How do I create a folder chortcut between a ext4 and fat32 partition?

[kd0mlv]

Hello all. I'm both new to Ubuntu and the forum so please pardon my ignorance. I am currently running Ubuntu 14.04 and have it duel booted with Windows 7 and also some other partitions on one hard drive. I have been experimenting with creating short cut folders between my several different partitions and ran into a problem. When I try to create a short cut from partition formatted with fat32 to my Ubuntu (ext4) partition using the "make link" option, I get an error message that reads: "the target does not support symbolic link." Is there a way to get around this error? Thank you guys so much! Stay frosty, Jordan

[TheFu]

Yes. Use a Linux file system.
Also, the proper name is "symbolic link" - some file systems support it and some do not. FAT32 does not.

[Morbius1]

I'm not sure what you are trying to do.

You can create a link to the fat32 partition from the linux partition:

tester1@vubuntu1404:~$ ln -s /DataF/TestFolder /home/tester1/Public
tester1@vubuntu1404:~$ ls -al /home/tester1/Public
total 8
drwxrwxrwx 2 tester1 tester1 4096 Nov 7 14:58 .
drwxr-xr-x 18 tester1 tester1 4096 Nov 7 14:57 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tester1 tester1 17 Nov 7 14:58 TestFolder -> /DataF/TestFolder

What you cannot do is the opposite:

tester1@vubuntu1404:~$ ln -s /home/tester1/Music /DataF
ln: failed to create symbolic link ‘/DataF/Music’: Operation not permitted

DataF is a FAT32 partition and TestFolder is a directory on that partition.