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How To Enable ‘Show Hidden Files And Folders Option’ When Disabled By a Virus

A few days back my “Show hidden files and folders” option was not working at all even if I selected the option Show hidden files and folders from the folder option window, the changes would just disappear upon closing the dialog. It was probably some virus attack after which the Windows registry was not being updated properly. So here is what I did to restore it back.

Method 1: Registry Editing

Click Start  > Run… (or press Windows key + R)

run

Type regedit and click Ok.

regedit

 

Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL

showall

Look at the CheckedValue key. This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1.

showall

Now open My Computer, on the toolbar go to Tools > Folder Option and click on the View tab.

The Show hidden files & folders check box should now work normally.

show

 

Method 2: Application

If you don’t want to apply the above method, download Smart Virus Remover from here. Using this Virus Remover you can restore your Windows settings, your “Show hidden files and folders” will be set to default.

 sa 

Do let us know in the comments if these methods helped you or not ?

41 Comments

  1. Tanks a lot
    ” If it isn’t, delete the key. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1″

    the right thing is not create an new key but create a new “DWORD (32 Bit )valu “

    Reply

  5. sir, i have done all your instructions and yet when my pc reboots, the problem still persists. any programs installed or any changes made were not saved at all when i restart my pc.

    Any help would be very much appreciated… thanks a lot.

    Reply

  7. Hi
    Thanks

    But when I change the Checkedvalue Dword to “1” after a sec back to “0”
    And I don’t know how so solve this Problem

    Please Help ME

    Reply

  8. hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it works , i googled a lot from many days , finally i was able to make it , thanks a lot ,

    Reply

  18. A lot of thank you,for publish this useful way to enable hidden files and folders,when from windows directly can’t,most common type of viruses can do that is a Trojan type,his do that to cannot open system volume information[spread location] with some programs from DOS or not DOS app. or some location hidden,where can easely autoclone and spread from a partition to another like C,D… etc.Here is a registry key needed!

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden]
    “Text”=”@shell32.dll,-30499”
    “Type”=”group”
    “Bitmap”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\
    00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,53,00,\
    48,00,45,00,4c,00,4c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,34,00,00,\
    00
    “HelpID”=”shell.hlp#51131”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\NOHIDDEN]
    “RegPath”=”Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced”
    “Text”=”@shell32.dll,-30501”
    “Type”=”radio”
    “CheckedValue”=dword:00000002
    “ValueName”=”Hidden”
    “DefaultValue”=dword:00000002
    “HKeyRoot”=dword:80000001
    “HelpID”=”shell.hlp#51104”

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL]
    “RegPath”=”Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced”
    “Text”=”@shell32.dll,-30500”
    “Type”=”radio”
    “CheckedValue”=dword:00000001
    “ValueName”=”Hidden”
    “DefaultValue”=dword:00000002
    “HKeyRoot”=dword:80000001
    “HelpID”=”shell.hlp#51105”

    Reply

    • Neither of these Options is work in my PC what should I do PLEASE help me .These files are very Important to me and I can’t even remmember there names

  30. hey…

    great post, but…

    still not working for me..

    the checkedvalue going back to 0 when i closed registry editor..

    for info my pc was attacked by sality.y.aa but when i scan with kaspersky it found nothing..

    can you solve my problem?..

    thx..

    Reply

  31. Whew! It’s been 2 weeks since I’d had this problem about my Folder Options and it took me a while to search online. And finally, I stumbled upon this webpage, and wham!… problem solved. Thank you sooo much for posting this tip!

    Mike. Philippines

    Reply

  33. Hi, I really feel happy to find this tips on this website 🙂 No need to worry anymore with that stupid worm. Thanks a million.

    Reply

  34. Thanks for all your comments. And yea we made this site to save everyone’s life 😛

    You can check more similar tips and tricks on this site. If you are having any problem and can’t find the solution to the problem on this site, feel free to Contact me and we will do our best to solve it for you. 🙂

    Reply

  35. Guys seriously , you guys r life savers …i was just about to reinstall my windows all over again when i found this site . U guys r amazing .Thanks loads .

    Reply

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