How to create a symbolic link

A lot of apps or addons to apps use the root folder instead of the mobile folder. When running 1.1.3 this is annoying when installing a theme, eBook, etc.

For example let’s use the app Books. Some eBooks when installed through Installer place the eBook file into the /private/var/root/Media/EBooks folder. Now with 1.1.3, the Books app needs the eBook file to be in the /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks folder. Notice the only thing that changed is the root to mobile but without this change it won’t work. So, you can create a link from one to the other. Below is an example code of how to create the link, just put the folder you’re linking to first and the old folder you’re linking from last.

However, before you create the link you will need to create a folder for it to link to! You will need to go into the folder you would like the link to go and create a new folder that has the same name as the folder you are linking from. So, if you are creating a link for EBooks…you will want to create an EBooks folder in the private/var/mobile/Media folder (it will look like this – /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks). Once you have the new folder created…you can copy the files from the old folder to the new folder then delete the old folder that you are linking from (delete the EBooks folder from the /private/var/root/Media/EBooks). Now, you can create the symbolic link by running the command below.

You can use WinSCP, Terminal or other programs to enter in the following command.

ln -s /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks /private/var/root/Media/EBooks


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Comments

  1. Thank you this is very helpful! Two questionsfor you guys: Wouldn’t it be easier to sym link the whole Media folder or would that create problems? Also, can you do a quick add this post showing how to delete the sym links that you create?

    • I’ve thought of that and it would probably work, I’m just afraid to do it. Anyone have experience linking the whole Media or Library folder? To delete just delete the symbolic link, it doesn’t effect the files in the folder it’s linking to.

    • Yeah i tried that. Media folder was fine to do a whole symlink but do not do it for the Library folder. All the installer files from the library folder were somehow changed in some way that caused problems for my installer. I got errors for every download, all my sources were gone, my uninstall tab was empty even though i had a lot of apps, and many of the apps stopped functioning properly. So I recommend not making a symlink for Library unless you are willing to restore.

    • I have read the above instructions about 5 time now and I do NOT understand
      what this line means” The symbolic link will be places in the old folder you’re linking from so don’t have the old folder there, but you do need the new folder to be where it belongs so you can link to it.”

      Am I supposed to delete a folder or what. I’m trying to get the wallpaper app
      to save the images in the correct place. I’m running 1.1.3 and it save them to
      a different location. I would like to be able to save them to my camera roll
      or use a wallpaper. Can someone please help me out a little more.

      Thanks,
      Mikes Mac

    • Lol I’m not exactly sure what he was saying either Mike, Just run this command: ln -s /private/var/mobile/Media/DCIM /private/var/root/Media/DCIM. That should take care of saving the wallpapers as photos anyways. If the “save as wallpaper” feature doesn’t work, then run this as well: ln -s /Library/Wallpaper /Library/Wallpaper

    • I rewrote the post a little bit…let me know if that helps at all.

  2. Can you provide info on installing the apps and using them? I’m not familiar with using them. Is there a way to create the symbolic link from Mobil Finder apps?

  3. Thanks you Douglas and Bob for the help. I didn’t realize that the symlink was an actual folder inside the root/Media folder. I think it is safe to do the whole Media folder, but I know what you are talking about Bob! I’m not sure if it was from symlinking the Library folder or not (I know that was one thing I did) but I had a similar installer problem twice! I just thought I would try it right now for kicks though and the Library symlink didn’t affect the Installer in any way, but be careful everyone..

  4. Hi, I need help for iBirthDay to “read” the address book to create a symlink
    to the folder “AddressBook” in 1.1.3 iPhone ziphone jailbreak and activate..

    Can any one give me the command same as above for Ebooks.. Thanks

  5. I did: ln -s /private/var/mobile/ /private/var/root/

    it seems to work fine and i have all my sources still and everything

  6. Still having trouble here…
    I don’t really know much about Terminal or SSH…Are there any help pages for these?

    When I open Term-vt100 I am prompted to enter a password. Any help would be appreciated.

  7. I have read the above instructions about 5 time now and I do NOT understand
    what this line means” The symbolic link will be places in the old folder you’re linking from so don’t have the old folder there, but you do need the new folder to be where it belongs so you can link to it.”

    Am I supposed to delete a folder or what. I’m trying to get the wallpaper app
    to save the images in the correct place. I’m running 1.1.3 and it save them to
    a different location. I would like to be able to save them to my camera roll
    or use a wallpaper. Can someone please help me out a little more.

  8. what program do i use to run those commands in to fix a link for the files. and what are the commands for fixing the books app?

  9. Use Putty on Windows or plain old terminal on Mac.

    And the command has already been written..

    ln -s /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks /private/var/root/Media/EBooks

  10. Algester says

    hmm does that mean we still need to make an empty folder or just open up terminal and type away the entire command?

  11. link is created fine as EBooks by chris is getting installed in applicaiton Private/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks but any new book installed is getting the Rights as 0000….
    Is there anyway, that new books installed get righta automatically as 0755

  12. Yablonsky says

    I was having trouble seeing my eBooks…and found that the Media folder did not have any permissions. After fixing them, I can see my eBooks now.

  13. Abdolhosein Vakilzadeh Ebrahimi says

    Thanks, it works.