diff --git a/pip/download.py b/pip/download.py
index 653495f2a38..657a623fa0a 100644
--- a/pip/download.py
+++ b/pip/download.py
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ def unpack_file_url(link, location):
         # delete the location since shutil will create it again :(
         if os.path.isdir(location):
             rmtree(location)
-        shutil.copytree(source, location)
+        shutil.copytree(source, location, symlinks=True)
     else:
         unpack_file(source, location, content_type, link)