I am running a dual boot config. I use libreoffice writer in Mate and always navigate to a folder on Windows where the documents are stored. Is there a way to put some sort of link on the linux desktop which targets that particular folder on the windows drive? I just want to minimize all of the constant navigating through a different mounted drive and folders to get to the one I want.
Yes, that’s definitely possible 
Once your Windows partition is mounted in Linux, you can create a shortcut to that folder on your MATE desktop.
The easiest way is:
- Open the file manager and navigate to your Windows folder (for example under
/media/yourname/Windows/Users/...). - Right-click the folder and choose Make Link (or Create Link).
- Drag that newly created link onto your desktop.
From then on, you can just double-click the desktop icon to jump straight to your Windows documents folder, without having to browse through all the mount points again.
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If you don’t see a “Make Link / Create Link” option in the file manager, you can do the same thing from the terminal:
-
First, make sure you know the full path to your Windows folder (for example:
/media/yourname/Windows/Users/Rick/Documents) -
Open a terminal and run:
ln -s "/media/yourname/Windows/Users/Rick/Documents" ~/Desktop/WindowsDocs
- You should now see a shortcut called WindowsDocs on your desktop. Double-clicking it will take you straight to that folder.
You can rename WindowsDocs to anything you like.
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It did work, but after shutting down and restarting, the links are X and will not work.
That usually happens because the Windows partition isn’t mounted yet when the desktop loads, so the symlink points to a path that doesn’t exist at that moment.
Two easy fixes:
Option 1 (Recommended): Auto-mount the Windows drive
Add the Windows partition to /etc/fstab so it mounts at boot. Once it’s always mounted at the same path, the desktop link will keep working after reboots.
Option 2 (Quick workaround):
Open the file manager once after login and click the Windows drive to mount it manually — the links should start working again immediately.
If you want, tell me what path your Windows drive is mounted at (e.g. /media/yourname/Windows) and I can give you the exact fstab line to make it permanent.
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I tried option 2 and it didn’t work. Opened he fstab and it’s certainly Greek to me. I have another folder which continually points to a windows folder and it always works, but I don’t know how I made it. As I look more closely it appears that the folder that works was just fully copied to the linux desktop - folders and all.
If the link still shows an “X” even after you manually mount the Windows drive, then it’s very likely pointing to a mount path that changes between boots (for example: /media/yourname/Windows becoming /media/yourname/Windows1).
About the other folder that “always works”:
You’re right — if it was fully copied to your Linux desktop, then it’s not a link at all, it’s just a local copy. That’s why it keeps working regardless of the Windows drive being mounted.
The clean fix is to make the Windows partition mount at a fixed path on every boot. I know /etc/fstab looks scary, but you only need one simple line.
If you’d like, tell me:
-
The output of:
lsblk -f -
And where your Windows drive currently mounts (what path you see in the file manager)
I can then give you a copy-and-paste fstab entry that will make the link permanent and stop the “X” problem for good. 
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│ ntfs New Volume 029016BB9016B55F 297.1G 47% /media/rick6860/New Volume1
Perfect — that output explains the problem exactly 
Your Windows drive is mounting as:
/media/rick6860/New Volume1
The 1 at the end means the mount path changed, which breaks your desktop link. That’s why it works sometimes and not after a reboot.
There are two clean fixes:
Option A (Quick fix – recreate the link):
Delete the broken desktop link and recreate it pointing to:
/media/rick6860/New Volume1
This will work until the mount name changes again.
Option B (Permanent fix – recommended):
Mount the drive at a fixed path using /etc/fstab, for example:
/media/rick6860/windows
If you’re OK with it, I can give you an exact one-line fstab entry based on this UUID:
029016BB9016B55F
That will make the path stable and your desktop link will never break again.
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Why would the mount name change? I assume I just add the line to the end of the fstab current text? I am running out of battery right now. Permanent would be good. Won’t be able to check until tomorrow.,
Why does the mount name change?
This happens because Ubuntu auto-mounts removable and Windows drives dynamically.
If it sees that /media/rick6860/New Volume already exists (or wasn’t cleaned up properly), it simply creates a new name like:
New Volume1
New Volume2
to avoid a conflict.
That automatic behavior is exactly why your desktop link keeps breaking.
About /etc/fstab:
Yes — you normally just add one new line at the end of the file.
That line tells Linux:
“Always mount this exact partition at this exact path when booting.”
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I would like to mount with UUID Do I need to make a new directory /mnt/* ?
Yes — mounting by UUID is exactly the right approach
You don’t have to use /mnt, but you do need a fixed, empty directory that will act as the mount point.
For a desktop-friendly setup, I’d recommend something like:
/media/rick6860/windows
You can create it with:
sudo mkdir -p /media/rick6860/windows
sudo chown rick6860:rick6860 /media/rick6860/windows
Then you add one line to the end of /etc/fstab using your UUID:
UUID=029016BB9016B55F /media/rick6860/windows ntfs defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
After saving, you can test safely (without rebooting) using:
sudo mount -a
If there are no errors, your Windows drive will now always mount at the same path, and your desktop link will never break again
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I don’t know how to save the fstab file. I used nano to put in the new line.
Not sure what I did, but IT WORKED! This is the love/hate relationship with linux. I want to get away from windows but using the terminal can be fairly confusing, and also the process to navigate. Thanks a bunch.
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Press CTRL+O to Save
Press CTRL+X to Exit
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