# Symbolic links

Using Symbolic links is a solution provided natively in Windows that allows you point a logical folder to a folder stored on another place on your computer.

How is this interesting for Retrobat ?

The whole point of this feature is to allow you to physically store your roms in a different place than the standard \retrobat\roms\ folder, for example you could store them on a separate Hard Drive which has a bigger storage size.

**Example:**

<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://i.imgur.com/xDr4OsT.png" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

## Creating a symbolic link

To create a symbolic link in Windows, you can either use command lines in the console, or use a tool called "Link Shell Extension". The method described hereafter is the method with usage of this tool.

### Download Link Shell Extension

The program can be downloaded from the following website : <https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html#download>

### Use Link Shell Extension

Once installed, you need to reboot your computer or to close and restart the "explorer.exe" process.

Once done, new options will appear in the right-click context menu:

* Pick Link Source

<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://i.imgur.com/i6NrZGJ.png" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

* Drop As...

<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://i.imgur.com/TMwcODp.png" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

### Create a symbolic link with Link Shell Extension

In the next example, we will suppose that you are storing your 3do game ROMs in `D:\Retrobat\3do` and that you Retrobat installation folder is `C:\Retrobat`.

1. Ensure all your roms are properly copied to `D:\Retrobat\3do` and that your `C:\Retrobat\roms\3do` does not contain any important data you need to keep
2. Delete the `C:\Retrobat\roms\3do` folder
3. Right-click on the `D:\Retrobat\3do` folder and select "**Pick Link Source**"
4. Go to the `C:\Retrobat\roms` folder, right-click anywhere inside the folder and select "**Drop As... > Symbolic Link**"
5. Your `C:\Retrobat\roms` folder will now show a 3do folder icon with a small arrow ![](/files/QKOIK3AsXpkVnhw70pKX)&#x20;

**CONGRATULATIONS** : you have just created a symbolic link !

You can now repeat this operation for any folder that you would want to store in another place as the default one.

### Create a symbolic link with native Windows command

Let's use the same example as before and try to perform the Symlink creation manually.

1. sure all your roms are properly copied to `D:\Retrobat\3do` and that your `C:\Retrobat\roms\3do` does not contain any important data you need to keep
2. Delete the `C:\Retrobat\roms\3do` folder
3. Open Windows command and type the following command: `mklink /D "C:\Retrobat\roms\3do" "D:\Retrobat\3do`
4. Your `C:\Retrobat\roms` folder will now show a 3do folder icon with a small arrow ![](/files/QKOIK3AsXpkVnhw70pKX)&#x20;

<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://i.imgur.com/wgrK31v.png" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://wiki.retrobat.org/tutorials/symbolic-links.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.