Type of symlink file and readshortcut

[Doug Henderson]

On Wed, 23 Jun 2021 at 16:28, Mark Geisert <mark@maxrnd.com> wrote:
> Håkon Hægland via Cygwin wrote:
> > I am on Windows 10 Home, 21H1. I am trying to understand what type of files
> > are generated by the "ln -s" command. According to this blog:
> >
> > https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlinks-windows-10/
> >
> > starting with Windows 10 Insiders build 14972, native symlinks can be
> > created without needing to elevate the console as administrator.
> >
> > To enable this feature, go to "Windows Security" -> "For developers", and
> > turn on "Developer mode".

I expect Developer Mode grants a lot of unnecessary permissions.

In the interest of minimal changes to security policy,
the following process worked for me.

I don't know how to do this through settings, but

open Control Panel
open Administrative Tools
open Local Security Policy

Using the tree in the left panel:
open Local Policies
open User Rights Assignment
In the right panel:
Right-click on Create symbolic links -> Properties
add the user id(s) that should be able to create symbolic links

This allows the added user(s) to set
CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict
and create native windows symbolic links in cygwin.
This process grants 1 permission which is surely frantin fewer than
Developer Mode.

I have
CYGWIN_NT-10.0 mars 3.2.0(0.340/5/3) 2021-03-29 08:42 x86_64 Cygwin
on
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19043.1055]

Windows Pro, now with 21H1 installed.

HTH
Doug

-- 
Doug Henderson, Calgary, Alberta, Canada - from gmail.com