Okay, this answer worked, it is however necessary to do this during installation and before starting Magento (I am guessing the system creates faulty links afterwards which can't all be reversed?) - basically I needed to reinstall Magento with new database... another post solved this problem very well, in Solution #1:
https://magento.stackexchange.com/a/97230/39395
SOLUTION # 1
I would like you to download Magento 2 zip from magentocommerce.com/download with sample data, create new db in phpmyadmin, extract zip in htdocs folder. Install Magento 2 but do not use localhost use 127.0.0.1 in store URL and admin URL. After successful installation DO NOT run magento.
Now we are going to clear / delete caches and sessions of Magento 2. Go to following paths and delete everything:
ROOT > var > cache > DELETE ALL
ROOT > var > page_cache > DELETE ALL
ROOT > var > session > DELETE ALL
When Magento 2 is not in production mode, it will try to create symlinks for some static resources on local server. We have to change that behavior of Magento 2 by going to edit ROOT > app > etc > di.xml file. Open up di.xml in your favorite code editor, find the virtualType name="developerMaterialization" section. In that section below, you will find an item which needs to be modified. You can modify it by changing the following content:
Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Symlink
To:
Magento\Framework\App\View\Asset\MaterializationStrategy\Copy
Now last step, also delete old files generated in ROOT > pub > static > DELETE ALL EXCEPT .HTACCESS