Any way to do a symlink on a windows XP desktop?

not a real symlink... but a shortcut yes...

/documents and settings/username/desktop/

put the shortcut there.

If you want your winXP to look like win2k (and not like a fucking amusement park) right click the toolbar at the bottom, properties, the 2nd tab, and select 'classic start menu'

Not sure exactly what you're trying to do.

If you're literally trying to do something on the Windows desktop, as in the interface, a shortcut is likely as good as it'll get.

If by desktop you just mean a computer running Windows XP and you're looking to do something at the file system level, you're best bet is the old dos SUBST command which still works.

Not gonna do the exact same thing as a symbolic link, but you can get creative in it's uses to work around many similar situations. SUBST let's you substitute a drive letter for a file path.