This article shows you how to display hidden folders in Windows 10. Program settings, user profiles and temporary files are usually stored in hidden folders because you hardly need them in your normal workday. Making these hidden folders visible is really no trick.
In diesem Artikel:
Benötigte Zeit: 3 Minuten.
In Windows 10, there are folders that contain system-relevant data, configuration files or device drivers. These folders are hidden by default and work in the background to keep the operating system running smoothly. To view hidden folders in Windows 10, the following steps are necessary:
- Open the Windows Explorer and select “View”
First of all, open the Windows Explorer. In the window that opens, you will find a bar at the top. Besides “Start” and “Share” you will also find the item “View”. Click on this.
- First select “View” and then “Options”.
Then select “Options” in the line below on the far right.
- In the folder options you then switch to the “View” item.
In the newly opened “Folder Options” window you also have three tabs. In addition to “General” and “Search”, there is also the item “View” in the middle. Select this item.
- Scroll in the menu until you find “hidden files and folders”.
At the bottom of the “Advanced settings” section you will find a list. Scroll down until you reach the “Hidden files and folders” block.
- Then select the option “Show hidden files, folders and drives”. Confirm with “OK”.
Click on the bottom item of the two options (“Show hidden files, folders and drives”) under “Hidden files and folders” and confirm with “OK” afterwards.
Another way is through the command prompt. This works like this:
- Click on “Start” and enter the command “cmd” in the search bar. This will open the command prompt.
- Check on which drive the hidden folders are stored. An example would be the C: drive.
- To display the hidden folders, type the following command: [attrib -s-h-r/s/c**]. “C” here stands for the C: drive.
To show hidden folders in Windows 10, you can also easily use a keyboard shortcut. Proceed as follows:
- Open the Windows Explorer with the key combination [Windows] + [E] to open the Windows Explorer.
- Select the “View” tab at the top. There you will find the category “Show/Hide”.
- Activate the option “Hidden items”. This will make hidden folders and files slightly transparent.
If you are not able to show hidden folders in Windows 10 with the ways described above, then there are several ways you can fix the problem. We’ll take you through them once.
Change the registry key
First of all, you can change a so-called registry key to show hidden files and folders. This looks complicated, but it is not, if you simply follow the steps:
- Press the key combination [Windows] + [R].
- Then type “regedit” and confirm with the Enter key.
- Navigate in the left tree structure to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced > Folder > Hidden > SHOWALL.
- Find “CheckedValue” on the right side and make sure that the value is “1” for data. If not, click on “CheckedValue” and set the value to “1”.
- Restart your computer.
Now your hidden files and folders should be visible again.
Uninstall your anti-virus software
Sometimes the error message Show Windows 10 hidden files does not work is due to anti-virus software. For example, Bitdefender 2016 software is known to cause this problem
If you have this software installed, disable it temporarily and see if this solves the problem. If the problem is solved, you can also opt for an anti-virus software:
ANZEIGE – Preise inkl. MwSt., zzgl. Versandkosten / Letzte Aktualisierung am 2022-06-26 at 08:51 / Affiliate Links / Bilder von der Amazon Product Advertising API
Run the System File Checker and the DISM tool
If the previously mentioned solutions do not work, there may have been system file corruption on the system. But don’t worry, we’ll fix that
Here it can be helpful to run the System File Checker and the DISM tool to check and correct these corruptions.
Our conclusion
Showing hidden folders in Windows 10 can be done in a few simple steps. The fastest way is to use the keyboard shortcut. But even if the hidden data cannot be displayed, there are various solutions. Please use our comments section if you have any questions about this topic.
