Repository navigation
New-Item cannot create symlink/hardlink for file with name containing bracket #25744
Closed as duplicate
Description
Prerequisites
- Write a descriptive title.
- Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
- Search the existing issues.
- Refer to the FAQ.
- Refer to Differences between Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell.
Steps to reproduce
As for latest 7.5.2, the following error happened:
> Test-Path -LiteralPath "a\a[b].txt"
# return True
> New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "a[b].txt" -Target "a\a[b].txt"
# New-Item: Cannot find path 'a\a[b].txt' because it does not exist.
Expected behavior
PS> New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "a[b].txt" -Target "a\a[b].txt"
Directory: E:\test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
la--- 7/10/2025 02:24 0 a[b].txt -> a\a[b].txtActual behavior
PS> New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "a[b].txt" -Target "a\a[b].txt"
New-Item: Cannot find path 'a\a[b].txt' because it does not exist.Error details
Environment data
PS > $PSVersionTable
Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 7.5.2
PSEdition Core
GitCommitId 7.5.2
OS Microsoft Windows 10.0.22631
Platform Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion 3.0Visuals
No response
Activity
similar-issues-ai commentedon Jul 9, 2025
We've found some similar issues:
new-itemcannot create hardlinks with[]in the name on win10 #14960 , similarity score: 85%If any of the above are duplicates, please consider closing this issue out and adding additional context in the original issue.
mklement0 commentedon Jul 9, 2025
The best duplicate is:
The following PR fixed the problem:
However, it seems that the PR fixed hasn't landed yet: it wasn't slated for back-porting to v7.5.x, and the current v7.6.x preview (v7.6.0-preview.4) release predates the PR.
In other words: the fix should land in the next preview version, presumably named v7.6.0-preview.5
microsoft-github-policy-service commentedon Jul 15, 2025
📣 Hey @wumo (@wumo), how did we do? We would love to hear your feedback with the link below! 🗣️
🔗 https://aka.ms/PSRepoFeedback