The command to make a symbolic link is
ln
.
You can create a soft sym-link like this:
Bash:
ln -s -T /path/to/target /path/to/symbolic-link
Where /path/to/target is the path to the target file/executable/script
And /path/to/symbolic-link is the path to and name of the symbolic link.
So if you have a script in your desktop that you want to be ran on startup you can use:
Bash:
ln -s -T /root/Desktop/myscript.sh /root/.config/startup/myscript
And that will create a soft sym-link called "myscript" in /root/.config/startup/ which points to /root/Desktop/myscript.sh.
And if you don't already have a script and the files on your desktop are just files that you are working on - then perhaps you should write a script that will start the associated program/s for each of the files you want opened on startup.
The script should either go in /root/.config/autostart/ - Or put it on your desktop and then create a link to it in the root users autostart directory (as per the above ln example).
e.g.
If you have a bunch of text files on your desktop that you want to open in gvim (or whatever your preferred text editor is) and a pdf file to open with evince at startup:
mystartupscript.sh
Bash:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
gvim /root/Desktop/*.txt &
evince /root/Desktop/HowToRTFM.pdf &
Obviously - you'd substitute in whatever programs/files you want open on startup.
And note the
&
at the end of each command. That will start the programs in the background. Without that, your startup script wouldn't open evince until gvim has been closed.
So starting the graphical applications in the background will allow the terminal running the script to sequentially start all of the programs.
And don't forget to make your script executable:
chmod +x /path/to/mystartupscript.sh
where
/path/to/mystartupscript.sh
is the path/filename of the script - which will depend on whether you put it in roots startup dir, or on your desktop.....