How to view hidden files on a flash drive? How to open hidden files on a flash drive.

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I had such a situation when I was still a beginner, a friend came to me with a problem. He had a flash drive with important information that disappeared somewhere! Disk space The flash drive seems to be full, but when opened, it’s empty! There are no files.

I would like to immediately warn you that often flash drives infected with a virus “close” all folders from viewing and accessing them.

Therefore, first of all, check such a flash drive with the antivirus software installed on your computer, and only after checking, proceed to opening hidden folders.

I decided to deal with this problem, googled the Internet, found ways to open hidden files on a flash drive. I am sharing these methods with you.

Open hidden documents on the entire computer. I have already described this method in one of my articles, but I will repeat it here for you.

When you open any folder, click “View” at the top. Then, at the top right, “folders option.” Another tab “view”, then “Advanced parameter”.

If you have Windows Seven, then you should select the “Service” section at the top of the window. In the drop-down menu, look for the “Folder Options” item, and then “Advanced Options”.

Uncheck the box "Hide protected files" system files" Check the box next to the line “Show hidden folders, file disk”.

After these simple steps, all folders on your computer that are hidden from you will be visible. This applies to all devices open on the computer.

Opening hidden documents in the flash drive itself

Click the “My Computer” icon, double-click on the flash drive icon to open it. Once you have allowed hidden documents to be shown, they will become visible, but may not open and will be marked with an exclamation mark.

Right-click on these folders after selecting them. In the drop-down list, click “properties”.

“General” tab, uncheck “Hidden”, click “ok”.

After this, the documents became open for viewing.

What should I do if the “hidden” attribute is not unchecked?

Remember, at the beginning of the article I warned you that most often flash drives with hidden files are infected with a virus.

This was the case in our case. The tick did not react in any way to the removal tests.

And again Google came to the rescue. On his advice, I called up the command line.

This is done in the following way:

1. Press the key combination Win+R;
2. Enter cmd in the search box.

A command line window will open, enter the following commands there:

1. In the first line where my drive is indicated (C/users/users/), after the slash I enter the name of the flash drive drive, in my case it was drive (I), and put a colon, see the screenshot;
2. Following this, in the line below I inserted the following command: attrib -s -h *.* /s /d

After this, the attrib command is run. A few seconds pass, the folders on the flash drive open.

Unlock documents via file manager

If you are afraid to work with command line, you are afraid that you enter the command incorrectly, there is another way to uncheck all hidden folders.

To do this you need to open any file manager, This:

• Total Commander;
• FileZilla.

Click on the "File" tab and select "Change Attributes".

A window will appear in which you need to uncheck the attributes:

• Archival;
• Hidden;
• Systemic.

This action opens all the folders on the computer, allowing the friend to access his important, valuable files. We deleted the virus from the flash drive, but a friend, just in case, duplicated it and saved it. important information on one of your cloud drives.

How to open hidden files on a flash drive, summary

Since then, I also save important information that cannot be lost in several places. After all, by storing files in one place, you can lose them forever.

What would happen if the virus did not hide the folders, but destroyed them? Therefore, be careful when saving files that have value to you. Apply the information from the article, now you know how to open hidden files on a flash drive.

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If the user has ever used a USB drive not only on his computer, then he was faced with the fact that it needed to be cleaned of malware. This could happen anywhere and when turned on, messages will appear that the flash drive is infected. However, it happens that even after deleting them, files cannot be found. It is quite possible that the virus simply hid the documents or that it was done by someone you know.

The simplest and quick way- use Windows Explorer.

1. Open “My Computer” through the “Start” menu, insert the USB flash drive into the port and double-click on it. In the top menu there is a “Service” section, by clicking on which you need to select “Folder Options” from the list.

   

2. A window will appear where you also need to find “View” in the top menu. There are two thematic blocks in this tab; we will need “Advanced parameters”. There you will need to find the “Show hidden files” column and check the box next to it. Then the user needs to save the changes by clicking “Ok”.

   

3. After these steps, the user will see a list of files, but their peculiarity is that they will not be able to work with them. Select all folders with the mouse and press RMB (right mouse button). In the list that appears, click “Properties”.

   

4. The user will immediately see the “General” tab, where he needs the “Attributes” block, where there will be a checkbox next to the “Hidden” indicator. You need to remove it and save the changes.

   

5. The system will confirm the attribute change. You must check the box next to the second option, agreeing to change all selected folders. Click the “Ok” button, then “Ok” again, but in the same “Properties” window.

   

After these simple steps, all hidden files will be visible again.

Actions through Explorer for Windows 10 users

Actions for users look different:

After completing these steps, it is important to go back to the “Folder Options” section, and in the additional settings, check the box next to “Do not show hidden files.”

Using "Total Commander"

Application of the above method is most relevant, but if the user has this program, then its use will also be useful.

1. Open the window and click on the letter on the left side that corresponds to this drive. Now you need to find the “Configuration” section in the top menu, and then click “Settings” in the list that appears.

   

2. Here you will need the “Panel Contents” section, which the user will find in the left column. In the “File Display” tab, you need to check the box next to the first item. If this parameter is divided into 2 points, then you need to check the boxes next to “Show hidden”, as well as next to “Show system ones”. The user then needs to save the changes.

   

3. Now you need to make the documents that appear visible. Select their mice, click on “File” at the very top, then select “Change Attributes”.

   

4. There will be markers next to the “Hidden” and “System” indicators that you need to remove and press “Enter”.

   

Note! The advantage of this method is that it allows you to see both hidden documents and system ones.

Recovery via command line

This recovery method is also relevant.

1. Insert the flash drive into the port, go to “My Computer”, pay attention to the “Devices with removable media” block. There you can see the letter that corresponds to your drive.

   

2. Then open the Start menu and type “cmd” in the search bar. The system will give you a hint; you need to click on the program that appears in the window. This is relevant for Windows 7 users.

   

3. Windows 10 users can click on “Start” RMB (right mouse button), then find “Command Prompt” in the list and click on it.

   

4. In the black window that appears, write “m:” (without quotes) and press the “Enter” key (or another letter that corresponds to the name of the drive).

   

5. The next step is to enter “attrib –h –s /d /s” (also without quotes), after which the user needs to press “Enter” again.

   

Now all files and folders will become

Video - How to open hidden files on a flash drive

There are many viruses on the network that affect the operation of personal computers, phones, tablets and other equipment. In addition to those malware that have a direct impact, there are also those that simply make the user's work more difficult.

One of these viruses infects external drives information, and flash cards are most susceptible to its influence. A virus can make a flash drive unreadable for a computer, make it a “carrier,” delete any files from it, or hide them from the user. In the latter case, in place of the files, a person sees their duplicate shortcuts, which cannot be opened or used in any other way.

A similar virus first appeared back in 2012 and still prevents electronics users from living in peace. So what to do if all the folders on the flash card suddenly turn out to be shortcuts?

How to understand that a flash drive is infected

Typically, in such cases, when you try to open folders, a dialog box appears informing you that there is a system error. Then the folder can open, although sometimes this does not happen.

In order to determine whether folders are shortcuts, you should take a closer look at the icon: if there is a tiny arrow at the bottom left, it is a shortcut.

If most folders (if not all) have a similar sign, then with a high degree of probability the flash card is a carrier of a virus that has infected the system.

In this case, there is no need to format the flash drive, since most often this problem eliminated in several steps.

How the malware works

After getting onto a removable drive, the virus “inhabits” the RECYCLER system folder. Then, in order not to detect his presence, he hides it through system commands. In the folder, the virus places virus code, which can be called anything: this provides the virus with excellent camouflage.

Each file or folder acquires the status of “hidden” and “system”, which prevents the user from seeing them while working. And in the end the virus creates shortcuts to all of them.

The system command is triggered when the shortcut is clicked. It is this action that triggers the virus located in system folder. If the antivirus installed on the PC ignores the malicious program, the computer will become infected. The result can be very different, from copying any entered passwords to remote access to a personal computer.

Removing viruses from flash media

If the antivirus detects a threat, it must be removed.

Please note that if the file belongs to a Windows system folder, then deletion should be done as much as possible
carefully so as not to harm the system personal computer. To do this, the infected file must be quarantined and, if possible, disinfected. The remaining files can be deleted.

It doesn’t matter whether malware was found or not, in any case, the system must be scanned using a third-party resource - CureIt. You need to repeat the process of scanning drive C: using a similar program and removable media. It is advisable to check your computer for viruses after urgently scanning these places. If you scan all disks at the same time, it will take more than one hour.

When the scan is completed (even if no viruses were detected), you can proceed to reveal invisible folders if the problem has not been resolved before.

How to show folders and files

In order to do this, it is necessary to finally get rid of the virus.

You can do this in the following ways:

• use the command line;
• use downloadable Live disk DVD (or flash drive);
• use file managers such as Far or Total Commander.

The most effective way is the second, but it requires some skills that the average PC user typically lacks. So most in a simple way, understandable to everyone, is the third.

In order to restore folders, you should:

1. Download the program (32+64-bit) and then install it.
2. Update the program if necessary.
3. In order to use the program for free, after opening it, you must click on the start button under the required number.
4. Select the flash card in the window on the left.
5. Even if it seems that the flash card does not have any problems, if you carefully examine the file extensions, you may find inconsistencies. The fact is that folders as such do not have an extension, while shortcuts go under “Ink”.
6. You need to click on the “Configuration” button, then select the “Settings” section. After this, in the window you need to select “Contents of panels” and check the boxes for “Show hidden files”, “Show system files”.
7. "Apply."
8. "OK".

The appearance of the flash card was supposed to change due to the revelation of hidden folders. You need to clean the flash drive by deleting any files with the “Ink” extension. A dialog box asks you to confirm your consent to this operation.

In order to finally return visible folders, it is enough to remove the “system”, “hidden” and other attributes from them. Unfortunately, Windows system will not allow such an operation, for which Total Commander is required.

After selecting files by simultaneously pressing “Ctrl” and the English “A”, you need to open “Files” and select the “Change Attributes” function.

• systemic;
• hidden;
• archival;
• only for reading.

After clicking “OK”, the files located on the flash drive will be viewed using regular Explorer.

The most important thing is not to forget to remove the virus itself. This will require deleting the RECYCLER folder. Sometimes during this action a warning appears that the file cannot be deleted. To solve this problem, you need to check the “with administrator rights” key.

Some users, while working on the Internet, encounter special virus programs that modify files on removable media, making them invisible. In some cases, they are replaced by various scripts or shortcuts with similar names and shortcuts that infect your computer. This article describes in detail how you can open hidden files and folders on your flash drive and return them to their original attributes.

First of all, it is worth noting that under no circumstances should you open or run duplicate files created by a virus, as this will lead to infection of your personal computer, even when the antivirus program. Scan your entire PC and removable device with an antivirus, and then you can start troubleshooting.

Setting up Windows Explorer

In order for users to be able to view hidden files located on a flash drive, it is necessary to correctly configure the parameters for displaying objects in Explorer (a program for working with files and folders). To do this you will need to do the following:

Now you will see all files that have the “Hide” attribute. You can open the root directory of the flash drive and continue working with the necessary information.

Changing Attributes

So that hidden files can be seen by other users on other computers, you need to change their properties. To do this, you need to right-click on the desired object to bring up the context menu and select “Properties”.

In the window that opens, you need to uncheck the boxes next to the “System” and “Hidden” parameters. Click "Apply" to save the changes and "Ok" to close the window and display the files. This way you can edit the parameters of all the data you need.

However, if there are a lot of objects on the flash drive, changing all the files one by one will be inconvenient and time-consuming.

Creating a bat file

You can create a simple script with your own hands that will independently “repair” all the data on the removable media. Follow a few simple steps indicated in the instructions.

The situation is familiar to many. We open the flash card and instead of our files we see incomprehensible shortcuts, or worse, we see nothing. Hidden files definitely do not appear on the flash drive by themselves and the reason for this is a virus attack. In this article we will look in detail at how to open hidden files on a flash drive, and here you will also find clear recommendations to prevent a similar problem in the future.

Hidden files on a flash drive

The problem can manifest itself in several ways. First, we will look at the most common case, when a virus hiding files on a flash drive belongs to the Autorun virus family. In this case, all files and folders turn into shortcuts. Those. The virus assigns system and hidden attributes to all folders and files, and instead of our files, it places an exe shortcut with the same icon and folder name. If you open it, it will be empty.

Open hidden files on Windows flash drive XP

In this situation, you need to open My Computer. On the menu bar, select "Folder Options" or "Folder Options" depending on the version, and in the window that opens, select the "View" tab. Here you need:

Next, you need to change the file attributes so that they open on any computer. For this we will use Total program Commander. First you need to go to the "Configuration/Settings" menu. In the window that appears, go to the "Panel Contents" tab and check the box for the "Show hidden system files" function. Click "Apply".

In the window that opens, uncheck the “System” and “Hidden” attribute. Click the OK button.

Open hidden files on a Windows 7 flash drive

Here the sequence of actions is identical except for one point. To change folder settings, open the Start menu/Control Panel/Appearance and Personalization/Folder Options. In Windows xp we opened My Computer.

How to open hidden files on a flash drive

Now let's consider the second situation, when the virus hid folders on the flash drive by moving their contents to a folder with an invalid name. Those. The virus creates a folder on the flash drive with a name for example "..". Windows prohibits the use of such characters in the file name, so it is not displayed. Since it is not displayed, then what was placed in it is not displayed. To solve this problem we need to rename the folder with that name. To do this you need to use the command line. Go to the folder C:/Windows/System32, find the file cmd.exe and copy it to the flash card. Launch it and enter the command in the window that opens:

where dir is a command that displays the contents of a directory, ad displays folders, and x is the name of the directory. A window with contents will open.

Now you need to rename the folder named E2E2~1, to do this, enter the command:

Our directory will be renamed to the doc folder, which is what we will find on the flash drive with the missing files.

Currently, there are even more insidious viruses that simply delete files from a flash card. In this situation, data recovery can help special programs such as Recuva. We will get acquainted with them in more detail and learn how to use them in the following publications, since the question is quite extensive.

And finally, a few tips to prevent hidden files from appearing on a flash drive in the future. First of all, check your computer for viruses that have infected the flash card, secondly, identify it yourself USB drive, third, install protection against Autorun viruses.