How do you find the target of a symlink created with mklink

Question

Once a symlink is created using mklink, is there any way to find the link target, other than parsing the output of dir command ?

As an example, junction.exe will return the substitute name when called with a junction as a first argument.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 05 '12 at 19:03

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You can use junction.exe on links made with mklink or you can use the GUI tool NTFSLinksView

answered Nov 05 '12 at 19:03

Winter Faulk

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Junction works fine as of version 1.06. Thanks – Rod Nov 05 '12 at 21:24
I’d mention that `junction.exe` is a part of SysInternals and can be downloaded from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx. Unfortunately, it still makes an extensive output you need to parse… – Melebius Sep 18 '14 at 13:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 06 '20 at 15:45

SuperUser Julian Knight's answer worked for me.

With Windows Link Shell Extension installed, you can right-click on the link in Windows Explorer and check the properties. There is a tab that allows you to change the link directly.

With Link Shell Extension installed:

When you right-click a file to open up "Properties" window, it includes an additional tab: "Link Properties", showing the Target of symlinks.
You can also edit this Target field to change the symlink's target.
And since the field is editable, copy-paste of the target link is easy.
As is scrolling to see the entire path of the target file!
(In contrast, the "Location" field elsewhere in the Properties window does NOT allow scrolling to see the full path of the file you're examining.)

His SuperUser answer also lists resources to Windows equivalents for Linux commands (including ln.exe).

How do you find the target of a symlink created with mklink

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