Windows 10 showing hidden files. You may need to hide a directory to
Exists tricky way create a folder in Windows that will not be visible even if you turn on display hidden files and folders. If you need to hide some documents from other users of your computer, read how to do it invisible folder on Windows.
Universal method: how to make an invisible folder in Windows 7, 8 and 10
This method works on all popular Windows versions, including Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. The resulting folder will be almost completely unfindable. To learn how to make an invisible folder, read the instructions below.
1. Create on the Windows desktop (necessarily on the desktop!) new folder. No matter how: click right click mouse on the desktop and select New > Folder or click Ctrl + Shift + N. Place your files in it. You can also move any existing folder to your desktop.
Create a folder on the Windows desktop
2. Now you need to hide the folder icon. To do this, right-click on it and select WITHProperties > Settings > Change icon.
The folder icon on the desktop will become completely transparent.
3. Then you need to rename the folder so that it becomes nameless. To do this, right-click on it and select Rename. Erase the folder name completely. Then use one of two methods:
The result will be an invisible folder with an empty name.
This universal instructions explains how to make an invisible folder on the Windows desktop, the location of which will be known only to you:
- Unlike regular hidden files and folders, the resulting folder will not be visible even if you enable the option Show hidden files, folders and drives in Windows folder settings.
- The resulting folder will be practically unfindable by search: even if you try, the search will display a black square without any name.
- The only way to open the resulting folder is to select all the desktop icons by clicking Ctrl+A or selecting the entire screen with the mouse. Then the invisible folder will be surrounded by a square on which you can double-click and open it.
An invisible folder can only be found by selecting it on the desktop Of course, this little hack allows you to make an invisible folder in Windows, but you must agree: it’s not the most reliable way hide files. If you really want to hide something securely, it is better to encrypt the folder. For example, create an archive from a folder using 7-Zip or WinRar and set a password on it. Another way is to use one of the many programs to encrypt files and folders, such as
By default, important Windows 10 system directories are hidden and cannot be seen in Explorer. Such measures are taken specifically to protect operating system objects from random change or removal. When working on a computer, it can be useful for users themselves to hide certain folders from viewing.
Why are folders hidden?
It is advisable to make a directory invisible when:
- Directories are not used for a long time, and the information they contain is important;
- The user's work becomes difficult due to large quantity directories not used to solve the task;
- Need to hide confidential or personal information;
- It is necessary to exclude the possibility of deleting or changing system folders and files;
- Working at the computer outside users, for which the information in certain folders, is secret;
- Children have unlimited access to the computer and, through carelessness, can delete important documents.
There are several ways to arrange hidden folders in Windows 10.
How to hide a folder using Attributes
This method is the simplest. It is enough to perform a number of basic actions:
When the function for displaying hidden items is enabled on your computer, the labels of items that have hidden attributes set will be transparent, and the folders themselves in Explorer will be displayed in muted tones. To make folders completely invisible, you should activate additional settings.
Hiding objects using the Control Panel
For complete “secrecy” of the selected elements, we carry out additional settings:
Now the directory is completely invisible. To restore the visibility of the folder, use the control panel to activate the function of displaying hidden items. Using this method, you can hide and show protected system directories if necessary.
Making a directory invisible using the View position
You can hide directories using the View tab. A simple method with minimal time investment:
This method allows you to hide several objects at once. To do this, when a request appears to confirm changes to attributes, select the second item “To this folder and to all subfolders and files”, click OK.
Each user can choose any method he likes to hide important data on his computer. Using the techniques listed above, you can also perform the reverse procedure to return directories to “visible” status.
How fast open hidden folders in Windows 10?
Displaying hidden folders is not a difficult matter, but first I’ll tell you why and where hidden folders appear on the computer. So, the hidden folders are regular folders which have the hidden attribute. Hidden folders can be various reasons. Here are a few of them:
- System folders and operating system files.
- Folders hidden by user, to hide personal information.
- Folders hidden by virus or keylogger(in which user activity reports are saved)
Every user should be aware of the existence of all hidden folders on their computer. If you need to find all the hidden folders on your computer, read the article “”, in which we talked about special utility For quick search hidden objects in the operating room Windows system
In order to enable the display of hidden folders, you need to go to some folder and open the View drop-down menu
After that, select Settings from the drop-down menu
In the Folder Options window that appears, select the View tab.
On the View tab in the field Extra options you will see a list of settings. Uncheck the option Hide protected system files and check the box Show hidden files, folders and drives, as it is shown in the figure below.
After you have made the changes, hidden folder files will appear that you can open and view.
How to remove the Hidden attribute?
If you need to, you can remove the hidden attribute from a file or folder. Select required file and right-click on it. From the drop-down menu, select Properties.
In the window that appears, go to the General tab, in the Attributes field, uncheck the Hidden option and click OK
After all these, in my opinion, easy manipulations, the hidden folders and files will no longer be hidden and will be displayed even in cases where the display of hidden folders is disabled.
You can also open hidden folders using the console. We talked about how to do this in the article “”.
Whether you know it or not, Windows 10 comes with a built-in keylogger that records all keystrokes, audio from the microphone and a lot of other personal information of the user. If you want to disable Windows 10 telemetry, read the article "". It describes in detail how to do this.
Now you know how to open hidden folders in Windows 10 and how to remove the “Hidden” attribute. If you liked the article, click on your button social network and share with your friends. This is a small thing for you, but we are pleased. Thank you!
Hi all! Today we will look at Windows 10, what they are and what they are for, how to view and create them, this knowledge will greatly help you in eliminating problems such as treating your computer for a virus or Trojan, or changing some fine settings utilities installed on your computer. So, sit down and read, it will be interesting.
What are hidden files
Hidden files- these are files or folders in Windows that have the H - hidden attribute (hidden). By default, system files and some part of the user profile are hidden. If you want, you can make any folder or file hidden in Windows 10.
How to hide windows files
In order to hide windows files, you need to select any file or folder and right-click on it and select from context menu properties.
The same can be done from command line. Let's say I want to make the C:\RegFiles folder hidden. To do this, while in the command line, preferably open as administrator, go to the desired directory where the desired object is contained, I remind you that my folder is in the root of the C:\ drive
cd / - go to the root
attrib +h "Here we write the name of your folder"
As a result, we set the "Hidden" attribute on the folder
If you need to deliver hidden attribute for all folders and files in your folder, then you need to run the following command:
cd C:\RegFiles - Go to your folder
attrib +h /s /d - set attributes
To make the folder visible you need to run on the command line:
cd / - go to the root, since I have a folder here, you may have a different path
attrib -h "Your folder name"
Enter next command to remove the hidden attribute from all files and folders inside the folder, and click Enter :
cd C:\RegFiles - you may have a different path
Methods to show hidden folders in Windows 10
If you have set yourself the task of displaying hidden files, then there are a number of methods for this, which will be discussed below:
- Using Windows Explorer
- Using the Control Panel
- Via the Windows Registry
- Using PowerShell cmdlets
Enable display of hidden folders and files
To allow viewing hidden elements In Windows 10, open “This PC” and select “View”.
Open this computer
We see that the hidden elements checkbox is not checked, so we fix it.
You can immediately notice that new elements have appeared on drive C that were not there before.
Let's look at the properties of this folder
As you can see, there is a hidden attribute.
Windows 10 hides these by default system folders so that the one who wants to replace them and do something is a person who understands this matter, and if he enabled hidden folders, then he knows exactly what he is doing.
How to enable display of system files in Windows 10
Here, too, everything is very simple, press the Win+Q keys. As a result, the start menu search form will open.
In the search form, enter the explorer parameters
You can also open Explorer settings through , to do this, right-click on the start button
In the Control Panel, select File Explorer Options
In the form that opens, select the View tab. Please note that to display hidden elements you need to check the box Show hidden files, folders and drives, and for system files, uncheck the box Hide protected system files (recommended), after which they will appear, among them, for example, you will see the file swaps.
When you uncheck Hide protected system files (recommended), a warning will appear, click Yes.
You should end up looking like this
If you go to the desktop, you can immediately notice new system files.
worker windows table 10
Enable access to hidden folders in Windows 10 through the registry
If you are my regular subscriber and reader, then you have long known that all the settings that you see in your Windows 10 operating system are actually located in the Windows registry, this is its heart. It is logical to assume that you can change the key you need in it to get the required result. And so, open the editor Windows registry, I remind you to do this, press WIN + R and enter regedit.
In the Registry Editor, you can enable hidden folders, like for specific user, and for all users within this computer.
Enable for a specific user
To do this, go to:
Find here a key named "Hidden", which means hidden. Since by default in Windows 10, displaying hidden files and folders is prohibited, then given key"Hidden" will have the value 2.
Click on it and go to its properties, change the two to 1.
If you don't see hidden folders in Explorer, try pressing F5 to refresh the cache. Set ""ShowSuperHidden"" to "" 1 "" to show protected operating system files. Set to "" 2 "" to not show protected operating system files.
If hidden folders are not displayed
There may be a situation where you have checked the necessary checkbox to display hidden elements of Windows 10, but they do not appear, there is most likely a problem with the action of a virus. First, check your system for malware. When you are sure that they are not there, open the registry and follow the path:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL\
Make sure you have the "CheckedValue" registry key and it has a value of 1, do the same in the user branch along the path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Recently I needed to get a list of hidden files in a directory. PowerShell made it quite easy and quick to unlist a list by checking if the "File" attribute contains the string "Hidden":
This is how you can easily enable hidden folders in Windows 10. I hope you now understand the purpose of these things and you have one less question. Below is a video version of this article. If you have questions about this article, I expect them from you in the comments. Site material
Let's consider ways how to show hidden folders windows, of which there are only two. Both are not much different from how it was done in previous versions of the operating system. Are you curious about how the operating system works? Then go straight to the “Short instructions for experienced” section.
Why hide
Hiding folders was invented to protect against random or deliberate deleted by the user. There is a possibility of disrupting the operation of the computer even when changing the files inside.
When designing file system The developers took into account the ability to hide files and folders. To do this, use the "Hidden" attribute. When the folder display mode with this attribute is enabled, hidden directories will appear transparent.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the icon of a regular “Saved” directory is several times brighter than with the “Hidden” attribute.
You may need to hide a directory for:
Protect system files;
Hide personal information from other users;
A virus can hide your data and plant fakes instead.
The third option most often gives rise to desire show hidden folders in windows 10. After removing viruses, for example on a flash drive, helpful information remains invisible. Although it is clear from the space it takes up on the flash drive that it has been preserved. And although modern antiviruses are quite advanced, they still have not learned to distinguish user directories from system directories.
Short instructions for experienced
For experienced computer users, it will not be difficult to show hidden folders in Windows 10. It may seem very easy. But no one is immune from forgetfulness. Just slipped my mind, then you don't need to read the whole article. Next line will be clear without explanations and screenshots.
To do this, follow the following instructions:
Explorer → View → Options → View → Show hidden files, folders and drives
Continue to the next section if previous advice did not help.
Settings with the mouse
In all operating systems Microsoft, including Windows 10, default settings do not show hidden folders, files and drives. We have already figured out the reasons for this behavior.
Let's take a step-by-step look at how to show hidden folders in Windows 10:
Step #1
Launch the Explorer program. You can find it in the Start menu or on the taskbar.
Explorer in Windows 10 is an analogue of My Computer in previous version Windows systems. A window will open as in the picture
Step #2
Here you need to go to the View tab and click the Options button.
Step #3
Now we have reached the end of setting up folder parameters. Here again, select the View tab and scroll through the list of options, looking for the prominent item Show hidden files, folders and drives.
All you have to do is click OK and the selected Windows 10 will show such directories.
ATTENTION! To avoid problems, it is better not to leave the system configured in this way. One of the other users may disrupt the performance of Windows.
Remove or set the attribute to the desired directory. And immediately stop showing them. This way you will protect yourself from accidents. Or you can hide your data from prying eyes.
Setting an attribute via the command line
Setting or removing the hidden attribute via the command line is useful in several cases:
- Do you want to surprise your friends with a spectacular catalog disappearance?
- Automatically hide a directory using a script
Used to manage attributes standard program ATTRIB:
It has many parameters, but we need the Hidden and Path to file or directory keys.
An example of correctly hiding and showing the Secret directory, which is located on drive E:
Hide directory:
ATTRIB+H E:\Secret
Show (remove hidden attribute):
ATTRIB-H E:\Secret
If you save the first line in the file hide.cmd, and the second line in show.cmd. Then when you run the file, the directory will appear or hide accordingly!
You can create such a file using regular Notepad. A program that is available in all versions of Windows.
How to hide any folder in Windows 10
Do you want to make your catalog invisible to prying eyes? Or hide several files at once? It is not necessary to use the command line method to enable the stealth option. A file or directory will disappear if you go to its properties and check the Hidden box.
After the manipulations done, no one will know your secrets