Symbolic links in Windows – wish I knew about this sooner

So I finally figured out what symbolic links are and honestly, I wish I'd stumbled on this years ago. It's one of those things that's not exactly hidden, but definitely not obvious either.

In plain English:

A symlink is basically a pointer—think of it like a signpost that points to a folder or file somewhere else. Unlike a shortcut, the system and apps treat it as if it's actually there. This means you can keep your stuff on one drive and have another location "redirect" to it without duplicating anything.

Super useful for things like moving games to a different drive without breaking saves, or keeping config files in their expected spots while actually storing them somewhere else.

How to set them up:

If you're comfortable with Command Prompt or PowerShell, you can create them with a couple of commands—there are plenty of guides out there with the exact syntax.

If you'd rather avoid the command line, there's a free tool called Link Shell Extension that adds options directly to the right-click menu in File Explorer. Just pick the original folder, choose where you want the link, and drop it as a symbolic link. No commands needed.

Takes a minute to set up and saves a ton of hassle.