New error with symlinks—"Cannot move the file to a different drive"

Question

_{Tuesday, June 14, 2016 6:01 PM}

Hello,

I was referred to this forum by a Microsoft Support Engineer at the Microsoft Community Answers discussions.  What follows is a re-post of the original thread at:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/new-error-with-symlinkscannot-move-the-file-to-a/7a56be9e-2ae1-41a8-abcf-db31e3dedb2b

I've used symbolic links to redirect my game data folders for SimCity 4 to my solid-state drive for a long time.  However, I recently experimented with redirecting them to a RAMdisk instead, which involved deleting and re-making the symlinks to point to the RAMdisk.  Now I'm trying to go back to having everything on my SSD, but I'm getting some new errors with the symlinked folders that I've never seen before.  I can make the symlinks (using the directory junction mode) in the Command Prompt just fine, but if I try to access and files or folders in the symlinked directories through the symlink, I get the following error:  "Error accessing the file:  The system cannot move the file or folder to a different drive."  (or something to that effect).  I've also tried making the symlinks to empty directories and copying the files I'd been using into the new symlinks, but then I get a different error in Explorer:  "Invalid device".

The drive where I want the files to actually be stored is my C: drive, which is an SSD, and the game wants to look for them in my user directory on my D: drive, which is the HDD, so I'm trying to make the links from the D: drive point to the C: drive.  And to reiterate, I'm using the directory junction (/J) option with the mklink command, as I've always done before.

Does anyone know why I wouldn't be able to do this action anymore?  Is there anything I should be trying in order to fix it?  Thanks in advance.

All replies (3)

_{Wednesday, June 15, 2016 3:24 AM}

Hi Sam,

Please check this link below for assistance.

http://superuser.com/questions/243410/windows7-hardlink-over-two-different-drives

A junction (also called a soft link) differs from a hard link in that the storage objects it references are separate directories, and a junction can link directories located on different local volumes on the same computer. So your measure is right.

Refer to the following documentation to check your symbolic link operation.

Creating Symbolic Links

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa363878(v=vs.85).aspx

Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Regards

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_{Wednesday, June 15, 2016 7:34 PM}

Thanks for the reply; however, I'd read that thread previously and, unfortunately, it didn't provide me with much help.  Specifically, the thread was about hard links between files, when I'm trying to make a directory junction between folders.

_{Wednesday, June 29, 2016 6:48 PM}

I've just tried again and also tried a shell extension for creating symbolic links in Windows Explorer, but unfortunately still experience the same result.