Windows has the following types of link-like structures available on NTFS: (copied from http://superuser.com/questions/347930/what-are-the-various-link-types-in-windows-how-do-i-create-them) Shortcut links: Use them when you need quick access to an executable or website, a file that you launch very often or when you need to specify parameters to an application and a batch file is an overkill. Don't use it when you intend to manipulate the file through its shortcut. Junction points: Use them when you want a directory to be elsewhere, this allows you to move directories to faster or slower drives without losing the ability to access the original path. Another use is when you want access to a directory through another path. These can't be used to link to a share. Soft links: Use them where a shortcut link does not suffice, it is often used when you do intend to manipulate the file through its shortcut. Or when you want the file to be on a faster or slower drive without losing the ability to access the original path. Hard links: Use them when you only want a file to be gone when all hard links to it are removed. This can't be used for folders. Volume mount points: Use them when you run out of drive letters, or when you find it more feasible to access a volume through a path rather than through a drive letter. Libraries: Use them when you have the same type of file at many different locations and you need them to be together, this supports removable drives so makes it handy to get the folders on your removable drives show up between those on your computer when you insert it. You can click on the individual folders from the folder tree under the library in the tree view, which facilitates moving files between both. UNKNOWN MICROSOFT REPARSE POINT: This is a special, relatively undocumented/unsupported kind of symlink found only in Windows Home Server. It is used by the DiskExtender subsystem. At time of writing, there are no known utilities for dealing with these, and they are not easily visible in "dir" (they show up in "dir /AL" but look like normal files in "dir"). These are indistinguishable from normal files in Explorer, except when they stop working because their target has moved, which will manifest as a mysterious "access denied" "permission denied" or "cannot read file" error that seems unrelated to security permissions. You can create some of the types of links with the mklink (see mklink /? -- note: mklink is a cmd.exe built-in, so it is not available from powershell or any other interface besides cmd.exe) command. Some types of links will show up in the output of "dir", some won't. Note: the order of the arguments to mklink is "<link name> <target name>" -- this is backwards from the ln command under unix. Be careful! You can find out if something is a link with the dir command: dir /AL You can list all the things that are links, recursively: dir /AL /S C:\ There are a couple of third-party tools that can show link targets: Command line: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768 GUI: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/ntfs_links_view.html