Hidden Files Won't Unhide

[Guest]

I've looked high and low for the answer to this question but if I place a
file in a folder, hide that file, change the folder options to not show
hidden files the file is hidden. When I go back to set the folder options to
show hidden files and unhide the files they never reappear, if you do a
search for the hidden files in the folder, the files are there in the folder.
Oddly something I never noticed is when you go to tools>folder options>view,
both do not show and show hidden files radio buttons are checked, unchecking
them to show the hidden files has no effect. I've tried restoring the system
defaults for folder options, I've tried also unhiding system files, I've
tried a couple of the regedit suggestions I found in the forums for the
folder options showall registry settings, I tried running the registry edit
tweak on line 129 of Kelleys-Korner-xp.com that did not work, and lastly I
did a system restore back about 10 days on my system that did not work. I
thought maybe this was the ravmon virus, tried the fix utility for that and
it does not work. IWhen making all these changes I am logged in as
administrator. I'm baffled and beaten on this one, any suggestions? My last
two options are...don't hide files anymore or wip the machine and reload
windws. Thanks for taking the time to look and offer suggestions.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've looked high and low for the answer to this question but if I place a
file in a folder, hide that file, change the folder options to not show
hidden files the file is hidden. When I go back to set the folder options
to
show hidden files and unhide the files they never reappear, if you do a
search for the hidden files in the folder, the files are there in the
folder.
Oddly something I never noticed is when you go to tools>folder
options>view,
both do not show and show hidden files radio buttons are checked,
unchecking
them to show the hidden files has no effect. I've tried restoring the
system
defaults for folder options, I've tried also unhiding system files, I've
tried a couple of the regedit suggestions I found in the forums for the
folder options showall registry settings, I tried running the registry
edit
tweak on line 129 of Kelleys-Korner-xp.com that did not work, and lastly I
did a system restore back about 10 days on my system that did not work. I
thought maybe this was the ravmon virus, tried the fix utility for that
and
it does not work. IWhen making all these changes I am logged in as
administrator. I'm baffled and beaten on this one, any suggestions? My
last
two options are...don't hide files anymore or wip the machine and reload
windws. Thanks for taking the time to look and offer suggestions.

I don't know why you can't see the hidden files but you can
most likely make them visible again by hitting them hard with
this command:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
attrib -s -h -r "c:\documents and settings\Gman\my documents\some
folder\*.*"

 

[Elmo]

I've looked high and low for the answer to this question but if I place a
file in a folder, hide that file, change the folder options to not show
hidden files the file is hidden. When I go back to set the folder options to
show hidden files and unhide the files they never reappear, if you do a
search for the hidden files in the folder, the files are there in the folder.
Oddly something I never noticed is when you go to tools>folder options>view,
both do not show and show hidden files radio buttons are checked, unchecking
them to show the hidden files has no effect. I've tried restoring the system
defaults for folder options, I've tried also unhiding system files, I've
tried a couple of the regedit suggestions I found in the forums for the
folder options show all registry settings, I tried running the registry edit
tweak on line 129 of Kelleys-Korner-xp.com that did not work, and lastly I
did a system restore back about 10 days on my system that did not work. I
thought maybe this was the ravmon virus, tried the fix utility for that and
it does not work. When making all these changes I am logged in as
administrator. I'm baffled and beaten on this one, any suggestions? My last
two options are...don't hide files anymore or wip the machine and reload
Windows. Thanks for taking the time to look and offer suggestions.

Having never fooled with this option, this is just a suggestion off the
top of my (bald) head: Since the files show up when you do a search,
right-click them in that window, click Properties, and remove the Hidden
attribute.

 

[Guest]

Open Regedit.exe and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\NOHIDDEN.
There should be two registry entries there:

- CheckedValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2
- DefaultValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2

(Correct them if necessary.)

Now open the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL.

- CheckedValue : Type: DWORD Value: 1
- DefaultValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2

(Correct them if necessary.)

If the problem persists, open Start, Run, type "regsvr32 /i shell32.dll" and
click OK.

 

[Guest]

Hmmm....I tried all the above sugesstions and still no luck, I did do a
search for the hidden files and when I found them in the search panel I unhid
them and they showed up again. Other than that if make a file hidden it
still won't come back after you unhide it unless you do so through a file
search by name or type for the hidden file.

 

[Tony]

Hmmm....I tried all the above sugesstions and still no luck, I did do a
search for the hidden files and when I found them in the search panel I unhid
them and they showed up again. Other than that if make a file hidden it
still won't come back after you unhide it unless you do so through a file
search by name or type for the hidden file.

Gman - were you able to find an answer to this issue? I'm having the same
trouble. Using the search feature is helpful, but when you don't know the
name(s) of the hidden file(s) you're dead in the water. Sometimes I like to
do a thorough system cleaning and don't know the names of the hidden files.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Gman - were you able to find an answer to this issue? I'm having the same
trouble. Using the search feature is helpful, but when you don't know the
name(s) of the hidden file(s) you're dead in the water. Sometimes I like
to
do a thorough system cleaning and don't know the names of the hidden
files.

- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
dir c:\ /s /ah > c:\Hidden.txt {Enter}
notepad c:\Hidden.txt {Enter}

You will see a list of all hidden files and folders.

 

[Tony]

Thanks - that is a good workaround. I still don't know why hidden
files/folders can't be unhidden on my system, but this is an effective way to
know what is hiding in there.

-Tony

 

[Tony]

I just discovered a freeware file manager that does show all files, hidden or
otherwise and reminds me of the windows 3.1 file manager, with more
capabilities. Seems the best workaround so far. Thanks for the input on my
issue.

 

[Joe Mike]

Dude you saved my life!!

Open Regedit.exe and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\NOHIDDEN.
There should be two registry entries there:

- CheckedValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2
- DefaultValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2

(Correct them if necessary.)

Now open the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL.

- CheckedValue : Type: DWORD Value: 1
- DefaultValue : Type: DWORD Value: 2

(Correct them if necessary.)

If the problem persists, open Start, Run, type "regsvr32 /i shell32.dll" and
click OK.