Create a Link Between Local Windows Files and WSL

The ln command in Linux is used to create a link between files. This is useful for sharing files between your local machine and WSL.

I’m linking to a ‘projects’ folder in this post but I get an error when cloning git repos in them (chmod error). Using mounted Windows drives for version-controlled projects is appearing to be a no-go.

# Create a New Linked Folder
# Remove a Linked Folder

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Create a New Linked Folder

# Create sym link wsl
ln -s /mnt/c/projects

-s Create symbolic links instead of hard links.

First I’m creating a local folder and then creating a link to the folder in my WSL home directory.

Next, I’m creating a new folder and file within WSL on the linked folder.

And here’s the file created above shown within the local Windows environment.

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Remove a Linked Folder

List the files (-lai) to check for existing links ad then remove as your would a file (rm command).

We’re deleting the object visible to Linux here, not the folder in Windows.