"cannot create hard link X to Y: Operation not permitted" on ext2fsd-mounted ext2 drive from cygwin cp -al

[Kevin Field]

Hi everyone.

This is a cross-post from SuperUser.com .  If you're a StackExchange 
member please feel free to answer it at 
http://superuser.com/questions/894015/cannot-create-hard-link-x-to-y-operation-not-permitted-on-ext2-drive-from-cyg

In one comment you'll see there, someone has proposed that cygwin will 
only try NTFS hardlinks, even if the mounted drive is ext2 via ext2fsd. 
  Maybe someone here could confirm that, or if it's not true...help me 
find a solution :)  Thanks, -Kev

-------------------

/cygdrive/d/ is a USB hard disk formatted as ext2 and mounted with 
[ext2fsd][1].

When I try `cp -al /cygdrive/d/X /cygdrive/d/Y` where X is a file, I get 
the error in the title.

Things I've Tried/Verified
---

I did `chmod -R 777 /cygdrive/d` but I still get the same result.

I am running as local administrator, who is the owner of /cygdrive/d.

X is a file, not a directory.

Windows Server 2012 R2 running cygwin64 current as of today.

It's ext2 because I can, for example, `touch 
/cygdrive/d/filename_with_a_colon:in_it` and it works and I can see it 
with `ls`.  Not to mention, it says so in ext2fsd and the Windows Disk 
Manager.

Ironically, the same syntax on an NTFS drive works fine and creates an 
NTFS hardlink.

I've also tried reformatting the drive as ext3, with the same results. 
I *had* figured on ext2 being more likely to be fully supported on 
account of it being older than ext3/4, but I guess it doesn't make a 
difference.

The question
--

How can I create simple ext2 hardlinks with cygwin?


   [1]: http://www.ext2fsd.com/

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