In Vista or Windows 7, there is a built-in command, “MKLINK”. Here’s a good reference, suggested by Matt Quick:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-symlinks-in-windows-vista/

For a long while they were called “junctions”. In Server 2000, Server 2003, or XP, you’ll need this:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768

The syntax is a bit different for each. And Windows does not support these “junctions” to directories on remote shares. But this can help a lot, for instance, when moving something like a profile folder from local drive to local drive. They are set up at the NTFS filesystem level, just like Unix/Linux.

A great example of usage, is moving a profile folder. It works like this:

1. Create a new user, local if it’s not a DC.
2. Reboot the server/PC, to unlock profile files and folders.
3. Log in as the new user.
4. Create a new folder for the profile to be moved.
5. Robocopy the old profile folder’s contents to the new. Make sure you get everything hidden!
6. Rename the old folder as backup, and create a junction from the new folder to the old folder’s container.
7. Log in as the new user and test.