Define the actual folders hidden behind shortcuts

              From Vista onwards, specific folders seem exist for the sake of compatibility, but actually redirect 

to other real folders. This messes up scripts and batch fi les you’ve written yourself.

             These shortcuts, called junction points, exist throughout Windows.For example, programs can 
try to save data to the old ‘Documents and Settings’ folder, but will be seamlessly redirected to the applicable new ‘Users’ folder. The operating system however hides this persistently. Attempts to access the junction points directly (Windows  displays  them  if  you  enable the display of the system fi les via the folder options) are aborted with an error message. And another stumbling block  is  that  real  folder  names  need to  be  used  in  scripts  or  batch  files. Else,  they  hang  during  execution.

             The free tool NTFSLinks-View provides 

help. It lists the active junctions in the system. Download the program from 

www.nirsoft.net/utils/ntfs_links_view.html. The tool ‘nftslinksview.exe’ can immediately be started. The program lists all active junctions in the folder of your user profile.

              In the ‘Target Path’ column, it displays the relevant real folder which the junction controls in the ‘Full Path’ column. Right click an entry and select the context command ‘Open Target Path’ to open this  target  folder  in  Explorer. 

              In order to check other directories, enter the folder in the input fi eld, e.g. ‘C’ and click ‘Go’. Use the key combination [Ctrl]+[A] to select all entries and then ‘Save’  them  to  a  text  fi le using ‘File I Save 

selected items’.