Windows 10/11 show hidden files not working? This post lists four solutions for you to fix this issue. And you can also recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10/11 via tools.
Hello! I’m having the same issue with my Windows 10 computers. I can’t change the show hidden files, folders, and drives option. So is it possible for me to recover hidden data from hard disk? Thanks.
- A user from Microsoft Community
Windows 10 show hidden files not working? So how to make hidden files visible to you? Maybe you’re customized to the show hidden files, folders, and drives feature, but this setting is useless.
Are you wondering why hidden folders not showing in Windows 11/10? In some cases, it’s possible that the operation went wrong. Sometimes, it’s due to corrupted file systems.
Or your needed documents have most likely been deleted rather than be invisible to you.
How to recover hidden data from hard disk? Please continue reading to get four feasible methods. You can have a closer look at its possible reasons and locate the corresponding solution quickly.
Microsoft’s many valuable features are underutilized. Under the guidance of easy steps, try to show hidden files, folders, and drives in Windows File Explorer.
Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer by pressing the “Win + E” buttons.
Step 2. Under the View tab, click the “Options” button.
Step 3. When it comes to Folder Options, click View > Show hidden files, folders, and drives > Apply. Please remember to click “OK” to close the window.
If Windows 10 show hidden files not working via File Explorer, you can take advantage of the attrib command to reappear files and folders because attrib is designed to change the file attribute of a file/folder.
▶Read-only (R): No written permission to change or alter the read-only file.
▶Hidden (H): Besides Windows apps like File Explorer, MS-DOS commands like dir are not allowed to show hidden files/folders to users.
▶System (S): You can modify the priority of the file/folder.
▶Archive (A): If the hosting file has been changed since the last backup, the backup tool will inevitably erase it after a full/incremental backup.
Meanwhile, with these steps, you can also use the command prompt to recover hidden files from USB.
Step 1. Enter “cmd” in the search bar on your PC and “Run as administrator” to open it.
Step 2. Copy “attrib –h –r –s /s /d G:\*.*” in the command prompt window. In this case, the letter G is the drive letter of your partition that includes your hidden files. You can replace G based on your needs.
Step 3. After the process, you’ll find a new folder with your desired files saved on your Windows PC. You can also change their formats and store them in another path.
If even the attrib command cannot work for you to show hidden files/folders, these files are probably deleted instead of hidden. Naturally, you can also follow another two solutions to reappear hidden files.
Windows 10 show hidden files not working? Try to modify the registry to show hidden files if you’re proficient in PCs, and be careful. Let’s show how it works.
Step 1. Press “Win + R” to open the Run box and type “Regedit” in the box to open it.
Step 2. Go to this path:
Computer\HKEY-Local-MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden. Then set the value data as “1” to show hidden files, folders, and drives.
If the file system of your hidden files is damaged, how to recover hidden data from hard disk? At the moment, you need to fix hidden files via Chkdsk.exe or partition recovery software like AOMEI Partition Assistant.
Generally speaking, the complicated steps of Chkdsk.exe can discourage non-tech users from following it to check and repair errors. So we’d like to take this tool as an example.
Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard on Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, or XP computers.
Step 2. On the main interface of the tool, right-click on your selected partition including your needed hidden files. Then click Advanced > Check Partition.
Step 3. Select the first option and click the “OK” button. If your hard drive is in RAW format, tick the last option.
Step 4. Please wait patiently. Then you can click “OK” to exit this window.
If the above solutions fail to reappear hidden files, perhaps your desired files are deleted or permanently deleted. Then there’s no sign of them on your Windows PC.
In this scenario, how to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10/11? If possible, you can restore files from backups made by Windows features or free backup software for Windows.
Without regular backups, you’ll have no recourse but to use professional data recovery tools like MyRecover.
Download MyRecover on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Windows Server computers to get your permanently deleted files back!
Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your computer. Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.
Step 2. You can search or wait to view all the deleted and other missing files.
Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Other Missing Files folder, and click “Recover x files” to retrieve your chosen files. Please save these recovered files in another drive.
Windows 10 show hidden files not working? If you’ve found this issue, don’t write new data to your computer.
Because you cannot ensure whether your files are hidden or not. And any newly added data can overwrite permanently deleted files if they’ve gone.
At the same time, you can also refer to the first four solutions to reappear hidden files. For computer novices, it’s problematic for them to perform data recovery via Windows features. So why not consider using a friendly data recovery tool like MyRecover?