How To?

5 Ways: Show Hidden or Unhide Files & Folders in Windows 11 PC!

How to Show Hidden or Unhide Files & Folders in Windows 11 PC?

When I connected my external SSD to transfer files from my PC, I noticed that the SSD was using up space, but when I opened it, there were no visible files. I tried ejecting the SSD and reconnecting it to my PC, but the SSD still showed space being consumed, even though I couldn’t see any files. I thought ejecting and reconnecting the SSD, similar to how we handle external USB drives, would fix the issue, but it didn’t. Later, I found that it wasn’t an issue with the SSD itself, some files were hidden, which was why space was being used. I found out that there are five methods available to show hidden or unhide files and folders on your Windows 11 PC.

Method 1: Unhide or Show Hidden Files & Folder using File Explorer:

  • Firstly, You need to open the File Explorer or navigate to the desired directory.
  • Click on the View tab in the top of the tool bar.
  • In the View tab, you need to click the Show option and choose the Hidden Items if the checkmark is not present as shown in the image below.
Show hidden files using view tab in file explorer
Show hidden files using view tab in file explorer

This is the simplest and quickest method to display all the hidden files & folders on your pc.

Method 2: View Hidden Files & Folder using Folder Options:

This method is also the simplest method, and it is also similar to the above one, follow the below steps.

  • Like the first method, You need to open the File Explorer or navigate to the desired directory.
  • Now you need to click on the (. . .) three dots (ellipsis) in the toolbar and choose the Options.
Choose the options from the (...) located in the tool bar
Choose the options from the (…) located in the toolbar
  • Now the Folder options window will be appear on your screen.
Folder Options Window
Folder Options Window
  • Click the View tab located near to the General tab to explore view folder options.
  • Select the radio button to enable the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option.
  • Click the Apply button and finally click the OK button to confirm the changes.
Enable Show Hidden Files Folders & Drives option
Enable Show Hidden Files Folders & Drives option
  • Now, the hidden files and folders will be appear on your file explorer.
Enabling this will show hidden files, folders & drivers.
Enabling this will show hidden files, folders & drivers.

Method 3: Changing Hidden File & Folder to Show from its Properties:

  • Once you find the hidden files, you can change their properties to permanently switch them from hidden to unhide.
  • To do this, you need to right click on the hidden file or folder.
  • Choose the properties from the list of options.
Choose Properties option
Choose Properties option
  • In the General tab, under Attributes, uncheck the Hidden checkbox option.
  • Click the Apply button to apply the changes and click the OK button to confirm the changes.
Uncheck Hidden Option
Uncheck Hidden Option

Method 4a: Unhide Files or Folders using Command Prompt:

  • Click the Start Menu and search for Command Prompt
  • You need to choose the “Run as Administrator” option to launch the command prompt in admin mode.
Open Command Prompt using Run as Administrator
Open Command Prompt using Run as Administrator
  • Now you need to go to the folder where the hidden file or folder is located using the cd command.
  • Then you need to execute the following command:
    • attrib -h -s <Filename.txt or "Folder Name">
  • Replace with your folder or filename. If you are using it for files, make sure to add the file’s extension along with the command.
  • For example:
    • For Files: attrib -h -s sample_file.txt
    • For Folders: attrib -h -s "splitting files"

Note: For directories, you may need to use double quotes (“”) around the name & You may need to add extensions for files.

Executing Command to unhide directory
Executing Command to unhide directory
  • Executing the above command will instantly remove the directory or file for the hidden status.
The Hidden files or folders will become unhide!
The Hidden files or folders will become unhide!

Method 4b: Unhide Bulk Files & Folders using Command Prompt:

  • To unhide multiple files in a directory using Command Prompt, navigate to the directory and use the following command:
    • attrib -h -s *.*
  • To unhide all folders in a directory, use this command:
    • attrib -h -s /d /s
CommandExplanation
*.*Applies the command to all files in the current directory.
-hRemoves the hidden attribute.
-sRemoves the system attribute, if present.
/sApplies the command to all subdirectories and files in the current directory.
/dApplies the command to folders as well as files.

Method 5: Change Hidden Files, Directories, Drives to Normal using PowerShell:

  • Click the Start Menu and search for PowerShell
  • You need to choose the “Run as Administrator” option to launch the powershell in admin mode.
Opening PowerShell as Admin Mode
Opening PowerShell as Admin Mode
  • Now you need to go to the folder where the hidden file or folder is located using the cd command.
  • Then you need to execute the following command for unhiding the folder or directory:
    • Get-Item -Force "My Folder" | % { $_.Attributes = 'Normal' }
  • Execute the following command for unhiding the file:
    • Get-Item -Force "document.txt" | % { $_.Attributes = 'Normal' }
  • Replace the folder name or document.txt with your needs.

Note: For directories, you may need to use double quotes (“”) around the name & You may need to add extensions for files.

Executing PowerShell command unhides the directory.
Executing PowerShell command unhides the directory.
  • The PowerShell command will instantly unhides the targeted directory or file.
The Final output
The Final output

Method 5b: Unhide Bulk Files & Folders using PowerShell:

  • To unhide all files in a directory using PowerShell, run the following command:
    • Get-ChildItem -File -Recurse | ForEach-Object { $_.Attributes = 'Normal' }
  • This will reset the attributes to ‘Normal‘, effectively unhiding the files.
  • To unhide all folders, you can use this command:
    • Get-ChildItem -Directory -Recurse | ForEach-Object { $_.Attributes = 'Normal' }
  • This will reset the folder attributes to ‘Normal’, unhiding the folders.
CommandExplanation
-FileTargets only files.
-RecurseApplies the command to all files in the current directory and subdirectories.
-DirectoryTargets folders only.
-RecurseApplies the command to all subdirectories.

Take Away:

If you’re struggling to locate files or folders on your external SSD that seem to be consuming space, it’s likely that these files are hidden. By using one of the five available methods to unhide files and folders on Windows 11, you can quickly identify and manage them. This guide will help you understand how to make hidden files visible. For more interesting articles, kindly visit WinSides.com

Read More:

Why You Can Trust Winsides.com?

We combine expert insights with user-friendly guidance. We thoroughly research and test everything to give you reliable and simple to understand tech guides. Please take a look at our publishing process to understand why you can trust Winsides.

Narendhiran Vijaykumar

I Am a Frontend Developer, and Business Creator With Over 8 Years of Experience in Php and Frontend Web Development. I Have Over 15 Years of Experience Using Windows Os, From Windows Xp to Windows 11, and Possess Sound Knowledge in Using and Solving Real-time Problems. I Am Getting Proficient in Ai-based Technologies and Have Developed 3 Successful Web Apps and Saas Platforms.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

Kindly disable the Adblocker