junction

Package: WA2L/SimpleBackup 1.0.67
Section: Library Commands (3)
Updated: 29 June 2025
Index Return to Main Contents

 

NAME

junction - creates and lists directory links

 

SYNOPSIS

WA2LSimpleBackup/(lib|lib/shell)/junction

junction [ -nobanner ] [ -accepteula ] [ -s ] [ -q ] ( file | directory )

junction [ -nobanner ] [ -accepteula ] junction_directory junction_target

junction [ -nobanner ] [ -accepteula ] -d junction_directory

 

AVAILABILITY

WA2L/SimpleBackup

 

DESCRIPTION

Windows 2000 and later support junction points, where a directory serves as an alias to another directory on the computer.

For example, if the directory D:\WIN specified C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 as its target, then an application accessing D:\WIN\DRIVERS would in reality be accessing C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS.

Unfortunately, Windows 2000 comes with no tools for creating junction points.

You have to purchase the Windows 2000 Resource Kit, which comes with the linkd utility for creating junctions. I therefore decided to write my own junction point-creating tool: junction.

It creates NTFS junction points, it allows you to see if files or directories are actually reparse points. (Reparse points are the mechanism on which NTFS junctions are based. The Remote Storage Service uses reparse points as well as volume mount points.)

Using junction:

To obtain reparse point information: junction [ -s ] [ -q ] ( file | directory )

To create a junction point: junction junction_directory junction_target

To delete a junction point: junction -d junction_directory

 

OPTIONS

help message.

-s
recurse sub-directories.

file
path to the file to query for reparse point information.

directory
path to the folder to query for reparse point information.

junction_directory
name of the junction point to create or delete.

junction_target
full path to the target of the junction point to create.

-d
delete the junction point

-nobanner
do not display the startup banner and copyright message.

-accepteula
suppress the display of the license dialog and accept the EULA.

 

ENVIRONMENT

-

 

EXIT STATUS

0
no error.

-1
on failed creation of new junction.

 

FILES

-

 

EXAMPLES

To determine if a file is a junction, specify the file name:
  junction c:\test

To list junctions beneath a directory, include the -s switch:
  junction -s c:\

To create a junction c:\Program-Files for "c:\Program Files":
  junction c:\Program-Files "c:\Program Files"

To delete a junction, use the -d switch:
  junction -d c:\Program-Files

 

SEE ALSO

simplebackupintro(1), lsw(1), https://www.sysinternals.com/downloads/junction

 

NOTES

junction has been developed by Mark Russinovich.

The majority of the documentation has been extracted from the documentation on https://www.sysinternals.com/downloads/junction.

 

BUGS

-

 

AUTHOR

junction was developed by Mark Russinovich and integrated into WA2L/SimpleBackup by Christian Walther. Send suggestions and bug reports regarding the integration to wa2l@users.sourceforge.net .

 

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2025 Christian Walther

This is free software; see WA2LSimpleBackup/man/COPYING for copying conditions. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
AVAILABILITY
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
EXIT STATUS
FILES
EXAMPLES
SEE ALSO
NOTES
BUGS
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT

This document was created by man2html using the manual pages.
Time: 15:37:58 GMT, July 01, 2025