In some cases, the junction points of the Default user profile on non-en-US Windows 10 installation media. In this article, we will describe the known workaround to resolve this problem.
What are Windows junction points
A Junction, also called NTFS junction point, is a feature of the NTFS file system. It is a pointer to a directory on the local volume. It is accessible via the Windows GUI in addition to Windows command line.
The function of a junction is to reference a target directory. Junctions can be created to link directories located on different partitions or volumes, but only locally on the same computer. It does this through the implementation of the NTFS functionality called analysis points. Targets redirected in junctions are defined by an absolute path. An absolute path refers to a path that will contain the root element and the full directory list required to locate the target.
Thus, it should be noted that if the target is deleted, moved or renamed, all the junctions that point to the target will break and continue to point to a nonexistent directory.
Missing junction points on non-en-US Windows 10 installation media
Consider the scenario in which you have Windows 10 installation media, such as an ISO file downloaded from MSDN, which is not in the en-US language (by example, fr-CA or en-GB).
On this support, the junction points may be missing in the default user profile. Due to this problem, all user profiles of this system created in the future will not have these junction points. For example, when this problem occurs, you run the following command in the command prompt under the user profile folder:
dir /AL
You will get the following result:
Microsoft Windows (version 10.0.15063)
(c) Microsoft Corporation, 2017. All rights reserved.C: Users user> dir / AL
The volume in drive C has no name.
The volume serial number is 14A6-898C
Directory of C: Users userFile not found
However, below is an example of an output if the junction points exist:
This issue can cause compatibility issues for some applications that rely on these existing junction points.
Additionally, this problem occurs for new installations and in-place upgrades to Windows 10 version 1703, Windows 10 version 1709, Windows 10 version 1803, and Windows 10 version 1909.
To work around this problem, use an en-US image to install Windows 10, then install the necessary language pack.
Currently, Microsoft is aware of this issue and is researching to provide a permanent fix for these missing junction points on one of the non-US Windows 10 installation media.
That's it!