Hidden Files and Folders

How to Hide or Show Hidden Files and Folders in Vista​

information   Information
A hidden file or folder is just like any other file or folder except that it is hidden from normal view. When you have them set to show, they show as transparent to indicate that they are a hidden file or folder. Protected System files are also hidden to help prevent you from accidentally altering them. These are set to be hidden by default in Vista.
warning   Warning
It is best to not touch the system files unless you know what you are doing. Doing so can result in having to reinstall Vista.

EXAMPLE: A Hidden and Normal Folder
Example.jpg​
​




OPTION ONE
How to Hide or Unhide a File and Folder in Vista

1. Right click on the file or folder and click on Properties.​
​
2. Click the General tab. (See screenshot below)​
​
3. To Hide the File or Folder​
A) Check the Hidden box. (See left screenshot below step 5)​
​
B) Go to step 5.​
​

4. To Unhide the File or Folder​
A) Uncheck the Hidden box. (See left screenshot below step 5)​
NOTE: Since the file or folder is hidden, you will need to do step 2 in OPTION TWO below to see it. The Protected operating system files and folders Hidden box is grayed out and cannot be unchecked. (See right screenshot below step 5)​
​

5. Click on OK to apply and close properties.​
NOTE: If the changes will not apply, then make sure it is temporarily not set as read-only.​
Properties.jpgProtected_OS_File.jpg​
​







OPTION TWO
Show or Hide All Hidden Files and Folders in Vista

NOTE: If the Show and Hide options are not in Folder Options, then see: How to Add or Remove the Hidden Files and Folders Option in Vista
1. Open Folder Options.​
​
2. To Show Only the Hidden System Files and Folders​
NOTE: These are system files and folders, and any file or folder that you hidden manually.​
A) Select (dot) Show hidden files and folders. (See screenshot below step 6)​
​
B) Go to step 6.​
​

3. To Hide All Hidden System Files and Folders​
NOTE: These are the system files and folders, and any file or folder that you hidden manually.​
A) Select (dot) Do not show hidden files and folders. (See screenshot below step 6)​
​
B) Go to step 6.​
​

4. To Show the Protected Operating System Files​
WARNING: These should not be altered unless you know what you are doing. Doing so can result in having to do a reinstall of Vista.​
A) Do step 2.​
​
B) Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) box. (See screenshot below step 6)​
​
C) Click on Yes for the confirmation prompt. (See screenshot below)​
Confirmation.jpg​
​


5. To Hide Only the Protected Operating System Files​
NOTE: For example, these include the desktop.ini files.​
A) Check the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) box. (See screenshot below step 6)​
​

6. Click on OK to apply and close Folder Options window.​
Folder_Options.jpg​
​

That's it,
Shawn




Related Tutorials

 

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Shaazhussain,

Try running a sfc /scannow command to see if it can find and fix the problem. This will show you how.

How to Repair and Verify the Integrity of Vista System Files with System File Checker


If that does not help, then you can do a Repair install if you have a Vista Express or Retail installation DVD. This will allow you to repair your Vista installation without losing your files, settings, and programs. You can see how to do one here.

How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista

Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Yes, the Repair install will.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Well Shaaz,

You can see if a simple restart will clear the error, then do the sfc /scannow if not. You can also do a System Restore. Just select a restore point dated right before the problem occured. However, it will also undo everything you did after the date of the selected restore point.

How to Do a System Restore in Vista

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Yeah I got the same problem with documents. Did all of the above, I googled the hell out of it, but to no avail. The stupid folder continues to be yellow.
 

My Computer

System One

Hello Merrick,

You would want to see this tutorial instead. :geek:

Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
I had a Virus on my computer and it moved some of my files to the protected operating system files. Does anybody know how to get them out of there because right now they are all perminately hidden and I cant view unless if I request to show those files which is not recommended.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba / Satelite A300-A305
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5800 @ 2.00GHz 2.00GHz
    Memory
    3.00 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Hello Marlon, and welcome to Vista Forums.

First, I would recommend to scan your system at boot with Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper just to help make sure that you system is clean.

Next, you could use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to unhide the files. Be sure to not use this on any of the default Vista system files. Doing so may leave Vista all messed up. I would recommend that you create a restore point first to be safe incase you need to do a system restore to at boot to undo a mistake.

File and Folder - Hide or Unhide - Windows 7 Forums


If it's just a hidden system file, then you could use this command from the tutorial to unhide it.

ATTRIB -H "Full Path of File with extension"
​
If it's a hidden protected operating system file, then you could use this command with the -s added to unhide it.

ATTRIB -H -S "Full Path of File with extension"
​
Hope this helps,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2, 4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2, 8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system, Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn, APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI, Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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