the files!

[@EinChris75]

Junctions are also used in the Windows server deduplication. The junctions store the index entries for/into the container files with the deduplicated files.
(They are a specific type of junction, so they won't show the link icon modification on the file.)

[@ThioJoe]

Hm interesting

[@PresidentIT]

Nowadays, if you're running AI image generators locally using python, using symlinks is usefull to keep your models in 1 directory and create symlinks to point your generator to these (huge) models. "Regular" symlinks don't work with python, only junctions... So there, I found you a use case! Thank you so much for explaining this. Couldn't have figured it out without you.

[@yippie37eso76]

this blew my mind, I could've used this so much at a time when my files got mixed up between drives. Better late than never, thank you!!

[@AizenSosukesama]

Time to do this on my friend's computer

[@ThioJoe]

C:\ ---> Recycle Bin

[@AizenSosukesama]

@@ThioJoe laughs in evil

[@CoasterMan13Official]

@@AizenSosukesama 😼

[@yann1446]

@@ThioJoethe recycle bin is in the C: drive -> best scenario: free energy, worst scenario: end of the world

[@wind_explorer]

The information offered in this video might be the most useful thing I have learnt from you since I first started watching your videos so a big thanks to you ThioJoe!

[@cenevspeed]

Joe, I would really like to Thank You for inspiring me to create content on RUclips! I had a RUclips channel before but did nothing, but thanks to your tutorials, I gained some fuel and created videos. People started liking my videos and even said that they are useful and I should keep it up. Now I have reached 318 subscribers and I would like to thank you for helping me reach this point.
Great Tutorial and Thumbnail is even better!!!🔥🔥

[@agoogleuser3853]

Fun fact: thio sounds like uncle in portugese, so it sounds like "uncle joe"

[@msilva2013]

Yes, it does. I can attest to that. :D

[@nitrogenio]

I always thought about it

[@alwinvillero9505]

tio joe

[@user-wv3zd7px3r]

And in spanish

[@stefanoVillaMilano]

I think it's done on pourpose

[@GrandpaStories826]

Joe always finds a way to make everyone's day happier, he inspired me to create my own youtube channel ❤️💓

[@silvio2402]

Joe mama

[@doge_the_cat]

who's Joe?

[@johnthemannn]

@@doge_the_cat what's grass?

[@doge_the_cat]

amogus

[@Imperatrixxy]

I've used this feature for ages to sync the game settings across characters in Final Fantasy XIV, since the game doesn't let you do that natively.

[@VojtaJavora]

Yeah, that sounds like a good workaround

[@jwf3148]

This video provides a transition path from information to working knowledge of a useful feature. Well done and much appreciated...

[@semicharmedkindofguy3088]

Technically the files you normally see are all hard links - they point to some location on the drive that holds the file data. When you create a new hardlink you're just making another link to the same data. This is why file changes(data content changes, the links point to the same changed data) or moves(the path to the link itself changes, but the data remains at the same place so the link still points to the same data) work.

[@EinChris75]

On Unix a Hard Link can be seen as an additional entry in the file system to the same file.
After creation of a hard link there is no "primary or secondary" hard link. Both are equal.
So you can remove either one.
The file is deleted, when all hard links to a file are deleted.
(The "first" entry of the file into a directory structure is counted as the first hard link to that file.)

[@EwanMarshall]

it is actually the same on NTFS. It is just outside of moving a file, windows users generally aren't exposed to them.

[@yasirrakhurrafat1142]

Hii , this might be very late , and dumb but ...
I have a question ,
Soo u cannot make a hard link from one volume to another / remote volume . But is it possible to create a link on a remote volume to a file on the same remote volume , cuz its the same filesystem as the hardlink/the original file ?

[@ultradude5410]

@@yasirrakhurrafat1142 I don’t see why that wouldn’t work :)

[@yasirrakhurrafat1142]

@@ultradude5410 that's awesome !
I'm thinking of making a server with os es installation volumes on a remote drive . And use block level deduplication somehow . To use volume as efficiently as possible .

[@giosal8822]

It's been a long time since TJ showed me something I've never heard of before ...

[@WolfyRed]

TJ says "open the garage" !
IDK WHY

[@Elytraz17]

TYSM , I was trying to create a main folder of all my common resourcepacks that i use for all my versions in minecraft, creating a normal shortcut wouldn't work, this did.
Thank you again.

[@OstenTV_DK]

You can actually delete either the original file or hard link, as they both point to the same location on the file system. The "size on disk" as shown in the video, is because it is a small text file. A hard link shows the same size on disk as the original file. When you delete the original file, it won't remove it from the filesystem because there is still a "file" pointing to that location.

[@kiplittle]

A Symlink to a folder will sort alphabetically WITH any other folders in its directory - unlike a shortcut which always appears after all other folders. For me, this is a huge quality of life improvement. Thanks Theo.

[@aweigh1010]

I use symlinks to move "movies" folders from game installs over to a slower mechanical HDD, but keep the main game files on the speedy SSD. Saves space, and that game still 'thinks' everything is in the same place. Even works through Steam updates. Specifically, I use JUNCTIONS, or "soft links".

[@lostyawolfer]

I found a usage besides of making dumb programs work in other disc than c:. So if you are playing minecraft, and you have a bunch of installations and a lot of special folders for each one, sometimes it's a very boring thing to always, for example, syncing resourcepacks or options. You can make a special folder somewhere, and put there any resourcepacks you need on every installation for example, and make a bunch of symlinks to this folder in all of those versions. Congrats, you have a really easy to sync resource pack folder! You don't even need to go to that main directory ever again, but you can just go to this symlink and add, edit or remove packs you need anytime you want. Same for settings, just create symlinks for options.txt. Same goes for worlds, optifine settings (optionsof.txt), mods, or whatever. Really cool!

[@giffardjustin]

From personal experiance if you use both windows and a unix based operating system do not put the symlink into your dropbox folder. I had it overwrite data because all of a sudden instead of the contents being there it was placed a a file of the symlink and yeah bye bye data. Rather do the route mentioned earlier in video and move the folder to dropbox and symlink at the original location

[@gregottorry2994]

i love the fact he visualizes the portals with blue and orange, goes to show you how much of an impact Portal made
great video

[@shikhanshu]

terrific video.. for linux users like me, symlinks (soft or hard) are not a mystery; but for windows users, this is probably an eye-opener. I did not even know that windows supports "real" links as opposed to shortcuts.

[@Kasatome]

I remember using Junctions to do a split drive Windows install on Win7. Basically letting windows files be on the SSD while the user and program folders were Junctioned to a Hard Drive.

[@icy.kekw.]

This will come in handy when I get my 2nd ssd. I won't have to download my *epic games* games again because they don't have an option to move the game location from 1 place to another unlike steam

[@Pro720HyperMaster720]

Yeah, but they should add that feature if they really want to compete with Steam (btw GOG let you move the games, you can move the games and let tell the GOG client you want to import a directory and done)

[@DeeJay_Harrison]

i use Link Shell Extension Software It just saves me from going to command prompt

[@rondowar]

Was about to comment the same, it turns symbolic links into something that anyone can use, if they understand the terminology involved; cmd scares of many people, and honestly, it's just a hastle generally

[@drdca8263]

@@rondowar command lines don’t bite.

[@qwertyhermit]

Oh wow didn't know of this. You made it really easy to understand how it works. Great job!

[@kevinhawthorne5257]

Thank You for all of your videos that you did. I am enjoying all of them

[@RugbyNo17]

Thanks Joe! I thought of a number of uses for this feature just while I was watching the video. Good stuff to know.

[@GaryFerrao]

I knew this feature ever since i use Linux/Mac. But ThioJoe can now explain it to all the rest of the people.
Actually, i like that you take these technical jargons and explain in a way that regular people can understand.

[@briandewolfe]

Directory junctions have an interesting property you can exploit when dealing with removable drives that keep changing drive letter (they sometimes still change even after assigning a drive letter in Disk Management). Instead of trying to force a specific drive letter to the removable drive, I mount the external drive in an empty folder of my choosing in Disk Management (it's the other option in the same dialog as "change drive letter"). Mounting this way actually will cause Windows to create a directory junction with the folder's name that links to the external drive's *volume GUID*. A removable drive will still appear as whatever drive letter Windows gives it, but only the exact drive you mounted in Disk Management will ever show up in that directory!

[@becs-ps1bb]

This is gold. Thank you from the bottom of my heart; finally, I found the answer to my problem. Consider that, while browsing the web, I couldn't find any solution until I stumbled upon your comment. I also found a way to obtain the volume GUID directly from the command line by executing the command 'mountvol X: /L,' where 'X' is the drive letter for which we want to obtain the GUID.
By any chance, can you provide information regarding the creation of symlinks on Google Drive? I can't create them; I believe it might be a bug or something similar, but I can't find anything specific on the internet.

[@redhawkrobin]

Dude this video is so useful! Thank you for this❤️

[@Yellowsam4145]

THANK YOU found this and because of onedrive not wanting anything with files outside docs, desktop, etc this has been very useful!

[@spikessignal]

Dude thanks to this vid I just figured out how to symlink all my individual video project folders to my main stock media repository folder, so now as I get project specific stock footage, its automatically adding to my stock media repository for future projects. That stacked with switching the download location of chrome is gonna change everything. Thank you so much man!!

[@frysimulation]

Worked in Unix and Linux and familiar with links, but learned something new about the Windows file system from your video. Thanks

[@omerakgoz34]

A useful thing about hard links, I can't change the GPU setting of a symbolic link of an exe file. Windows directly changes the original file, not the symlink one. But when I change the symbolic link with a hard link, the link becomes a whole new file for the OS and I can change its own GPU setting separately from the original file.
This is so useful for playing Minecraft via java on a dual GPU laptop :P

[@Ryan-McLaughlin]

I just had my "ah I remember that moment" (13:50), very useful video.

[@cake0539]

I was so upset about having to safe my music twice, once in the music folder and once in the onedrive folder. But now i can just put symlinks in the onedrive.
Very cool tutorial, I wonder why they are a hidden feature and not a core feature.

[@StopRemindingMeOfThoseDays]

Probably because a lot of users will just find it confusing and its use cases aren't so frequent

[@angelcaru]

Most (if not all) Linux distros don't have shortcuts and just use symlinks.

[@angelcaru]

Most (if not all) Linux distros don't have shortcuts and just use symlinks.

[@Guru_1092]

I only understood about half of this, but I'm still interested and impressed.

[@madd5]

This is actually useful for OneDrive.

[@AmyraCarter]

0:18 Yup, very familiar with this. It actually is extremely useful.
Use this to install software anywhere, just put the symlink in the forced install directory.
(and games should always be installed in a partition separate from the OS install partition)

[@_SJ]

Yow ThioJoe Have a great day.

[@baribari1000]

1st!

[@iquackattimes]

wait a minute, how is your comment 2 hours early wtf

[@sangeloo]

@@iquackattimes early access

[@iquackattimes]

ohh

[@baribari1000]

@@iquackattimes hes a member

[@mattoi_]

Nice informative video! Just earlier this week I was talking with a friend about how cool this feature is and how Linux apparently allows you to use symlinks by default rather than shortcuts.
Works wonders for getting rid of those stupid Adobe programs and nvidia/spotify cache from your main SSD.

[@albrettnell]

Familiar with symbolic links from my Unix (yes, pre-Linux) days. But the shift-right-click to bring up the 'copy as path' item - SO USEFUL and I never knew that existed until now! Thank you!!

[@AhmedMalickWorld]

Keep it up Thio!

[@Martin-bx1et]

I couldn't get the /D option to work in Windows 11 - I just ended up with a link that wouldn't double-click and could not be accessed by apps.
Just swapping to /J worked fine though and I was very glad of the background that you gave.

[@None17555]

A use case similar to the one you mentioned with a cloud synced file/folder... I use this feature to share files/folders with people on cloud services I don't use much. So a coworker only uses Dropbox and is apparently unable to switch... so our shared folder on Dropbox is symlinked to a folder in OneDrive on my end. I have them linked on a secondary PC, too, so I don't have Dropbox running on my main machine at all.

[@rossgeography]

finally someone explains the types - was confused on junctions vs *presumably newer /d symlinks

[@nito8066]

cant stop returning to this vid

[@FaidAlfarisi]

I know (or just say noticed) something like this before, because Windows 10 (or other windows above xp) actually have "C:\Documents and Settings" symlink that actually linked to "C:\Users", i know if it for compatibility, but because i saw it as shortcut, i think shorcut will work like that, but it don't, i don't know why until i watch this video, thanks!
Also we have Desktop symlink in "C:\Users\Public" folder, yes it's hidden, but you can go to "C:\Users\Public\Desktop" or "C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop", try it by typing in the explorer address bar

[@-_lIl_-]

TheoJoe never fails to make something that can feel very complex to understand into something easy and simple to understand

[@tamertamertamer4874]

I thought this feature wasn’t in Windows. I used to use it a lot in Mac OS and I was disappointed when I couldn’t do that in Windows. Thank you so much :)

[@Witt.]

Nice video but something was wrong about hardlinks, there's no need to "memorize" the real file and there's no way to "delete the wrong file" as hardlinks are the same file with different mount points, symlinks points to a file in another location but hardlinks the file exist in two places at once, if you delete one the other will persist, if you edit one the other will be edited too and so on, symlinks in the other hand if you delete the original file the symlink was poiting to, will break the symlink the same way lnk shortcuts break. The only way to truly delete a hardlink is to delete all the mouting points for that file. Also i recommend using the program: link shell extension, it adds a context menu options that creates and manages symlinks very easy without the need of using cmd and typing the path, just right click on a folder/file, select the symlink type, right click on the destination and create, really fast for managing various games instalations(mods), backups, etc. And offers a very good way to copy symlinks/folder structure as moving symlinks with only explorer maybe a nightmare in some cases.

[@ejfex]

it should be at least check box in Window's "make link" for symlinks. Thanks for this video. Very useful.

[@Milo_Estobar]

Kudos for the example 2:37... The very sole reason I've searched for this....

[@CaptainJonathan]

I've done some similar things with this, but the use cases you gave here are super useful. This would help so much with some wonky situations.

[@ultraali453]

Dropbox actually allows you to add files to be backed up that aren't located in the Dropbox folder. However, I get why Joe would want to use Dropbox as a relatable example for a use case of SymLinks. It could be some other cloud storage provides that doesn't provide this feature in their client or it could be a network/external storage scenario.

[@MisterSixty]

I'm an old IT guy, but this is news to me!
Thanks for the video!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@TheSimpleCitizen]

Man, this was explained so well. I got discouraged a moment ago because i wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for, but i noticed the symlink option tonight, and i assumed it was probably some type of link/redirect thing but I didn't know how to actually pull it off...and still don't... yet anyway... I'm still listening to ur video so hopefully I can learn it without the cmd prompt.
The only other video i found on this was by a Russian guy and o just couldn't follow it. So here I am. Thanks man.

[@pqrstzxerty1296]

Its just "pipe" :
ie Dir c:\ >con1:
and back to
Dir c:/

[@davidadams421]

Wow! Very useful. I have my OS on C:\ and my data on D:\ (I back them up separately). I use the Windows 'Location' feature to relocate Documents, Downloads, Pictures etc., to D:\ but I've never figured out a way to move the huge AppData folder ... until NOW! MuHaHaaa. Great video.

[@abdouabdou1089]

thanks Joe that's was helpful i had use junctions links without knowing any thing about the symbolic links

[@cubo7420]

Thank you! This helped me alot when doing a backup for my moms Iphone on Windows.🙏

[@crazymarko1278]

Finally, someone explained SymLinks in layman's terms. Thanks for the great explanation! I think I got it now.

[@gomango99]

Thanks for this video! I'm using it to download sourcemods on a secondary drive to save storage space. Steam likes to only detect sourcemods from it's install directory and nothing else, so symlinks helped with that. :D

[@ashournamato928]

Thio Joe: i would like to give a tip for gamers this link opertaion can be usefull for tricking the computer by creating junction folders from HDD drive to SSD and that will make Patching games on that hard drive goes faster as computer will work SSD along side the HDD together. For Example pink link the steam folder from where you installed it and drop it as junction on the faster drive you have in your system and that will let the computer think that the folder is installed in SSD drive were its acutally a junction folder , This method worked for me since that time my Patching and Verifying of updates went insane and its not only usefull for updating its also good for games i notice the openning time of it was faster than before since i did this method.

[@spshc]

I've used links on Linux extensively and really loved them. I did not know they were available on Windows. Thanks.

[@Kthnx2]

symlinks are REALLY COOL.
I use them personally to keep all of my settings in all of my minecraft instances the same. If you play a lot of modded minecraft and switch between different instances constantly, they're a lifesaver when you don't wanna have to disable auto-jump every time you start up a new instance.

[@tutacat]

The symlink is processed on the "client" system, the junction can be processed by a the "server" system, so it has to link to a filesystem connected to the host.

[@SmartKidzee]

you are the best techtuber on earth thio! keep up the good job :)

[@gremy1987]

Hello. Great Video, I use it to create a Symblink of a Rom Folder from one drive, so I can save space when I'm not playing a specific game.... very useful indeed.

[@kahelsoro]

This is the 1st time i've known this feature in Windows. I've been using them in Linux w/o realizing they also exist in Windows haha. Awesome job explaining Thio
Best use case for me is moving those game client bloatware from my system drive to another drive
I'd also recommend taking notes of what symlinks you have created, esp if you have created a few of them. This makes it easier in the future eto manage/delete/determine

[@timsexton]

I crank the playback to 1.5x and speed-feed my brain on these tech-tips. Perfect choice by the way, on using the word, "resolved" at 6:02. It made my ears perk-up. Probably because I spent considerable time today correcting DNS issues. Anyways, great video!

[@user-fz2tm9pm5p]

Nutritious nourishment in Windows operative knowledge base. Thanks for sharing.

[@Kaytichu]

13:50 Well a few months later and I found my good use case for it, thanks for all the knowledge you provide in these videos!

[@SbiriJJ]

Yes junction are useful in remote path where a symlink don't work. Also access security is the same not only identical (or not) at creation but the same always. Last in a heavy directory browsing case the speed should be higher. I know and use symlinks (also useful to short PATH var) and save disk space with hard links but I see your videos because you give a lot of info and idea like today for the use for cloud backup.

[@EinChris75]

Last comment...
I use junctions on my servers to manage software versions.
So I have a lot of java programs. Java is installed in a folder called c:
untime\java8.0.121. If a newer java-version comes out, it will go into c:
untime\java8.0.131 or so.
If I had java8.0.121 in all my configuration and bat files, changing to a newer java version is a .... censored.
So I create a junction from c:
untime\java8 -> c:
untime\java8.0.121.
In my configs I only use c:
untime\java8.
Whenever a new java version is installed, I only have to update the junction to the new folder.
I found out that junctions work the best for that kind of issue.

[@keefer3826]

Well I never, I didn't know this. Thanks for the useful information.

[@redsimple]

That was extremely helpful. Thanks a bunch.

[@Plingey]

i love how the stock photos are named

[@bainseinoa]

Thank you for this tutorial, finally I can manage my really dumb programs

[@greghilton7797]

Good one Joe. Instead of having a desktop full of icons, I made a couple of folders and put them in there. This helps me solve some of the quirks associated with doing that.

[@apuru.]

I used it right after ending the video, moved a bunch of games and software then created a symlink, now i have arount 50gb free space on my main drive :D

[@goutamroy142]

Ohh Man!! Yiu just saved me.. I was thinking how to make just a folder of mines to be available on the onedrove and not the whole of desktop folder.. Thank You sir so much..

[@nathanchapman1117]

Symbolic links are what's used in Steam Mover (which was very useful before Steam had the native ability to move entire game folders to different drives and libraries). I think it's an excellent use case because it's as simple as "I don't want this 80 GB game on my SSD anymore (looking at you DOOM 2016), so I'll put it on my bigger HDD and just use SM to tell Steam to look at where it was on the main drive via a symlink".

[@vdvman1]

My biggest use of symlinks is so that I can have git repositories in one location and something that uses something within that repository somewhere else. For example I have a github repo that includes multiple minecraft datapacks that I developed, I clone the repo and create symlinks from the datapacks folder in my world to the datapack(s) within the repository

[@drdca8263]

Ah, thanks, I was considering using some hard links for some files that I wanted to have in a git repo but which I wanted to keep available in the directory they were already in, without making that folder a git repo,
But I was worried that instead of modifying the file, git might like, delete and replace it with the modified version, and by doing so make it so the two files no longer point to the same thing,
But now that you mention that, perhaps a symlink would serve my purpose better?

[@vdvman1]

@@drdca8263 either a symlink or a hardlink would likely work fine for that use case, I would probably recommend symlink just so it is clear in explorer that it is a link to another file, unless you specifically want the ability to move the original file around without breaking the link

[@drdca8263]

@@vdvman1 thanks, after seeing your first comment I talked to my roommate about it and they also agreed that I should use a symlink, so that’s what I’ll do. Thanks again!

[@vdvman1]

@@drdca8263 No worries! Hope it works out well for you

[@RobbieHatley]

Interesting video, but does contain one glaring error: No, "hard links" are not a sub-type of "symbolic links". (In fact, in a matter of speaking, "symbolic link" is a sub-type of "hard link"; more on this below.)
A "hard link" (on any operating system or file system) is just a directory entry. Every object you see in every directory is a "hard link" to an inode. An "inode" is a piece of data in some kind of "index" or "table" (depending on what file system you're using) which specifies the exact physical locations of the allocation units which store the data. The look-up pathway is thus this: directory (aka "folder" in Windows; actually a kind of file) -> directory entry (aka "hard link") -> inode -> allocation units -> actual data. The Microsoft Windows operating systems try very hard to make sure that every item in a file system is pointed-to by exactly 1 hard link, no more, no less. Using various forms of trickery one can violate that restriction. Don't do it, though, as it can create nasty loops. Symlinks are safer.
On the other hand, a "symbolic link" (on any operating system and file system) is a file which points towards a hard link. The look-up pathway is thus much more indirect with symbolic links: directory -> hard-link-to-symbolic-link -> inode -> allocation units -> symbolic-link-data -> hard-link-to-file -> inode -> allocation units -> data (9 steps instead of 5). Note that like every other item you see in Windows Explorer (or any explorer for any OS and file system), all symbolic links are hard links (but not the other way around as you mistakenly state in this video).
Having multiple symbolic links to a data item is much easier than having multiple hard links, at least on Windows, because Windows doesn't try to prevent you from creating multiple symbolic links to some file (say, "C:\MyFolder\MyFile.txt"), whereas it's going to squawk bloody murder if you try to create multiple hard links to "C:\MyFolder\MyFile.txt".
Also, as you correctly say, symbolic links, because they're just text files, can point _anywhere_ , whereas a hard link, because is points directly to its partition's "index" or "table" of inodes, can only access its own partition. For example, symbolic links on C: can access C: D: E: etc; but hard links on C: can access C: only.
I use symbolic links a lot for folders which I access frequently through Cygwin. "Cygwin" is a system for providing a Linux-like command-line-console interface to Microsoft Windows. If you're not using it, you should be, so that you can use Perl scripts and shell scripts to maintain your system instead of having to rely on Windows's hodgepodge of interfaces (GUI, DOS, PowerShell, etc). Normally the Cygwin address for directory "D:\Gallery\Photographs\Scenic\Windows-10-Spotlight\Recent" would be the horrific-looking address "/cygdrive/d/Gallery/Photographs/Scenic/Windows-10-Spotlight/Recent". But with a Symbolic Link, it can be just "/sl/recent" which is _much_ easier on the eyeballs. So, ya, symbolic links are cool.
(Caveat: both hard and symbolic links created by Cygwin are understandable by Cygwin only. Windows sees a Cygwin symbolic link as being a short text file with contents such as "!ÿþ/ c y g d r i v e / c ", and it can't open Cygwin hard links at all. So Cygwin's "hard links" and "symbolic links" are completely different beasts from the ones created and used by Windows.)

[@noahmullins2413]

I actually have used this before to allow a program to use files from another hard drive without the files needing to actually be located in the program files area for the program. It's a very powerful tool.

[@pewdiepie1157]

I learnt more about computer from ThioJoe than my computer science textbook

[@markusroth8770]

At first I (a linux guy) thought: Whatever, I know what a symlink is. But then I realized that I didn't understand what a shortcut is. Thanks for that.