Why are you using those? Ages ago that was the only way to relocate a library. It’s kind of like asking for trouble using them now-a-days. Just put your library files wherever you prefer. And double+click on a .vstsound file to register all of them.
My vstsounds are on another hard disk. I opened it as you describe. But the manager seems to use “C:\ProgramData\Steinberg\Content” when i clicked on the vstcounds, but no idea for what exactly. The vstsound files are stored on another hard disk.
Use Windows Explorer to go to where the .vstsound files are stored. Double+click on any .vstsound file. This should launch the Library Manager which will register all the .vstsound files it finds in that location plus any sub-folders.
I’m guessing the symbolic links might leave behind some mess. There were some posts on the forum back when the use of the links became obsolete. It might be worth a search to see what folks experienced. I remember undoing the links I had, but nothing specific anymore.
Can you post a screenshot showing this? I’m not sure exactly what you mean.