Hard Links, Soft (Symbolic) Links and Junctions in NTFS: What Are They (For)?
This is an attempt at demystification. In the Windows world, links in the file system are often regarded as obscure, except for the infamous .LNK files, of course. But file system links are neither freaky UNIX/Linux command line stuff, nor are they new: Microsoft’s OS offers two types of links since Windows 2000 and a third type since Vista/Server 2008. And boy, can they come in handy!
Windows Internals