How to Remove Hidden Attribute from Folder in Windows 10
Different viruses cause different types of damage on your computer. Most of the time, the viruses are programmed to disable Windows Task Manager, Regedit, Command Prompt, folder options and etc. These restrictions are meant to prevent a normal computer user from using these built-in Windows diagnostic tools such as MSCONFIG to disable the virus from starting up on your computer.
There are some viruses that will cause destruction such as encrypting recently used files so you are forced to buy the decryption key from the virus programmer. Then there’s another type of virus such as BDS.Mirc.Backdoor that will hide your document files by setting the hidden and system attributes to the file. You can still see the files if you set to show hidden files and folders plus disabling hide operating system files. Another trick is to use Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera to reveal the hidden files. If the virus is capable of restricting Folder Options, the chances are you think that your files have been wiped out by the virus but in fact they are perfectly safe and have just been hidden in your system.
There’s still hope if you think that your files are gone because of a virus. Here’s how to check if the files are still around, and if they are, you can reset the attributes of the files to view them normally in Windows Explorer again.
How to show hidden files and folders or system files1. Go to Control Panel and open Folder Options.
2. Go to the View tab and select “Show hidden files and folders”. Then uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”. Do take note that some viruses that are still active on the computer will revert the changes that you made. So make sure your computer is clean from viruses first by scanning with an antivirus program.
3. Try to look for your missing files on your hard drive. There is a tool called Random’s System Information Tool that is able to help you find files or folders created or modified in the last 1 to 3 months.
4. If you have managed to locate your files which are hidden but visible because you’ve configured the Folder Options to show them, then you’ll need to unhide the hidden files. Here are 4 methods to reset the system and hidden attributes.
1. Unhide using the Windows attrib command
This is the old school method of doing it without using any software. Just run command prompt (Start -> Run -> CMD for XP, or for Vista and 7 Start -> type CMD in search box, right click and run as Admin), type the following command:
attrib -H -S C:\path\to\your\file.doc /S /D
You can also use the asterisk character to define multiple extensions. For example:
attrib -H -S C:\raymond\*.* /S /D
This would remove the Hidden and System attribute of all files in the raymond folder on the C drive. The /S and /D arguments are optional. /S will recurse down into all sub folders and /D will unhide the folders themselves if they have the System or Hidden attribute set.
Just to point out, it’s probably not the best idea to use something like “C:\*.*” as this will unhide the whole drive including files which Windows has set as hidden or system by design.
On the next page we’ll show you how to unhide/unsystem your files using even easier methods with the help software.
2. Unhide using iReset
This is a portable tool to reset your system or hidden files and folders so you can view or access them normally. You will need to drag and drop your files or folders onto the cross-hair icon and then click the reset button. This tool is free for personal use but if you want to use it for business purposes, then you’ll have to license the application.
3. Unhide using Attribute Changer
If a file has a hidden attribute, you can easily remove it by right clicking the file, go to Properties, and uncheck the Hidden checkbox. But if it also has system attribute, then the Hidden checkbox will be grayed out and you can’t change that. With Attribute Changer, you can now change all kinds of file and folder attributes from the same area.
To use it, install the program and then right click on the files or folders and select “Change Attributes…” from the context menu. Then use the Folder Properties and File Properties tabs to clear the System and Hidden check boxes and apply.
4. How to view and unhide from a single program
Lastly, here is a tool that can do both of the above and show you what files are hidden and also allow the changing of several file and folder attributes at once. That program is called Free Commander and is a very popular and portable file manager.
The good thing here is Hidden and System files are show by default in the program and are easily identified by being a light shade of grey. You can then batch unhide the files and/or folders by simply multi selecting them with Shift, Ctrl or click and drag. Then press Shift+Enter to bring up the Attributes/Timestamp window.
Tick the Set attributes box to allow the attributes to be edited, then make sure both Hidden and System are unticked, then press OK. Your files and folders will now be visible again! You can also alter the timestamps and also include sub folder contents attributes to be changed.
Free Commander is a great tool to have around anyway even if you don’t want to use it for this purpose. There are also other file manager or commander type programs that can do a similar job. Have a look at our article on 6 Free File Managers for Quicker File Operations
I’m booting from a USB so all files are unlocked for backup purposes.
I type “attrib +a c:\*.* /s” and get “Unable to reset system file”.
Typing “attrib -s -h -r +a c:\*.* /s” would absolutely work.
However, could turning of the system bit on all System files could cause it not to boot?
I don’t think it would but don’t want to experiment and possibly regret it.
Very useful utility tool,good job, more power!
Hello!
I use Windows 10 machine. Mine gives me an error message like this:
>attrib -H -S G:\Learn\IT\Graphic Designer\setup\Adobe Fireworks CS5 v11.0 + serial key [H33t][Slicer] /S /D
Parameter format not correct –
What have I done wrong please?
is ” Adobe Fireworks CS5 v11.0 + serial key [H33t][Slicer] ” a Folder?
I suggest to use attrib -H -S G:\Learn\IT\Graphic Designer\setup\*.* /S /D
To apply to all folders and subfolders
This script wont work for 2 reasons;
1 The path G:…. has spaces in it so you must put the path in inverted commas
2. at the end of the path put \*.* meaning all files
then it will work IF there isn’t some special file or disk access issue.99% of the time this works, 1% is another special permission issue.
Oh, thank you so much. i moved my Downloads folder back to my C:\ drive and Windows applied the hidden and system attribute to it, this oldschool method fixed it. Again, thank you so much!!!
Thank You So Much I Used iReset Tool And Now i Can Access My Hidden Files And Folders…. Allah Bless You….
Thank you!
Thank you so much, works like a charm
Old school rules. Worked like a charm. Thank you.
@sunny
use this..
“old school”
attrib -H -S F:\*.* /S /D
thank you very much for your kind support
you are savior thx
i don’t know how to thank you more but thank you!
thank you worked for me
thank you it worked.the old school is best.
thanks its working
“old school”
attrib -H -S F:\123.docx /S /D
F: Drive is my flash drive
but how we can all files at once time
jsut this:
attrib -H -S F:\*.* /S /D
Old Run CMD worked perfectly thnx
Thank you! You saved me!
Thanks buddy, it’s work, but actually I’ve do the same thing formerly but there’s a message, access denided, maybe because a virus that run the software that I want to unhide it, but after I clean the file using an antivirus and then use that script, it works, thanks buddy
Well done it works
thanks a lot
Thanks. I was looking for AppData folder and stuffed it all up.. this was the 1st page i found when looking for solution and it worked without issue. great help
Thanks….
Thank you!
It worked perfectly. You are a life saver. Thank you very much.
Not being able to remove hidden ( +H ) and system file ( +S ) attributes of “System Volume Information” folder thru’ attrib command . Getting message “Access denied – Drivename:\Folder name. Is therre any other method to remoe the +H +S attributes ? Thanks in advance for reply.
System Volume Information is a special protected system folder and you need to gain access to it. Read this article to find out how:
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/about-recycler-and-system-volume-information-folder-in-xp-and-vista/
thank you ..
Thanks, you are the best…
Thanks a lot buddy. it works!!!
Hi
Nice write up. We were hit with locky at our place and we were able to beat it by having an early warning. We stopped the shares and restored from backup. Without the early warning we would have been toast. It occurred to me that a script or program running on or monitoring the file server that noted when a files extension was changed would provide the early warning. The tools here appear to be local programs not meant to sit on a file server. While some say they can see shares they don’t appear to be made for Windows server 2008 and up. Thoughts?
Gary Hinrich
Nice one buddy.. Thanks alot!!
It workedd….!!!!!!!!!!
thank you soo much :D
Thank You! You saved my life!
Thank u very much
made it …
I enabled all the hidden files and folders in my computer. by default it would have been hidden.. and everywhere i can see desktop.ini, can anybody tell me how can i the default files and folders, which windows hide by default.thanks.
Tell me What to do if someone hide a Folder with the attributes and unable to unhide it back cause the folder name is forgotten.
If you use one of the methods listed here it doesn’t matter what the folder name is as it will be visible just like any other folder.
Very thankful. …. i got my data back
Muchas gracias!! Saludos de Mexico !! Thanks !
life saver. more powers
attrib +h +s f: …. /s /d
tried this a lot but this only sets that specific folder. know how to set system attribute to all files(pdf, videos, pics etc.) and subfolders in that folder…?
try attrib -H -S f:\*.* /S /D
That will unhide everything on the F drive.
Read the article .
Really thanks
Whilst logged on as Administrator
Would not work on System Volume Information
C:\attrib -r -a -h -s C:\”System Volume Information”\*.* /S /D
ACCESS DENIED
Any ideas – Is there an even higher level of security for such files.
( My problem is battery went flat, whilst deffragging and now have 49% fragmentation )
System Volume Information is a protected folder and not simply unhidden by these methods, have a read about it here:
raymond.cc/blog/about-recycler-and-system-volume-information-folder-in-xp-and-vista/
Will do. Thanks HAL9000
Worked Nice…… :) Awesome
thanks very good method,
thank you
Thanks a lot…..it works fine… Thanks for sharing solution
thank you my friend life saver
Thanks buddy…i really remembering my school days…when i had used those commands… ;)
Thanks a lot. A sure solution. Great relief.
THANKS…..BUDDY
thankyou so much you’re a life saver! :)
Thanks soooooo much, this solved a big problem for me.
ITS SO SIMPLE ; THANKS IS NOT ENOUGH ; TAKE MY GRATITUDE
You Saved My Computer’s Life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Keep it up
You made me to take old DOS tutorial much more important. You’re my hero!
Thank you so much,if you are a beautiful woman then I will never hesitate to marry you since you save me.
Thank you very much.It is very use ful
THANK YOU MAN…. YOU’RE GREAT…
Thanks a lot..at last a solution ..what a relief…
Thanks a million dude, almost deleted most of my music – I’ve been a victim of some hacker prank. Cheers.
Thanks.
This simple commands silently does what flashy GUI just fails to do. Great.
God Bless you, sir.
Thanks, interesting
super man…. this method working,,,,,,, ;) :)
Great solution…
Thanks, it’s very well
it is saying that parameter format is not correct . what would i do now ?
Thank you very Much. God Bless You for Me
thankz man…..i used the attribute changer it really works!! :)
Thank you very much for your solution…
Great solution man …. works perfectly
I found it useful, thank you.
you solved my big problem thanx bro
Thanks you very much; this is really helpful.
thank you so much
this helped me a lot
God bless you !!
Thanx ,, Really works that free commander thing…
You are the man. thx
Thanks a lot. That solved me a lot of problems.
it didnt work with the command prompt but it did with the Attribute Changer :D thank you so much.
Good It works!
Thanks alot Bro. Its Really work……
Thanking you bro.
thanx brother it works you are a good programmer
Thanks a Lot It Really Helped me a lot, Information is so clear
Thanks again
Thanks a bunch!!! works perfect!
Perfect !
Lot of thanks
Yow Thank you so much.. finally don’t have to manually cut and paste each folder… been looking for this tutorial since i had the darn trojan.. before i manual cut and paste files from hidden system folder didn’t knew there’s a work around.. dude you are the best..
Thank Dude… :)
Allah bless you , its the best web site see it
thank you so much
Thank you so much! :D
Thank you so much. For this helpful and informative article.
Thank you very much for the information. It helped a lot.
Thank you very much, the info was very very very helpful!
Thanks , nice sharing, saved my time
Thanks ! I used the DOS prompt method on files coming from Windows 7 and using hidden hard links :D
thank you very much You are the savior
iReset tool was awesome! After many files in the root folder of my thumb drive got the Hidden attribute grey-ed out, because of some nasty virus got into from a local Net Cafe. Kudos to raymond site for the share.
Thanks! :)
thanks a lot
The information was great
Thank you for this helpful post. Really appreciated Free Commander.
that was awesome..i searched a lot to reset my folders..ireset did it so fast..easy to use..great software..thanks a lot
Great, Working like a charm. FreeCommander is the best one.
Well, Nice information Passed, working fine, Thanks
many many thanks :D
Best Tool ever……….. keep it up .. IT works fine…
Thanks bro..really worked for me.
Yes it solved the problem.
Works like a charm. Thanks.
Thanks
Simply Superb!!!!!!!!
So I have done this….and everything reappears.
It’s cool, it worked fast, and easy. like A B C. keep it up.
Thanks mate. It worked out well….
Thank you so much.. it was very useful
Thank you!!
Thank you very much for providing the software to change the attribute it has worked..
worked thank you so much. i almost formatted haha
cool thank you
THANK YOU THANK YOU MATE, where will I send my USD 1,000 donation ;) thanks a lot and more power
Thank you :-) Helped me a lot
Thank You so much! I used iReset and it WORKED!!! Thank you!!! :-D
exactly what i was looking for!!!!
thanks. very helpful tools
hey this is helping about. I still have no idea where the virus came from. relatively speaking, I’m really careful with what I download online.
:) works great for me…
thanks man…
Thank a lot for this…..
Thank you for your post and very useful information.
:-)
thanks mate!
thanks for this software this is great tool and may Jehovah bless you with much knowledge to continue to develop such nice and simple software.
cool one thanks ……………….!
thanks so much…problem solved
Thanks a lot… very useful…
Love yah!
Thanks, man! It helps~
I used the IReset software and it worked perfectly.
Screw the virus!
Have a nice day!
Malaysia
Thanks a lot man!
You are a life saver!
very informative, easy to follow and 100% working – it helped me reset files that has been tampered by virus to a working file.
works fine, perfect…thanks a lot!
Thanks a ton.
Thank you raymond. You are handy
Thank You
man i love you very much!
Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…
once again Thank You very much…
oh you are great . thanks for the stuff.well this the best solution i had ever find for my problem.
this one helps…thank you
Thanks for the help.
just perfect, can now breath.
thanks it help me the cmd line
Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…
once again Thank You very much…
thanks very useful tools
thank you…..
this article is very useful for IT people
thank you :)
this article is very useful
SUPERB HATS OFFF
ITS WORKING
thanks man 100/100 working
Thanks a lot man.
I was searching for this everywhere on net.
Love u.
Thanks a lot! i’m having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again
thank you really a good ray
Its Works ………….Thanks Dear……………………
Thanks……..for the post……
Man you are so amazing!!!
You rocks. You help me solve my issue due to virus. thanks
hey thank you very much. It’s working…… :D
Best Work ! I found this page as the first result while googling. Thanks
thanks
Thank you. Thank you.
This has really helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing! May you be blessed.
That is a great knowledge. God bless u
thank you so much for your information.it really helped me
thanks for the tip. really working and it helps us a lot.
Thank you for the Command Prompt version, it works excellent and it finished my 8GB USB pendrive in 10 seconds!
Thank you very much once again!
thanks from the deep part of my heart.
its really working well.
i used this dos command, its very nice.
once again thanks.
Thanks for this great solution. Its really amazing!!!!!!!!!
great job ray! they just fooling us with those viruses and make money for it “anti-virus program”. You did a good job!
thanks from Mongolia
Hi !
I have to try this tip then I will say something . . .
very nice Article. My girl friend missed her project file because virus infected . she thought i deleted that files. now i can show that project files using this .Thank you
SOLVED
thanks ray…you are the man…problem solved with ireset…
Thanks a lot! I’m having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again.
hi five ray.. you are good hahah
Thank you so much! the virus is really a headache… thanks for the tip… i thought my files were all gone… (Relief) :)
amazing solution!!!!!!!!!!!! its so great!!!!!i have tried it for year and you solved it just in second!!!!!!!!!!!!so grateful to you
thank you very much
WOW! this is the best tutorial ive seen regarding hidden folders. thank you so much ray!
Thanks a lot , you made it a lot easy and removed my headache. Its really good information.
Thanks much for sharing such useful info. i-Reset worked just fine for me :-)
Thank you my friend Attribute Changer is worked fine for me
So great. . and now my problem with my phone is solve. . thank you. . i have my folder shown again! Thanks
HI ray this is good,
thanks Ray. this is very useful tutorial
Great write up Raymond. I never can read enough new ways to repair the damage done by malware :)
nice tip
thanks a lot Ray.
thanks for the info..
Another useful tip and a good soft.
Raymond, thank you so much, i encounter this problem since few month ago and never find any solution, once again thank you so much, i only could wish you best of luck with your life. :)
Thanks for the tip mate, cheers!
thanks for the info !!!
Nice Post!
great tutorial ray and thanks for the info :)
an excellent tip ray!!!