diff --git a/timm/data/dataset.py b/timm/data/dataset.py
index 4feb1cc8..f4f370a9 100644
--- a/timm/data/dataset.py
+++ b/timm/data/dataset.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def natural_key(string_):
 def find_images_and_targets(folder, types=IMG_EXTENSIONS, class_to_idx=None, leaf_name_only=True, sort=True):
     labels = []
     filenames = []
-    for root, subdirs, files in os.walk(folder, topdown=False):
+    for root, subdirs, files in os.walk(folder, topdown=False, followlinks=True):
         rel_path = os.path.relpath(root, folder) if (root != folder) else ''
         label = os.path.basename(rel_path) if leaf_name_only else rel_path.replace(os.path.sep, '_')
         for f in files: