{"id":530648,"date":"2022-12-23T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/"},"modified":"2024-10-11T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T06:40:50","slug":"how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#How to Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24696f13aa1\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24696f13aa1\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/#How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_10\" >How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 10<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/#How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_11\" >How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 11<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/#How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_7\" >How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 7<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/#How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_in_the_Command_Prompt\" >How to Show Hidden Files in the Command Prompt<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-2\/#How_to_Show_Protected_System_Files_on_Windows\" >How to Show Protected System Files on Windows<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows hides many files and folders by default, preventing users from deleting or modifying files they shouldn&#8217;t touch. But you can make Windows show these hidden files by changing a single setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are actually two different types of hidden files on Windows: the regular hidden files that don&#8217;t show up by default, and the\u00a0&#8220;super hidden&#8221; system files\u00a0that are hidden using the system attribute instead. We&#8217;ll show you the difference, but it&#8217;s worth pointing out that regular hidden files are <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly not shown because they are annoying &#8212; things like the\u00a0desktop.ini or thumbs.db files\u00a0that would be visual clutter if you had to see them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">System files, on the other hand, are hidden because you really shouldn&#8217;t be deleting them, which is why they won&#8217;t show up even if you enable showing hidden files. To see them, you&#8217;ll need to flip another option, which we explain below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-show-hidden-files-on-windows-10\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_10\"><\/span>How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 10<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To show hidden files on Windows 10, click the &#8220;View&#8221; tab on File Explorer&#8217;s ribbon and click the &#8220;Hidden items&#8221; checkbox in the Show\/hide section. File Explorer will im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely show hidden files (the .GamingRoot file, for example) and will remember this setting until you change it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9e54560731.png\" alt=\"Open File Explorer, click the &quot;View&quot; tab, and tick &quot;Hidden Items.&quot;\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s easy to\u00a0make any file hidden, too. Just right-click it, select &#8220;Properties&#8221;, and toggle the &#8220;Hidden&#8221; attribute on or off. On the ribbon on Windows 8 and 10, click the &#8220;Hide selected items&#8221; button\u00a0to quickly make files and folders hidden or visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-show-hidden-files-on-windows-11\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_11\"><\/span>How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 11<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can\u00a0show hidden files on Windows 11\u00a0by simply clicking the View button on the toolbar and selecting Show -> Hidden items from the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-2022-12-22-at-2.06.44-PM.png\" alt=\"show hidden files on windows 11\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-show-hidden-files-on-windows-7\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_on_Windows_7\"><\/span>How to Show Hidden Files on Windows 7<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To show hidden files on Windows 7, you&#8217;ll need to open the Folder Options window under the Organize button, and then click the option under the View tab to show hidden files and folders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Step 1: Click the &#8220;Organize&#8221; button on Windows Explorer&#8217;s toolbar and select &#8220;Folder and search options&#8221; to open it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9e5ddf1c5d.png\" alt=\"Opening Folder and search options in Windows 10\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Step 2: Click the &#8220;View&#8221; tab at the top of the Folder Options window. Select &#8220;Show hidden files, folders, and drives&#8221; under Hidden files and folders. Click &#8220;OK&#8221; to save the new setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9eab98a1ff.png\" alt=\"Open the View tab, then scroll until you find the &quot;Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives&quot; and enable it. \"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This options window is also accessible on Windows 10&#8212;just click the &#8220;Options&#8221; button on the View toolbar in File Explorer. But it&#8217;s quicker to easily toggle hidden items on or off using the ribbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This window is&nbsp;also accessible via the Control Panel on most versions of Windows prior to 11. Head to Control Panel &gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>earance and Personalization &gt; Folder Options. On Windows 10, it&#8217;s named&nbsp;&#8220;File Explorer Options&#8221; instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-show-hidden-files-in-the-command-prompt\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Show_Hidden_Files_in_the_Command_Prompt\"><\/span>How to Show Hidden Files in the Command Prompt<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re using the\u00a0Command Prompt, it&#8217;s extremely easy to show hidden files: just use the<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>dir \/a<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">command to show hidden files. The<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>\/a<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">argument shows all hidden files, or you can use<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>\/a:h<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">or<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>\/a:s<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">to show either hidden or protected operating system files specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screenshot-2022-12-22-at-2.06.44-PM.png\" alt=\"show hidden files on windows 11\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can see in this example that when the extra argument is added, the desktop.ini file suddenly shows up in the list of files, compared to the output of the command without it above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-show-protected-system-files-on-windows\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Show_Protected_System_Files_on_Windows\"><\/span>How to Show Protected System Files on Windows<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows has two different types of hidden files: Normal hidden items, and protected operating system files that some people refer to as &#8220;super hidden&#8221; files. When you show hidden files and folders, Windows will continue to hide protected operating system files. These are\u00a0hidden files with the &#8220;system&#8221; attribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These files are &#8220;protected&#8221; for a reason. They&#8217;re important system files and deleting or modifying them could damage your operating system, potentially even making Windows\u00a0unbootable. But, if you know what you&#8217;re doing and you need to view these protected operating system files, there&#8217;s a setting you can change. We don&#8217;t recommend doing this unless you know you need to access one of these files or folders for some reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, open the Folder Options window, which is different on each version of Windows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On Windows 10, click the &#8220;Options&#8221; button on the View toolbar.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On Windows 11, click the &#8220;See more&#8221; button on the toolbar, and select Options.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On Windows 7, click Organize and then &#8220;Folder and search options&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9e9a6586fb.png\" alt=\"Open File Explorer, then click Options. \"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Click the &#8220;View&#8221; tab. Uncheck the &#8220;Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)&#8221; box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9e9fd5385a.png\" alt=\"Scroll through the list and untick &quot;Hide Ppotected Operating System Files.&quot; \"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows will warn you that deleting or editing protected operating system files could break your operating system. If you know what you&#8217;re doing, click &#8220;Yes&#8221; to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Click &#8220;OK&#8221; to save your settings. Windows will show you protected operating system files as well as normal hidden files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9ea477c04a.png\" alt=\"Click &quot;Yes&quot; to confirm the settings change. \"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Return to the Folder Options window and re-enable the &#8220;Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)&#8221; checkbox if you ever want to hide these files once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related article :\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.achievable.me\/uncategorized\/show-hidden-files-windows-7-8-10\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to show hidden files and folders in Windows 7, 8, or 10<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span> too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/446\/show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windows hides many files and folders by default, preventing users from deleting or modifying files they shouldn&#8217;t touch. But you can make Windows show these hidden files by changing a single setting. There are actually two different types of hidden files on Windows: the regular hidden files that don&#8217;t show up by default, and the\u00a0&#8220;super&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":530649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/img_58b9e88bf3ae8.png?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1570,152284,72780],"class_list":["post-530648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-features","tag-files","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}