Hidden files win 8. How to show hidden folders and files in Windows

Useful tips

By default, Windows hides some system folders and files to avoid accidental user intervention. But these folders and files may need to be edited for certain purposes, for example, to optimize system operation, clean up virus activity, etc.

About displaying hidden Windows elements

To display hidden elements in Windows, you do not need to download and install any additional software, since system functions are sufficient. In addition, by using applications that supposedly allow you to see hidden elements of the system, you expose your computer to the risk of becoming infected with some kind of virus. In modern versions of Windows, you can quickly view all hidden files and folders.

Method 1: Control Panel

The control panel is available in almost all versions of Windows (only the oldest ones are exceptions). With its help, you can quickly configure the system, including opening elements hidden from the user.

Use these instructions:

Method 2: Explorer

You can also make certain settings in the folders themselves, but some important system elements will still be hidden. However, this method is the most convenient and requires only a couple of clicks to complete.

Instructions:

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in enabling the display of hidden system files and folders in the Windows operating system. However, when interfering with the operation of system components, do not forget to create a restore point so that you can roll back all changes.

The eighth version of the operating system from Microsoft tried to incorporate the advantages of both mobile and computer operating systems. On the one hand, it introduced the Modern interface, which is unique to Windows Phone, and on the other hand, functions from Windows 7 and the ribbon method of forming menus in classic programs that appeared there also received further development.

However, precisely because of this mixture of two different “worlds” - mobile and classic - for many users, using Windows 8 has become a real challenge. Firstly, access to the classic Control Panel, which previously could be opened with the button of the same name in the Start menu, has become more difficult. Secondly, to change computer settings there is now a new system partition, in which, however, not all OS parameters are available.

One of the common problems faced by users was the change in the setting that allowed them to show hidden folders in Windows 8. In fact, the setting itself has not gone away and is still available both in Explorer itself and in the Control Panel, only the method of opening has changed specified sections with settings.

Quick navigation through the article

Control Panel

To open the Control Panel in Windows 8 and go to the folder appearance settings, you will need:

Call up the side menu with system buttons by moving the mouse up from the bottom right edge of the screen.
Select "Options".
Click on the “Control Panel” button.
Switch to Large Icons view mode using the drop-down list at the top of the window.
Find “Folder Options” (or “File Explorer Options”, depending on the OS version and the installed version of the language pack) in the list of applications.
Go to the “View” tab.
Scroll down the list of options and set the switch to the “Show hidden files” option.
Save the changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

It is important to know that you can open the Control Panel in other ways. For example, if you click on the Win + X buttons, the context menu of the Start button will appear. Also, if you go to the home screen and use the search function, you can easily go to any section of the system settings by simply entering its name.

Conductor

Quick access to setting the display of hidden elements is also implemented in the Explorer itself. To disable hiding files directly from the folder you are viewing, you need to click on the View tab in Explorer. Next, you need to use the “Show or Hide” drop-down menu. Among the available items from the list, you need to check the box next to “Hidden elements”. Enabling this item will refresh the page you are viewing and display previously hidden files and directories, if any.

It is important to remember that if any add-on is installed for Windows Explorer that disables the ribbon menu, then this setting will only be available from the Control Panel. The only solution to the problem to gain quick access to the settings is to remove all third-party utilities that are used, which may be OldNewExplorer or ClassicShell.

Sometimes users need privacy. This is especially true for those people whose computer is publicly accessible. You can use different methods to make some of your folders private.

We'll look at the main ones in our article, which is dedicated to how to hide a folder in Windows 8.

Standard method

This method is the simplest and most relevant for Windows 7, as well as Windows XP and Windows 8.

Instructions

To hide a folder, all you need to do is go to Control Panel and open Folder Options.
Select the "View" tab and in the list of additional options, find "Hidden files and folders."
Next, check the box next to "Do not show hidden files" and apply the changes.
Now you need to assign a hidden folder. To do this, right-click the desired folder and go to the "Properties" menu.
Go to the "General" tab and check the box next to "Hidden".
Next, go to the "Other" tab and uncheck the box next to "Allow file contents to be indexed."

Using free hide folder

The free hide folder program allows you to hide any folder from prying eyes.

Download and install the program, after which you can enter the program and, by clicking the button, specify the path to your folder. The program will automatically make it hidden. Thanks to the password, no one can get to your hidden folder except you.

A hidden folder is a regular directory that has the Hidden attribute set. This feature hides specific directories from the Windows interface, which is especially useful in cases where some of them need to be hidden for a period of time when they will not be used. In other words, this mechanism allows you to significantly simplify the work with file content on your PC. However, in some cases, “disguised” directories can create a lot of trouble, especially if you don’t know how to work with them. Therefore, we will devote this article to an analysis of how to open hidden folders in Windows 8.

How to show hidden folders in Windows 8?

Working with invisible objects in Windows 8 is essentially no different from similar processes in previous versions of Windows. You can show hidden folders in Windows 8 in one of two ways: by directly entering the name of each of them or by turning on the display of all folders. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Hidden files and folders in Windows 8. How to open: Video

Simply entering the name of an invisible object

If you know where the “masked” directory or file is located, and you know exactly its full name, then to see it, there is, frankly speaking, no need to enable the display of invisible files. All you need to do is just find the directory in which the desired object is located and enter its name in the address bar.

After entering the name of the searched element and pressing the enter button, a window with its file contents will open in front of the user. Agree, this is a fairly simple, convenient and fast way to work with “hidden” components.

However, you will not be able to open hidden folders in Windows 8 if their exact names are not known. In this case, you only need to enable display of the entire contents of the disk drives. Let's consider what actions need to be performed in more detail.

And so, to make all the file contents of the computer visible, you need to:

It should be noted that this attribute window can be accessed in other ways. For example, “Control Panel” - “Appearances and Personalization” - “Folder Options”. Windows 8 users can also use the search box. To do this, you need to enter the appropriate query in the search field on the start screen, after which the OS will prompt you to go to the appropriate window.

You can display invisible elements here by going to the “View” tab in the window that opens, where in the corresponding section, enable the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” function. If you need to display system files, you need to uncheck the “Hide protected system files” option.

How to open hidden folders and files on Windows 8: Video

There may be a need to open hidden files and folders of the operating system, mainly to edit some important system documents.

To do this, you need to know how to make hidden folders visible.

The fact is that in all modern versions of Windows OS, the default settings assume the so-called “fool protection”.

This means that an inexperienced user simply does not see most of the important system partitions and cannot make potentially dangerous changes to them.

But on the other hand, some subtle settings of the operating system may require editing these hidden files.

This article will provide a detailed guide to implement this procedure on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, which currently occupy the lion's share of operating systems in use in the commercial and private sector.

Secrets of the Windows 7 system partition

This version of the operating system from Microsoft has taken the palm of popularity from the legendary XP, support for which ended several years ago.

This success is primarily dictated by the user-friendly interface, in which it is easy to find the necessary settings.

This also applies to the option to show hidden folders and files, which is most easily activated through the taskbar.

First, you need to get to the taskbar in the standard way: open Start and select “Control Panel”.

Then click on the link “Design and personalization”.

Advice! For convenience, you need to select a display method by category.

In the variety that opens, we need the “Folder Options” category, or, more precisely, its “Show hidden files and folders” option, which speaks for itself.

In the window that opens called “Folder Options,” expand the “View” tab and at the very bottom of the list of additional options we see the function of showing/hiding special files. All that remains is to set the checkbox to the desired position.

You can get to the “Folder Options” window in Windows 7 in a simpler way: to do this, just open any directory and select “Folder and Search Options” from the “Arrange” drop-down menu.

Advice! If you decide to use this method, by default only hidden files in the current directory will be displayed. To apply this rule to all drives, you must activate the “Apply to folders” option.

Having dealt with the classics, you can move on to more modern systems.

We delve into the intricacies of Windows 8

This version of the operating system is significantly different from Windows 7, which at one time caused many complaints from users.

The changes also affected hidden directories: in Windows 8, there are two types of files and folders that are not visible to the user.

The first is the actual hidden sections. Not only system files and folders have this status, but also components of various third-party applications.

Moreover, the user himself can assign this type to any object on the disk.

However, this opportunity is often used by malware, which, for example, results in problems with files on a flash drive.

For these two types, the algorithm of actions will be different.

To open regular hidden files and folders, you need to do the following:

First, you should open “Explorer”, for which you can use the standard shortcut in the “Taskbar”.

In the folder that opens, in the top settings panel, click on the “View” menu and select the “Show and Hide” function. In the list that opens, you must activate the “Hidden elements” checkbox.
In the same way, you can assign hidden status to any selected file or folder.

In order to see particularly important system files, you need to make the following settings:

In the same “View” menu, go to “Options” - “Change folder and search options.”

As a result, the “Folder Options” settings window will appear, similar to that in Windows 7. Here you should go to the “View” tab and uncheck the “Hide” protected system files checkbox (recommended).

There is another way to get to this window:

In Start, which in eight has an unusual Metro interface, click on the gear icon (Computer Settings).

In the menu that opens, you need to click on the lowest link to open the Control Panel, which is familiar to most users.

In the “Taskbar”, first select the function display method Large (or small) icons, and then click on the “Folder Options” link, which will ultimately give access to the settings window of the same name.

It is also worth considering separately the algorithm for enabling the display of hidden and system elements for Windows 10, since, despite its similarity to the eight, the settings of this OS have their own nuances.

Hidden files and folders in Windows 10

In the top ten, there is the same division of hidden files into regular system ones, therefore the methods for enabling their display are similar to those discussed in the previous section.

To see files and folders with the hidden attribute in the top ten, including on a flash drive or any other external storage device, do the following:

Open “Start” and launch “Explorer”.

The appearance of “Explorer” in the top ten is practically no different from Windows 8. Therefore, it operates according to the already known algorithm: View - Show and Hide - set the “Hidden Elements” checkbox to the active position.

In order to see system files and folders, we need to get to the “Explorer Options” function (analogous to the Folder Options option).

The fastest way to do this is through the search, the icon of which can be found on the “Taskbar”.

Advice! You can also use a keyboard shortcut to access the search. Win+Q.

By clicking on the search result, we will be taken to the functions window, which we have already encountered several times in this article. Here we are interested in the option “Hide protected system files (recommended), which is located on the View tab.

In conclusion, it is worth saying once again that editing hidden files, especially system files, can cause serious harm to the computer’s software shell.

Therefore, such changes should be treated as responsibly as possible.

Thematic video:

How to open hidden files and folders in Windows 7/8/10 Free lesson

In this video I show how you can easily open hidden files and folders on Windows 7/8/10 operating systems.