Automate creation of symbolic links on Windows bash

Question

I'm trying to make a script that will do some directory management. The final script will run on Windows and will preferably be written in python. At one point in the script I need to automate the creation of multiple symbolic links between multiple folders. The script itself runs without administrator permissions from a bash terminal (Git Bash). Windows is not in developer mode.

The perfect solution would be to have a list of tuples (link, source) and create the corresponding symbolic links all at once, while having to press "Yes" for administrator rights only once.

I already did some research:

How to create a symlink between directories from inside an elevated cmd: Git Bash shell fails to create symbolic links

mklink /D link source_directory
How to run a command in cmd as an administrator from inside bash: Launch Elevated CMD.exe from Powershell

powershell 'start cmd -v runAs -Args /k, [comma-separated-args]'
How to set the working directory after launching the powershell command as an administrator (Otherwise it launches a terminal from inside C:\Windows\System32\): PowerShell: Run command from script's directory

powershell 'start cmd -v runAs -Args /k, cd, $pwd, "&", [comma-separated-args]'

Let's say I want to create a symbolic link in my current working directory to a relative directory. I tried 2 ways:

When I combine all of the above points and execute the following command from the Git Bash terminal:

powershell 'start cmd -v runAs -Args /k, cd, $pwd, "&", mklink, /D, \"link_to_utils\", \"common\utils\"'

A new terminal opens up (after agreeing for admin rights). But it resulted in a new symlink being created in the root of C:\ .
When I execute this:

powershell 'start cmd -v runAs -Args /k, cd, $pwd

A new terminal opens up (after agreeing for admin rights). I can now run this command:

mklink /D "link_to_utils" "common\utils"

The link is created in the current working directory, as I wanted.

So my questions are:

a) How can I make option 1 work in bash?

b) Why is it actually creating the symlink in C:\?

c) Is there a way to pipe a command into the opened elevated cmd terminal (to make option 2 work)?

Note: I have been trying to find a solution using python and the win32api (pywin32). But that resulted in a bunch of command prompts opening up for each symlink that needs to be created. Also there is barely any documentation regarding pywin32.

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-08 16:11:08Z

1

Use the following:

powershell 'Start-Process -Verb RunAs cmd /k, " cd `"$PWD`" & mklink /D `"link_to_utils`" `"common\utils`" "'

Since it is PowerShell that interprets that verbatim content of the command line being passed, its syntax rules must be followed, meaning that a "..." (double-quoted) string is required for expansion (string interpolation) of the automatic $PWD variable to occur, and that embedded " characters inside that string must be escaped as `" ("" would work too).
The pass-through command line for cmd.exe is passed as a single string argument, for conceptual clarity.

edited Nov 8, 2022 at 16:11

answered Nov 8, 2022 at 16:06

mklement0

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jad45 · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-13 14:18:48Z

0

Since the accepted answer is showing a solution using PowerShell, don't overlook that one can use the New-Item PowerShell command to create Symbolic Links from an elevated context.

Microsoft PowerShell Help for New-Item: Example 7: Create a symbolic link to a file or folder.

$link = New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path .\link -Target .\Notice.txt
$link | Select-Object LinkType, Target

LinkType     Target
--------     ------
SymbolicLink {.\Notice.txt}

answered Apr 13, 2023 at 14:18

jad45

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