Scott Hanselman

Creating an Explorer Overlay for NTFS Junctions/ReparsePoints/SoftLinks

April 20, 2005 Comment on this post [6] Posted in Programming
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JunctionIconOverlay_folderTravis beat me to it and in record time. I created a small right-click menu a while back to detect Junctions. I did it mostly because it was 5 minutes work, and I didn't want to take 30 minutes to learn about how to make a File Overlay in Explorer.

I figured I'd get to it one day (yeah, right). Travis, on the other hand, couldn't handle it and took the time. He rocks.

So, Travis gives us, Junction Icon Overlay, today's Cool Util. We should thank Travis by crushing his server with overwhelming amounts of traffic.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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April 20, 2005 21:13
Uh yeah - crushing his server means crushing my server though! DOH! ;)

greg
April 21, 2005 2:10
This is cool, I've always wondered if there was a way to have links like this in XP. I had a couple of questions about your setup you're showing there..in looking at your folder it looks like you have your tools folder linked...does this mean that folder doesn't go into your source control with the rest of that project? Does using links in that way make it harder to maintain a consitent build across all machines in your organization?
Thanks
April 21, 2005 2:31
Tools is shared by everyone, and is in a DIFFERENT source module. It's also under source control, but the link hides that fact.
April 21, 2005 14:54
Check out NTFS Link:

http://elsdoerfer.info/ntfslink/
April 21, 2005 20:33
While I clearly see the goal you've accomplished with junctions here, Scott (and I TOTALLY agree that drive mapping is LAME), there's something about the concept of multiple "folders" and "files" that transparently point to different physical folders and files that just.. I dunno, sends chills down my spine.

I think you've mentioned this before, but I can just see myself "cleaning up unused junk files" and accidentally deleting the hell out of stuff I didn't want to.

Definitely an advanced feature for advanced users with specific needs. But man, it makes me nervous, because so much of the behavior is magic and hidden-- and that's not what I want out of a filesystem.
April 22, 2005 18:26
Sweetness! This is so funny, I was looking two days ago for exactly this, but I couldn't find anything and then there is Scott you tells us about this. I love it.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.