diff --git a/contrib/win32/win32compat/fileio.c b/contrib/win32/win32compat/fileio.c
index 92f0a65c3..43c533bcf 100644
--- a/contrib/win32/win32compat/fileio.c
+++ b/contrib/win32/win32compat/fileio.c
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ int
 errno_from_Win32Error(int win32_error)
 {
 	switch (win32_error) {
+	case ERROR_PRIVILEGE_NOT_HELD:
 	case ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED:
 		return EACCES;
 	case ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY:
@@ -752,124 +753,12 @@ fileio_fstat(struct w32_io* pio, struct _stat64 *buf)
 	return _fstat64(fd, buf);
 }
 
-wchar_t * 
-fileio_readlink_internal(wchar_t * wpath)
-{
-	/* note: there are two approaches for resolving a symlink in Windows:
-	 *
-	 * 1) Use CreateFile() to obtain a file handle to the reparse point and
-	 *    send using the DeviceIoControl() call to retrieve the link data from the
-	 *    reparse point.
-	 * 2) Use CreateFile() to obtain a file handle to the target file followed
-	 *    by a call to GetFinalPathNameByHandle() to get the real path on the
-	 *    file system.
-	 *
-	 * This approach uses the first method because the second method does not
-	 * work on broken link since the target file cannot be opened.  It also
-	 * requires additional I/O to read both the symlink and its target. 
-	 */
-
-
-	 /* abbreviated REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER data structure for decoding symlinks;
-	  * the full definition can be found in ntifs.h within the Windows DDK.
-	  * we include it here so the DDK does not become prereq to the build.
-	  * for more info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc232006.aspx 
-	  */
-	typedef struct _REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK {
-		ULONG ReparseTag;
-		USHORT ReparseDataLength;
-		USHORT Reserved;
-		USHORT SubstituteNameOffset;
-		USHORT SubstituteNameLength;
-		USHORT PrintNameOffset;
-		USHORT PrintNameLength;
-		ULONG Flags;
-		WCHAR PathBuffer[1];
-	} REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK, *PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK;
-
-	/* early declarations for cleanup */
-	wchar_t *linkpath = NULL;
-	HANDLE handle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
-	PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK reparse_buffer = NULL;
-
-	/* obtain a handle to send to deviceioctl  */
-	handle = CreateFileW(wpath, 0, FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE | FILE_SHARE_DELETE,
-		0, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS | FILE_FLAG_OPEN_REPARSE_POINT, 0);
-	if (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
-		errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
-		goto cleanup;
-	}
-
-	/* send a request to the file system to get the real path */
-	reparse_buffer = (PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK) malloc(MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE);
-	DWORD dwBytesReturned = 0;
-	if (DeviceIoControl(handle, FSCTL_GET_REPARSE_POINT, NULL, 0,
-		(LPVOID)reparse_buffer, MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE, &dwBytesReturned, 0) == 0) {
-		errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
-		goto cleanup;
-	}
-
-	/* ensure file is actually symlink */
-	if (reparse_buffer->ReparseTag != IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK) {
-		errno = ENOLINK;
-		goto cleanup;
-	}
-
-	/* the symlink structure has a 'Print Name' value that is displayed to the 
-	 * user which is different from the actual value it uses for redirection 
-	 * called the 'Substitute Name'; since the Substitute Name has an odd format
-	 * that begins with \??\ and it appears that CreateSymbolicLink() always 
-	 * formats the PrintName value consistently we will just use that 
-	 */
-	int symlink_nonnull_size = reparse_buffer->PrintNameLength;
-	wchar_t * symlink_nonnull = &reparse_buffer->PathBuffer[reparse_buffer->PrintNameOffset / sizeof(WCHAR)];
-
-	/* since readlink allows a return string larger than MAX_PATH by specifying
-	 * the bufsiz parameter and windows can have paths larger than MAX_PATH, 
-	 * dynamically allocate a string to hold the resultant symbolic link path.  
-	 * this string could be as large as parent path plus the reparse buffer 
-	 * data plus a null terminator.
-	 */
-	const int wpath_len = (int)wcslen(wpath);
-	int linkpath_len = wpath_len + symlink_nonnull_size / sizeof(wchar_t) + 1;
-	linkpath = calloc(linkpath_len, sizeof(wchar_t));
-	if (linkpath == NULL) {
-		errno = ENOMEM;
-		goto cleanup;
-	}
-
-	/* if symlink is relative, copy the truncated parent as the base path*/
-	if (reparse_buffer->Flags != 0) {
-
-		/* copy the parent path, convert forward slashes to backslashes, and 
-		 * trim off the last entry in the path */
-		wcscpy_s(linkpath, linkpath_len, wpath);
-		convertToBackslashW(linkpath);
-		for (int i = wpath_len; i >= 0; i--) {
-			if (linkpath[i] == L'\\') {
-				linkpath[i+1] = L'\0';
-				break;
-			}
-		}
-	} 
-
-	/* append the symbolic link data to the output string*/
-	wcsncat_s(linkpath, linkpath_len, symlink_nonnull, symlink_nonnull_size / sizeof(wchar_t));
-
-cleanup:
-
-	if (reparse_buffer) 
-		free(reparse_buffer);
-	if (handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) 
-		CloseHandle(handle);
-	return linkpath;
-}
-
 int
 fileio_stat_or_lstat_internal(const char *path, struct _stat64 *buf, int do_lstat)
 {
 	wchar_t *wpath = NULL;
-	wchar_t *resolved_link = NULL;
+	char link_test = L'\0';
+	HANDLE link_handle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
 	WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA attributes = { 0 };
 	int ret = -1;
 	int is_link = 0;
@@ -897,15 +786,29 @@ fileio_stat_or_lstat_internal(const char *path, struct _stat64 *buf, int do_lsta
 
 	/* try to see if it is a symlink */
 	is_link = (attributes.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT &&
-		(resolved_link = fileio_readlink_internal(wpath)) != NULL);
+		fileio_readlink(path, &link_test, 1) == 1);
 
 	/* if doing a stat() on a link, then lookup attributes on the target of the link */
 	if (!do_lstat && is_link) {
-		is_link = 0;
-		if (GetFileAttributesExW(resolved_link, GetFileExInfoStandard, &attributes) == FALSE) {
+
+		/* obtain a file handle to the destination file (not the source link) */
+		BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION link_attributes;
+		if ((link_handle = CreateFileW(wpath, 0, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, 
+			FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS, NULL)) == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE 
+			|| GetFileInformationByHandle(link_handle, &link_attributes) == 0)
+		{
 			errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
 			goto cleanup;
 		}
+
+		/* copy attributes from handle structure to normal structure */
+		attributes.ftCreationTime = link_attributes.ftCreationTime;
+		attributes.ftLastAccessTime = link_attributes.ftLastAccessTime;
+		attributes.ftLastWriteTime = link_attributes.ftLastWriteTime;
+		attributes.nFileSizeHigh = link_attributes.nFileSizeHigh;
+		attributes.nFileSizeLow = link_attributes.nFileSizeLow;
+		attributes.dwFileAttributes = link_attributes.dwFileAttributes;
+		is_link = 0;
 	}
 
 	buf->st_ino = 0; /* Has no meaning in the FAT, HPFS, or NTFS file systems*/
@@ -931,8 +834,8 @@ fileio_stat_or_lstat_internal(const char *path, struct _stat64 *buf, int do_lsta
 	ret = 0;
 
 cleanup:
-	if (resolved_link)
-		free(resolved_link);
+	if (link_handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+		CloseHandle(link_handle);
 	if (wpath)
 		free(wpath);
 	return ret;
@@ -1085,19 +988,54 @@ fileio_is_io_available(struct w32_io* pio, BOOL rd)
 	}
 }
 
-ssize_t 
+ssize_t
 fileio_readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz)
 {
+	/* note: there are two approaches for resolving a symlink in Windows:
+	 *
+	 * 1) Use CreateFile() to obtain a file handle to the reparse point and
+	 *    send using the DeviceIoControl() call to retrieve the link data from the
+	 *    reparse point.
+	 * 2) Use CreateFile() to obtain a file handle to the target file followed
+	 *    by a call to GetFinalPathNameByHandle() to get the real path on the
+	 *    file system.
+	 *
+	 * This approach uses the first method because the second method does not
+	 * work on broken link since the target file cannot be opened.  It also
+	 * requires additional I/O to read both the symlink and its target.
+	 */
+
+	/* abbreviated REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER data structure for decoding symlinks;
+	 * the full definition can be found in ntifs.h within the Windows DDK.
+	 * we include it here so the DDK does not become prereq to the build.
+	 * for more info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc232006.aspx
+	 */
+
 	debug4("readlink - io:%p", pio);
 
-	wchar_t *wpath = NULL;
-	wchar_t *resolved_link = NULL;
-	char* output = NULL;
+	typedef struct _REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK {
+		ULONG ReparseTag;
+		USHORT ReparseDataLength;
+		USHORT Reserved;
+		USHORT SubstituteNameOffset;
+		USHORT SubstituteNameLength;
+		USHORT PrintNameOffset;
+		USHORT PrintNameLength;
+		ULONG Flags;
+		WCHAR PathBuffer[1];
+	} REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK, *PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK;
+
+	/* early declarations for cleanup */
 	ssize_t ret = -1;
+	wchar_t *wpath = NULL;
+	wchar_t *linkpath = NULL;
+	char *output = NULL;
+	HANDLE handle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
+	PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK reparse_buffer = NULL;
 
 	/* sanity check */
-	if (buf == NULL) {
-		errno = EFAULT;
+	if (path == NULL || buf == NULL || bufsiz == 0) {
+		errno = EINVAL;
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
@@ -1106,39 +1044,161 @@ fileio_readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz)
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	/* read the link data from the passed symlink */
-	resolved_link = fileio_readlink_internal(wpath);
-	if (resolved_link == NULL) {
-		/* errorno will have been set by called function */
+	/* obtain a handle to send to deviceioctl */
+	handle = CreateFileW(wpath, 0, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, 
+		FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS | FILE_FLAG_OPEN_REPARSE_POINT, 0);
+	if (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+		errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	if ((output = utf16_to_utf8(resolved_link)) == NULL) {
+	/* send a request to the file system to get the real path */
+	reparse_buffer = (PREPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SYMLINK) malloc(MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE);
+	DWORD dwBytesReturned = 0;
+	if (DeviceIoControl(handle, FSCTL_GET_REPARSE_POINT, NULL, 0,
+		(LPVOID) reparse_buffer, MAXIMUM_REPARSE_DATA_BUFFER_SIZE, &dwBytesReturned, 0) == 0) {
+		errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	/* ensure file is actually symlink */
+	if (reparse_buffer->ReparseTag != IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK) {
+		errno = EINVAL;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	/* the symlink structure has a 'Print Name' value that is displayed to the
+	 * user which is different from the actual value it uses for redirection
+	 * called the 'Substitute Name'; since the Substitute Name has an odd format
+	 * that begins with \??\ and it appears that CreateSymbolicLink() always
+	 * formats the PrintName value consistently we will just use that
+	 */
+	int symlink_nonnull_size = reparse_buffer->PrintNameLength;
+	wchar_t * symlink_nonnull = &reparse_buffer->PathBuffer[reparse_buffer->PrintNameOffset / sizeof(WCHAR)];
+
+	/* allocate area to hold a null terminated version of the string */
+	if ((linkpath = malloc(symlink_nonnull_size + sizeof(wchar_t))) == NULL) {
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	/* copy the data out of the reparse buffer and add null terminator */
+	memcpy_s(linkpath, symlink_nonnull_size + sizeof(wchar_t), symlink_nonnull, symlink_nonnull_size);
+	linkpath[symlink_nonnull_size / sizeof(wchar_t)] = L'\0';
+
+	/* convert link path to utf8 */
+	if ((output = utf16_to_utf8(linkpath)) == NULL) {
 		errno = ENOMEM;
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	/* ensure output buffer is large enough forward slash and the string */
-	ssize_t out_size = (ssize_t) strlen(output);
-	if (1 + out_size > bufsiz) {
-		errno = ENAMETOOLONG;
-		goto cleanup;
-	}
+	/* determine if we need to prepend a forward slash to make this look like
+	 * an absolute path C:\Path\Target --> /C:/Path/Target
+	 */
+	int abs_chars = is_absolute_path(output) ? 1 : 0;
+	if (abs_chars)
+		buf[0] = '/';
 
-	/* copy to output buffer in the forward-slash format: /C:/Path/Target */
+	/* copy link data to output buffer; per specification, truncation is okay */
 	convertToForwardslash(output);
-	buf[0] = '/';
-	memcpy(buf + 1, output, out_size);
-	ret = out_size + 1;
+	size_t out_size = strlen(output);
+	memcpy(buf + abs_chars, output, min(out_size, bufsiz - abs_chars));
+	ret = (ssize_t) min(out_size + abs_chars, bufsiz);
 
 cleanup:
 
+	if (linkpath)
+		free(linkpath);
+	if (reparse_buffer)
+		free(reparse_buffer);
+	if (handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+		CloseHandle(handle);
 	if (wpath)
 		free(wpath);
 	if (output)
 		free(output);
-	if (resolved_link)
-		free(resolved_link);
 
-	return (ssize_t) ret;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+	return (ssize_t)ret;
+}
+
+int
+fileio_symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath)
+{
+	if (target == NULL || linkpath == NULL) {
+		errno = EFAULT;
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	DWORD ret = 0;
+	wchar_t *target_utf16 = utf8_to_utf16(resolved_path(target));
+	wchar_t *linkpath_utf16 = utf8_to_utf16(resolved_path(linkpath));
+	wchar_t *resolved_utf16 = _wcsdup(target_utf16);
+	if (target_utf16 == NULL || linkpath_utf16 == NULL || resolved_utf16 == NULL) {
+		errno = ENOMEM;
+		ret = -1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	/* Relative targets are relative to the link and not our current directory
+	 * so attempt to calculate a resolvable path by removing the link file name
+	 * leaving only the parent path and then append the relative link:
+	 * C:\Path\Link with Link->SubDir\Target to C:\Path\SubDir\Target
+	 */
+	if (!is_absolute_path(target)) {
+
+		/* allocate area to hold the total possible path */
+		free(resolved_utf16);
+		size_t resolved_len = (wcslen(target_utf16) + wcslen(linkpath_utf16) + 1);
+		resolved_utf16 = malloc(resolved_len * sizeof(wchar_t));
+		if (resolved_utf16 == NULL) {
+			errno = ENOMEM;
+			ret = -1;
+			goto cleanup;
+		}
+
+		/* copy the relative target to the end of the link's parent */
+		wcscpy_s(resolved_utf16, resolved_len, linkpath_utf16);
+		convertToBackslashW(resolved_utf16);
+		wchar_t * ptr = wcsrchr(resolved_utf16, L'\\');
+		if (ptr == NULL) wcscpy_s(resolved_utf16, resolved_len, target_utf16);
+		else wcscpy_s(ptr + 1, resolved_len - (ptr + 1 - resolved_utf16), target_utf16);
+	}
+
+	/* unlike other platforms, we need to know whether the symbolic link target is
+	 * a file or a directory.  the only way we can confidently do this is to
+	 * get the attributes of the target.  therefore, our symlink() has the
+	 * limitation of only creating symlink with valid targets
+	 */
+	WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA attributes = { 0 };
+	if (GetFileAttributesExW(resolved_utf16, GetFileExInfoStandard, &attributes) == FALSE) {
+		errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
+		ret = -1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	/* use the attribute of the file to determine the proper flag to send */
+	DWORD create_flags = (attributes.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) ?
+		SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_DIRECTORY : 0;
+
+	/* symlink creation on earlier versions of windows were a privileged op
+ 	 * and then an option was added to create symlink using from an unprivileged
+ 	 * context so we try both operations, attempting privileged version first.
+	 * note: 0x2 = SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE
+	 */
+	if (CreateSymbolicLinkW(linkpath_utf16, target_utf16, create_flags) == 0) {
+		if (CreateSymbolicLinkW(linkpath_utf16, target_utf16, create_flags | 0x2) == 0) {
+			errno = errno_from_Win32LastError();
+			ret = -1;
+			goto cleanup;
+		}
+	}
+
+cleanup:
+
+	if (target_utf16)
+		free(target_utf16);
+	if (linkpath_utf16)
+		free(linkpath_utf16);
+	if (resolved_utf16)
+		free(resolved_utf16);
+	return ret;
+}
diff --git a/contrib/win32/win32compat/inc/stdio.h b/contrib/win32/win32compat/inc/stdio.h
index 1702b3589..269ece845 100644
--- a/contrib/win32/win32compat/inc/stdio.h
+++ b/contrib/win32/win32compat/inc/stdio.h
@@ -20,5 +20,3 @@ FILE* w32_fdopen(int fd, const char *mode);
 
 int w32_rename(const char *old_name, const char *new_name);
 #define rename w32_rename
-
-int is_absolute_path(char *);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc.c b/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc.c
index e64b62688..667e73c7b 100644
--- a/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc.c
+++ b/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc.c
@@ -644,9 +644,7 @@ w32_utimes(const char *filename, struct timeval *tvp)
 int
 w32_symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath)
 {
-	/* Not supported in windows */
-	errno = EOPNOTSUPP;
-	return -1;
+	return fileio_symlink(target, linkpath);
 }
 
 int
@@ -1443,7 +1441,7 @@ get_program_data_path()
 
 /* Windows absolute paths - \abc, /abc, c:\abc, c:/abc, __PROGRAMDATA__\openssh\sshd_config */
 int
-is_absolute_path(char *path)
+is_absolute_path(const char *path)
 {
 	int retVal = 0;
 	if(*path == '\"') /* skip double quote if path is "c:\abc" */
diff --git a/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc_internal.h b/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc_internal.h
index f66bfff08..d3d1ef881 100644
--- a/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc_internal.h
+++ b/contrib/win32/win32compat/misc_internal.h
@@ -41,4 +41,5 @@ char* get_program_data_path();
 HANDLE get_user_token(char* user);
 int load_user_profile(HANDLE user_token, char* user);
 int copy_file(char *source, char *destination);
-int create_directory_withsddl(char *path, char *sddl);
\ No newline at end of file
+int create_directory_withsddl(char *path, char *sddl);
+int is_absolute_path(const char *);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contrib/win32/win32compat/w32fd.h b/contrib/win32/win32compat/w32fd.h
index d2fdca689..9a5158945 100644
--- a/contrib/win32/win32compat/w32fd.h
+++ b/contrib/win32/win32compat/w32fd.h
@@ -164,4 +164,5 @@ int fileio_stat(const char *path, struct _stat64 *buf);
 int fileio_lstat(const char *path, struct _stat64 *buf);
 long fileio_lseek(struct w32_io* pio, unsigned __int64 offset, int origin);
 FILE* fileio_fdopen(struct w32_io* pio, const char *mode);
-ssize_t fileio_readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz);
\ No newline at end of file
+ssize_t fileio_readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz);
+int fileio_symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/regress/unittests/win32compat/file_tests.c b/regress/unittests/win32compat/file_tests.c
index 59c75c833..50912537a 100644
--- a/regress/unittests/win32compat/file_tests.c
+++ b/regress/unittests/win32compat/file_tests.c
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 /*
 * Author: Manoj Ampalam <manoj.ampalam@microsoft.com>
+*
+* Author: Bryan Berns <berns@uwalumni.com>
+*   Added tests for symlink(), readlink(), lstat()
 */
 
 #include "includes.h"
@@ -487,6 +490,117 @@ file_miscellaneous_tests()
 	TEST_DONE();
 }
 
+void
+file_symlink_tests()
+{
+	/* skip these unit tests if we cannot create symbolic links at all 
+	 * note: 0x2 = SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE
+	 */
+	DeleteFileW(L"admin_check");
+	if (CreateSymbolicLinkW(L"admin_check", L"admin_check", 0) == 0 &&
+		CreateSymbolicLinkW(L"admin_check", L"admin_check", 0x2 == 0)) {
+		return;
+	}
+	DeleteFileW(L"admin_check");
+
+	wchar_t curdir[MAX_PATH];
+	GetCurrentDirectoryW(MAX_PATH, curdir);
+
+	/* perform a variety of symlink tests using unicode, directory targets, 
+	 * file targets, absolute/relative links, absolute/relative targets 
+	 */
+	for (int do_unicode = 0; do_unicode <= 1; do_unicode++)
+	for (int do_dir = 0; do_dir <= 1; do_dir++)
+	for (int do_absolute_lnk = 0; do_absolute_lnk <= 1; do_absolute_lnk++)
+	for (int do_absolute_tgt = 0; do_absolute_tgt <= 1; do_absolute_tgt++)
+	{
+		char test_name[128];
+		sprintf(test_name, "Symlink: %s link, %s %s target, %s",
+			(do_absolute_lnk) ? "relative" : "absolute",
+			(do_absolute_tgt) ? "relative" : "absolute",
+			(do_dir) ? "directory" : "file",
+			(do_unicode) ? "unicode" : "ansi");
+		TEST_START(test_name);
+
+		/* cleanup / setup basic test structure */
+		_wsystem(L"RD /S /Q win32compat-tmp >NUL 2>&1");
+		_wsystem(L"MKDIR win32compat-tmp >NUL 2>&1");
+
+		wchar_t tgt_path[MAX_PATH] = L"";
+		wchar_t lnk_path[MAX_PATH] = L"";
+
+		/* prepend absolute path if doing absolute test */
+		if (do_absolute_tgt) {
+			wcscat(tgt_path, L"/");
+			wcscat(tgt_path, curdir);
+			wcscat(tgt_path, L"/");
+		}
+		if (do_absolute_lnk) {
+			wcscat(lnk_path, L"/");
+			wcscat(lnk_path, curdir);
+			wcscat(lnk_path, L"/");
+		}
+
+		/* append the test paths */
+		wcscat(tgt_path, L"win32compat-tmp/tgt");
+		wcscat(lnk_path, L"win32compat-tmp/lnk");
+
+		/* append unicode char if doing unicode test */
+		if (do_unicode) {
+			wcscat(tgt_path, L"Δ");
+			wcscat(lnk_path, L"Δ");
+		}
+
+		/* ensure target is in forward slash format since this is 
+		 * required for the readlink test output later *
+		 */
+		for (wchar_t * t = tgt_path; *t; t++) if (*t == '\\') *t = L'/';
+
+		/* create directory or file as target --- we have to offset
+		 * the first forward slash so the windows functions operate
+		 */
+		if (do_dir)
+			CreateDirectoryW(&tgt_path[do_absolute_tgt], NULL);
+		else
+			CloseHandle(CreateFileW(&tgt_path[do_absolute_tgt],
+				GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, CREATE_ALWAYS, 0, NULL));
+
+		/* convert to utf8 for test */
+		char * tgt_utf8 = utf16_to_utf8(tgt_path);
+		char * lnk_utf8 = utf16_to_utf8(lnk_path);
+
+		/* for relative link, the target is relative to the link */
+		char * tgt_name_utf8 = tgt_utf8;
+		if (!do_absolute_tgt) tgt_name_utf8 = strrchr(tgt_utf8, '/') + 1;
+
+		/* create symlink */
+		int symlink_ret = symlink(tgt_name_utf8, lnk_utf8);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(symlink_ret, 0);
+
+		/* verify readlink() output against symlink() input */
+		char readlink_buf[MAX_PATH] = "";
+		int readlink_ret = readlink(lnk_utf8, readlink_buf, MAX_PATH);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(readlink_ret, strlen(tgt_name_utf8));
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(0, memcmp(readlink_buf, tgt_name_utf8, readlink_ret));
+
+		/* verify lstat() gets the reference to the link */
+		struct w32_stat statbuf;
+		int lstat_ret = lstat(lnk_utf8, &statbuf);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(lstat_ret, 0);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(1, S_ISLNK(statbuf.st_mode));
+
+		/* verify stat() gets a reference to the dir or file */
+		int stat_ret = stat(lnk_utf8, &statbuf);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(stat_ret, 0);
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(0, S_ISLNK(statbuf.st_mode));
+		ASSERT_INT_EQ(do_dir, S_ISDIR(statbuf.st_mode));
+
+		TEST_DONE();
+	}
+		
+	_wsystem(L"RD /S /Q win32compat-tmp >NUL 2>&1");
+}
+
 void
 file_tests()
 {
@@ -496,4 +610,5 @@ file_tests()
 	file_nonblocking_io_tests();
 	file_select_tests();
 	file_miscellaneous_tests();
+	file_symlink_tests();
 }