Hard Link Windows Link (2026)

1. What Is a Hard Link? A hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file on the file system. In simple terms: it’s an additional filename that points directly to the same physical file data on disk.

mklink /H C:\Backups\important.pdf C:\Users\Me\Documents\important.pdf mklink /H requires administrator rights? No – regular users can create hard links to their own files. (But creating links to system files may need elevation.) Using PowerShell New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "LinkName" -Target "TargetFile" Example: hard link windows

New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path C:\Links\report.txt -Target C:\Data\report.txt PowerShell 5.1+ supports this natively. For older versions, use cmd /c mklink /H . Call CreateHardLinkW : hard link windows