Non-Admin Users Can Now Create Symlinks in Windows 10

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is making it easier for developers to create symlinks, virtual files that link to actual physical files located somewhere else. The change should speed development in Windows 10, making use of symlinks on the platform as seamless as it already is on Linux and OSX.

As Microsoft notes in a blog post, symlinks are widely used by developers to save disk space and for swifter deployment of projects, and are supported by code repositories like GitHub. While Linux, OSX and other Unix-based systems allow symlinks to be created without restrictions, Windows 10 users have until now needed a command-line console elevated as administrator to make and modify the links.

But starting with the Creators Update, any Windows 10 user with Developer Mode enabled will be able to create symlinks using either the mklink command or the CreateSymbolicLink API. Microsoft’s got some information on how to do this here.

Windows 10 Insiders running Build 14972 can go ahead and preview the feature now.