In the Windows operating system, the display of system files is disabled by default, since an inexperienced user can accidentally delete them. In addition, they will distract you from searching for the desired folder and clutter up your “Desktop”. In general, it’s better and more convenient when you don’t see them.

However, in some cases it becomes necessary to show hidden files Windows 7, so that you can, say, clean the “Temp” and “Prefetch” system folders, thereby slightly increasing the performance of the operating system.

You can enable the display of such files very easily by using one of the methods described in we'll talk Further. In fact, in each method, only the sequence of actions required to access the “Folder Options” will change.

Via the "Service" menu

So, you have Windows 7 installed. You can show hidden files and folders in this operating system as follows:

• Log into “My Computer” and press “Alt” on your keyboard. A panel will appear where you need to select “Service”. By clicking on this button, a drop-down menu will open in which you need to go to “Folder Options”.
• Now select the View tab and scroll down to the bottom of the list. Here you will need to uncheck the checkbox next to the “Hide system files” option and check the function responsible for showing hidden folders.
• By clicking “Apply”, a warning will appear that deleting such files may negatively affect the operation of the operating system. If you are confident in your actions, then click the “Yes” button.

That's all! Now you know how to show hidden files in Windows 7, so you can use this knowledge if necessary.

Via "Control Panel"

The second method differs in the algorithm of actions, since to open “Folder Options” you will need to enter the “Control Panel”.

So, open the Start menu and go to PU. If you have set the display by category, then select the “Design and Personalization” section. In the “Folder Options” subsection, click on “Show hidden files.”

Now, at the bottom, check the box that will allow you to see non-displayed folders, and uncheck the box next to the “Hide protected files” option. The last step is the “Apply” button, and then click “Yes” in the window that opens.

If, after opening the PU, you see that you have large or small icons displayed, then simply find the “Folder Options” element and go to it. The further algorithm of actions is absolutely identical to those discussed above.

Now you can show hidden and system files Windows 7 using the Control Panel.

Using the Run command

The third way to enable the display of such files is to use the Run command. To launch this tool, press the "Win" and "R" buttons.

Now in the window that opens you will need to insert the “control folders” command and click “OK”. This will open Folder Options, where by going to the View tab and following the steps above, you can show hidden Windows files 7.

To someone this method I like it the most, since all you have to do is remember one command or write it down. Although there is nothing complicated in the first two methods.

Conclusion

So, now you can show hidden files in Windows 7. If the need arises, you can turn on the display at any time system folders and adjust their content at your own discretion.

With all this, it is worth remembering that it is not recommended to make any changes to these files unless necessary, and especially without certain knowledge.

Are you aware that not all files and folders are shown in Windows 7 Explorer? Some of them are hidden. This was done primarily for security reasons, because the user administrative powers may accidentally or unknowingly delete, move, rename something...

However Windows protection 7 method of hiding files is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the user will not see them and will not be able to damage them, but on the other hand, it creates additional features camouflage malware.

So which is better? Make hidden files visible or leave them as is? Optimally, according to the author, this is:

• if you would not classify yourself as an experienced user, even if hidden files remain hidden, their visibility will still not mean anything to you;
• If you have a good understanding of the system structure and are able to “by eye” distinguish a malicious file from a legitimate one, turn on the display of hidden files.

How to show invisible files in Explorer?

For Windows users 7 the whole procedure is carried out as follows.

• Open Control Panel from the Start menu

or the “Run” program, to launch which you need to press “Windows” + “R” on the keyboard and enter the command in the “Open” field: control.

• Open Folder Options.

• Go to the “View” tab. Scroll all the way down the “Advanced options” list. Open “Hidden files and folders”, then check the box next to “Show hidden files, folders, drives”.
• Here, a little higher, there is another parameter responsible for displaying invisible files: “Hide protected system files.” By default, it is selected, that is, protected files are not shown to the user. Uncheck this item and click OK.

• After you uncheck “Hide protected system files,” Windows 7 will ask you if you have thought carefully and if you foresee the possible consequences of this choice. If you are confident that your actions are correct, click “Yes”.

Now on the desktop, as well as in other directories, you will see some translucent elements:

These are the files marked with the “hidden” attribute (a few words about attributes will be said below).

How to remove the visibility of hidden files

To restore the original file visibility settings, you need to open “Folder Options” – “View” again and click the “Restore Defaults” button.

How to hide your file or folder?

Not only Windows 7 files, but also user files can be hidden from prying eyes. And you yourself can make any of your documents invisible, but provided that showing hidden files is disabled in the folder options. How to do it?

File attributes

Files created in Windows can have attributes—characteristics that give them special properties. Here are the most important of them:

• "Only for reading". This attribute marks files that are read-only by the operating system. They should not be modified as this may break the functionality of Windows.
• “System” – files marked with this attribute have more high degree protection than read-only. System files are critical to Windows operation, so they don't show up in File Explorer.
• “Hidden” – files and folders with this attribute are also not shown in Explorer. Hidden files are important to varying degrees for the functioning of Windows; often they are invisible only for the convenience of viewing data in directories.
• “Archive” is an obsolete attribute, inherited file system NTFS from the predecessor of FAT. IN earlier versions Windows used it to mark data for backup.

When you checked “Show hidden files, folders and drives” in the folder options settings, you did visible files with the “Hidden” attribute.

When you unchecked the “Hide protected system files” option, you made files with the “System” attribute visible.

Compare what the “Drive C:” directory looks like with only hidden files shown:

and here it is – hidden and systemic:

This means that to hide your user file or folder, you need to change its attributes accordingly. For this:

• expand with right mouse click context menu the desired file and select “Properties”.

• Open the “General” tab and in the “Attributes” section check the “Hidden” checkbox, then click OK.

The same action can be performed using the command line by running the command: attrib +h “C:UsersUser_1DesktopMoya_Papka” /s /d

• attrib– launch system utility attrib.exe, which sets the attributes of files and folders;
• +h– setting the attribute “hidden”, the “+” sign means “assign the attribute”, and “-” means remove it;
• “C:UsersUser_1DesktopMoya_Papka”– the path to the folder or file whose attributes we are changing; if the path contains non-Latin characters or spaces – quotes are required;
• parameter /s means “apply the action to all subfiles and subdirectories of the folder”;
• parameter /d means “process files and directories.”

Other programs for working with hidden files

You can also view hidden and system files through alternative file managers - Total Commander and its analogues.

To do this, in the settings of Total Commander, as well as in the properties Windows folders 7, the “Show hidden and system files” option must be active. In Total Commander, this is located in the “Configuration” - “Settings” and “Panel Contents” menu.

To use Total Commander to make a file hidden or, conversely, visible, you need to open the “Files” menu, select “Change attributes” and set the appropriate settings in the window of the same name.

Another file manager– console FAR Manager, by default shows all hidden and system files in Windows. Here, what is not visible in the explorer appears darkened.

At the bottom of the table is command line, with which you can assign the desired attributes to any file or directory:

There are other tools for working with hidden Windows files, but what we've covered here is sufficient in most cases.

Hidden folders have the “Hidden” attribute on them, so they are not visible in Explorer. In order to see them, you will need to change some OS settings. The question is especially important for those new to Windows 7, since the previous XP axis has significant differences. The solution to the problem is simple and quick.

The article discusses four following methods show hidden objects in Windows 7 Explorer:

1. Show invisible files using Folder Options;
2. Viewing protected system objects;
3. View invisible files using Registry Editor;
4. Enable display of protected system objects.

The developers of Windows 7 took care of the invisibility of some directories to users in order to protect the functioning of the system from the users themselves.

But there are cases when seeing hidden OS data is necessary to ensure the normal operation of Windows 7, such an example would be an operation to remove malware that has infected a computer.

Method No. 1

To display invisible directories and files using “Folder Options”, you should follow the following procedure:

You can check the effectiveness of this technique by entering the “C” section and if the “ProgramData” directory is present in it, then the procedure was completed successfully and the hidden data is available to the user. They will differ from the usual ones in a lighter shade.

Method number 2

This technique helps solve the question “How to see protected system objects?” To do this you need to do the following:

Method number 3

To view what is invisible using the Registry Editor, you must do the following (using administrator rights):

Method number 4

To enable the display of protected system objects using the Registry Editor, you must do the following (logged in with administrator rights):

If necessary, return Windows to original condition and hide system data - this can be done using the same methods above, but by setting or removing the appropriate checkboxes or changing the values ​​using the registry editor.

Most often, system files and folders are hidden. The operating system makes such files hidden for security purposes, because the user can, through negligence or ignorance, delete or change any of the files necessary for the normal functioning of the system as a whole, which can lead to serious consequences: from errors to complete collapse systems. By hiding files, Windows protects itself from preventing the user from ever having such a temptation.

Some applications and programs sometimes hide their files from users for the same reason. Users themselves hide their own files and folders when they do not want anyone to find this data.

Hidden file by appearance different from a regular file. When the system displays hidden files and folders, you can see that the icons of hidden folders or the names of hidden files appear translucent.

How to See Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP

There are two ways to display hidden files and folders - through the “Control Panel” or through “ Windows Explorer».

1. Display via the “Control Panel”. You need to go to the “Control Panel”, this is done through the standard “Start” menu: “Start” - “Control Panel”. In the window that opens, click “Tools” in the top menu and click “Folder Options” in the drop-down menu. A properties window will open in which you need to select the “View” tab. In this tab in the window additional parameters select “Hidden files and folders” and check the box next to “Show hidden files and folders”. Save the changes - click “Apply” and “Ok”.

2. Display via Windows Explorer. Go to Explorer: double click open the “My Computer” item, or simultaneously press the Win and E keys. In the top menu of the explorer, select “Tools” and then proceed in the same way as the first point: select “Folder Options”, then “View”, look for the “Hidden files and folders” item ", click "Show hidden files and folders", "Apply", "Ok".

After the manipulations have been carried out, files and folders hidden until this moment become visible to the user and can be worked with in the same way as with regular files. However, there is a way to work with hidden files and folders without making them visible on the system. They can be searched and opened using any file manager, for example using the popular Total Commander.

To do this, open the file manager, select the “Configuration” item, click the “Settings” section. A settings window will open, consisting of two parts. On the left side of the window, look for the “Panel Contents” item. By clicking on it, we see a list of options on the right side of the window, among which we look for “Display files” and check the box next to “Show hidden/system files”, then click “Apply” and “Ok”.

Hidden files are usually hidden for a good reason - they are often very important files and are hidden from view, making them difficult to change or delete.

But what if you want to see those hidden files?

There are many good reasons why you will need to make hidden files and folders visible in your search and folder views, but most of the time it is because you are dealing with Windows problem, and you need access to one of these important files to edit or delete.

On the other hand, if hidden files are already visible but you want to hide them instead, this is simply the opposite.

Luckily, it's very easy to toggle, show, or hide hidden files and folders in Windows. This change is made through the control panel.

Specific steps involved Windows setup to show or hide hidden files depends on what operating system you are using:

How to show or hide hidden files and folders in Windows 10, 8 and 7

Quick way to switch hidden folders in Windows 10

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

1. Click the button Start", and then " Control Panel".
2. Press Design and personalization.
   Note: If you are browsing Classic look Control Panel, you won't see this link. Just open the icon Folder properties" and go to step 4 .
3. Click the links " Folders settings" .
4. Click the " View" in the window " Folder properties" .
5. IN additional settings: section, find hidden files and folder categories.
6. Select the option you want to apply to Windows Vista. Not will hide files and folders with the hidden ENABLED attribute. Show hidden files and folders will allow you to see hidden files and folders.
7. Click OK at the bottom of the window " Folder properties" .
8. You can check if hidden files are shown in Windows Vista by going to drive C:\. If you see the folder ProgramData, then you can view hidden files and folders.
   Note: Icons for hidden files and folders are slightly shaded. This is an easy way to separate hidden files and folders from your regular unlocked ones.

How to Show or Hide Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP

1. Open " My computer" in the Start menu.
2. From tools menu select Folder properties.
3. Go to the " View" in the window " Folder properties" .
4. IN additional settings: text areas, find hidden files and folder category.
   Note:Hidden files and folders category should be viewable at the bottom menu Additional settings: text area without scrolling down. In the folder you will see two options.
5. Under Hidden files and folders categories, select the radio button that applies to what you want to do. Show hidden files and folders will hide files and folders with the hidden attribute enabled.
6. Click OK at the bottom of the window " Folder properties" .
7. , which will allow you to see hidden files and folders. You can check if hidden files are shown by going to the folder C:/Windows . If you see the number of folders starting from$NtUninstallKB
   
   , then you can view hidden files and folders, otherwise they are hidden successfully. Note: . If you see the number of folders starting from The folder contains the information needed to uninstall the update you received from Microsoft. Although unlikely, it is possible that you may not see these folders, but you can still configure it correctly hidden folders and files. This may be the case if you have never installed any updates to your operating system.