how to link up storage files

@icelander https://laravel.com/docs/7.x/structure#the-storage-directory

Am still lost

@icelander try this:

public function download(Slide $slide)
    {
    	return response()->download(asset("storage/images/{$slide->slide}"));
    }

I don't think php artisan storage:link works in Windows, does it?

You could try creating the symbolic link manually.

Open Command Prompt (not PowerShell) and run:

cd C:\xampp\htdocs\fresh\public\
mklink /D storage ..\storage\app\public

This should work

public function download(Slide $slide)
{
    return Storage::download("images/{$slide-slide}");
}

PS: Prefix Storage with \ or import Storage facade.

It's still giving me the same error, the file doesn't exist. But the file is in my public/storage/images folder as well as my storage/ app/public/ images folder. What else should I do

Did you set the correct permissions to the storage directory? Visit this StackOverflow thread to assign proper permissions to the storage directory and then give it one more try. Also, see what happens when you call Storage::exists("images/{$slide-slide}").

open tinker

>>> $slide = App\Slide::find(1)    // use a slide number you know is correct

>>> public_path("storage/images/{$slide->slide}")

check the PATH that is printed after the second command

Is the file located at that PATH on your file system