Do you have a directory on file server or a shared folder on another computer that you want to add to a Windows 7 Library?  I did, and I was annoyed at Windows’ inability to add a network path to a Library. 

This is what Windows 7 says when an attempt to add a network share to a Library is made

Libraries require folders to be indexed (or at least capable of being indexed) before they can be added.  I didn’t want to make the entire contents of the folder available offline (indiscriminately making network folders available offline is a good way to eat up hard drive space on your Windows partition).  I’m also using Debian GNU/Linux for my file server, so any features that a Windows server may offer are useless to me.

The trick to making this work hinges on something that the majority of Linux users — and the minority of Windows users –  are familiar with:  symbolic links.  Libraries can be tricked into using symbolic links to network locations that they otherwise wouldn’t use.  To take advantage of this, follow the steps below in order. If done out of order, you may find yourself back at square one.

First, create a new directory.  This is the directory that you would like to trick your Windows Library into thinking is on a local hard drive as opposed to a network share. For example, you may want to create a directory called “Share” on your C: drive (ie. C:\Share).

Next, add this new, empty folder to your Library.  Once that’s been done, go and delete the newly created folder.

Now here’s the trick.  You’ll have to open an “elevated command prompt” – that is, open “cmd” as administrator – like so:

Click on the Windows (Start) button, type "cmd" in the search box…
…right-click on "cmd.exe" and select "Run as administrator" from the menu.

You’ll have to confirm this action if you have a user account with administrative privileges, or supply a password if not.  Once confirmed, you can create your symbolic link by typing the following:

mklink /d c:\Share \\server\Share

“mklink” is the command, “/d” is the parameter that tells it that the link to be made is a symbolic link to a directory.  Of course you’ll substitute “c:\Share” and “\\server\Share” for the path to the folder on your own system and network share, respectively.

That’s it!  You should even be able to search within the directory, as per a typical Windows 7 Library folder.