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We have been using symbolic links extensively to archive historic files.

An automatic script would create symbolic links regularly based on certain criteria. Users don't experience inconvenience as the soft links can be opened as regular files, programs will run without issues, and the type of those soft links are identical to the type of file it has a link to (for example, a symbolic link to an Excel file will have Excel file type in its properties).

However, recently we have noticed that the type of links have changed to SYMLINK which causes Windows to ask users to choose what program to open with by popping up the Open With.. window.

What would cause the file server to change its behavior and represent symbolic links as SYMLINK?

slayernoah
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carous3l
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2 Answers2

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The problem is solved by uninstalling the following update on both the file server and a client computer: KB3039066.

carous3l
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Is it possible that the script has been modified? You should compare your script with the syntax. More here: How do I create a symbolic link in Windows?

It is possible that the script was using so called junction points and the script was accidentally modified and stopped using that. There is a distinct difference between junction points and symlinks.

Other than that I would read the changelog of your Windows Server updates to see if any update has caused this behaviour and how to undo it.

Community
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mashup
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  • Thanks for reply. There was no change to the script, and yes, the only thing I can think of is the windows updates. – carous3l Apr 15 '15 at 07:28