Windows 8 hidden. How to show hidden folders. Simple introduction of the name of an invisible object

Sometimes users need privacy. This is especially true for those people whose computer is located in public access... You can use different methods to make some of your folders private.

We will consider the main ones in our article, which is devoted to how to hide a folder in Windows 8.

Standard way

This method is the simplest and most relevant for Windows 7, as well as Windows XP and Windows 8.

Instructions

1. To hide a folder, you just need to go to the control panel and open the "Folder Options".
2. Select the "View" tab and find "Hidden files and folders" in the list of advanced options.
3. Next, check the box next to "Don't show hidden files" and apply the changes.
4. Now you need to assign a hidden folder. For this right click select the desired folder with the mouse and go to the "Properties" menu.
5. Go to the "General" tab and check the box next to the "Hidden" item.
6. Next, go to the "Other" tab and uncheck the box next to "Allow indexing of file contents".

Using the free hide folder

The free hide folder program allows you to hide any folder from prying eyes.

Download and install the program, after which you can enter the program and, by pressing the button, specify the path to your folder. The program will automatically make it hidden. Thanks to the password, no one can get to your hidden folder, except you.

Today, most of us prefer to use flash drives instead of the usual laser media. The advantages of flash drives over disks are obvious: the possibility of reusability, small size and the speed of data exchange. But these advantages give rise to one serious disadvantage: high susceptibility to infection by viruses. Connecting a USB flash drive to different computers, we run the risk of catching a virus, since not all computers and laptops have effective anti-virus protection. Below we will consider how to solve a common problem, often associated with a virus infection, namely: how to open hidden folders in Windows 7 and 8, which may be located on a USB flash drive or computer.

It so happens that the next time you use a flash drive to transfer data, you find that some of the recorded files have disappeared somewhere. This is the first sign that a virus has crept onto the flash drive and you should immediately start treating it.

Update your antivirus or connect a USB flash drive to the computer where the antivirus is installed

Connect the USB flash drive to a computer with antivirus installed and updated virus databases. The choice of antivirus program for treatment is a purely personal matter, so I will not touch on this topic in the context of this article. I will only note that most of the popular antivirus software able to cope with this task. To be sure that you do not waste your time checking, it is better to use paid antiviruses: Dr.Web, Nod 32, Kaspersky, etc.

You need to connect a USB flash drive, go to the Computer and right-click on it. After that, in the context menu, find the virus scan item. If you are an inexperienced user, then pay attention to the program icons that are in the menu. If, for example, Dr.Web is installed, then you will see a spider icon in the "Check Dr.Web" item.

If no viruses are found after the scan, then try here free utility... To save time, you can scan only your flash drive, but as you understand, this does not guarantee that your computer, for example, on the D: \ drive, is free of viruses.

Windows Customization (Hidden Files)

If the files are still invisible after checking and cleaning the flash drive from viruses, it means that the viruses managed to dig into the properties of these files and set the Hidden attribute. Let's check if this is so. Let's turn on the display of hidden files in Explorer. To do this, being in the Explorer window, open the menu by pressing Alt keys and select the item "Service" - "Folder Options".

In the window that opens, on the "View" tab, uncheck the item "Hide protected system files" and select the item "Show hidden files, folders and drives." We confirm the changes made by clicking the "OK" button.

It remains to return the files and folders on the USB flash drive to their original appearance. To do this, select the desired object with the right mouse button to call the context menu. We select the item "Properties".

In the properties window that opens, uncheck the "Hidden" option and click the "OK" button. The problem has been resolved.

Total Commander and Far Manager

For showing hidden files, you can also use Total commander or Far Manager... Let me show you how, using one of these programs, you can display your files. To download Total Commander, go to and select the version you need.

After downloading, run the file and install the program. There is nothing remarkable about the installation, everywhere you click "Next" and "OK". Run the program and select the desired value, in my case this number is 2.

After launch, a settings window will open in front of you, go to the "Content of panels" and put 2 checkboxes: "Show hidden files" and "Show system files".

Now go to your USB stick and mark all the files that are in this moment hidden. You can mark with the right mouse button or hold down the "Ctrl" key + press left button mice. After that go to "Files" - "Change attributes ...".

So we got to the necessary procedure, select the checkboxes "Hidden" and "System", click "OK".

After all the "missing" files and folders have been restored, I recommend restoring the visibility settings changed above (Windows settings) to their original state. This will help prevent possible erroneous actions with system files, for which the "Hidden" attribute is specially set, thereby restricting access ordinary users... And knowing how to open hidden folders in Windows 8 and 7, you can always access them at any time.

For the prevention of flash drives, I strongly recommend that before connecting a flash drive to an unfamiliar computer, make sure that it has antivirus protection... This will protect you from possible problems in future.

It should be remembered that hidden files are not always the result of infection. computer viruses... Often, users set this attribute on their own files and folders to provide a minimum level of protection.

If you notice the loss of your files on the flash drive after connecting it to your computer or laptop, be sure to do a full virus scan. In the event that the files cannot be seen on the flash drive, then you can try to restore them using the Recuva program. She has already helped me out more than once, and therefore I can safely recommend her to you. I wrote about her in the article "".

Your described methods solve the problem in different versions Windows, but if you are using Windows 8, then in this case you need to watch the video tutorial below.

A hidden folder is a regular directory with the Hidden attribute set. Through this feature, specific directories are hidden from Windows interface, which is especially convenient in cases when some of them need to be hidden for some time when they will not be used. In other words, this mechanism makes it possible to significantly simplify the work with the file contents of the PC. However, in some cases, "masked" directories can create a lot of hassle, especially if you do not know how to work with them. Therefore, this article will be devoted to the analysis of how to open hidden folders in Windows 8.

How to show hidden folders in Windows 8?

Working with invisible objects in Windows 8, in fact, is no different from similar processes in previous versions of Windows... You can show hidden folders in Windows 8 in one of two ways: by directly entering the name of each of them, or by enabling the display of all tek. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Hidden files and folders in Windows 8. How to open: Video

Simple introduction of the name of an invisible object

If you know where the "masked" directory or file is located, and you know its full name for sure, then, frankly speaking, there is no need to enable the display of invisible text to see it. All you need to do is just find the directory where the desired object is located and enter into address bar his name.

After entering the name of the searched element and pressing the enter button, a window with its file contents will open in front of the user. Agree, quite simple, convenient and quick way working with "hidden" components.

However, discover the hidden Windows folders 8, if their exact names are not known, will fail. In this case, you only need to enable the display of all content. disk drives... Consider what action must be performed in a more specific way.

And so, to make completely all the file contents of the computer visible, you need:

It should be noted that by this window attributes can be navigated in other ways. For example, "Control Panel" - "Appearance and Personalization" - "Folder Options". Also, Windows 8 users can resort to using the search box. To do this, you need to enter the appropriate query on the start screen in the search field, after which the OS will offer to go to the appropriate window.

You can show invisible elements here by going to the "View" tab in the window that opens, where in the section of the corresponding section enable the "Show hidden files, folders and drives" function. If you want to display system files, you need to uncheck the option "Hide protected system files".

How to open hidden folders and files on Windows 8: Video

The eighth numbered version of the operating system from Microsoft tried to incorporate the advantages of both mobile and computer operating systems. On the one hand, the Modern interface appeared in it, which is peculiar to this only Windows Phone, and on the other hand - functions from Windows 7 and the ribbon method of forming menus that appeared there in classic programs has also been developed.

However, precisely because of the mixing of two different "worlds" - mobile and classic - for many users using windows 8 was a real challenge. Firstly, access to the classic Control Panel has become more complicated, which previously could be opened by the button of the same name in the Start menu. Secondly, there is now a new system partition to change the computer parameters, in which, however, not all OS parameters are available.

One of frequent problems faced by users, there was a change in the parameter that made it possible to show hidden folders in Windows 8. In fact, the setting itself has not gone anywhere and everything is also available both in the Explorer itself and in the Control Panel, only the way of opening these sections with settings has changed ...

Fast navigation through the article

Control Panel

To open Control Panel in Windows 8 and go to Settings appearance folders, you will need:

• Summon sidebar with the system buttons by swiping up from the bottom right edge of the screen.
• Select the "Parameters" item.
• Click on the "Control Panel" button.
• Switch to the "Large icons" view using the drop-down list at the top of the window.
• Find in the list of applications "Folder Options" (or "Explorer Options", depending on the OS version and installed version language pack).
• Go to the "View" tab.
• Scroll down the list of options and set the switch to the option "Show hidden files".
• Save changes by clicking on the "Apply" button.

It is important to know that you can open the "Control Panel" in other ways. For example, if you press the Win + X buttons, then context menu Start button. Also, if you go to home screen and use the search function, you can easily go to any section system settings by simply entering its name.

Conductor

Quick access to setting the display of hidden elements is implemented in the explorer itself. To disable hiding files directly from the watched folder, click on the View tab in Explorer. Next, you need to use the drop-down menu "Show or hide". Among the available items from the list, you need to put a checkmark in front of the inscription "Hidden items". Enabling this item will refresh the viewed page and display previously hidden files and directories, if any.

It is important to remember that if for Windows Explorer any add-on is installed that disables the ribbon menu, then this setting will be available only from the Control Panel. The only solution to the problem is to get quick access to setting - delete all used third party utilities which can be OldNewExplorer or ClassicShell.

There is a need to open hidden files and folders of the operating system, mainly to edit some important system documents.

To do this, you need to know how to make hidden folders visible.

The fact is that in all modern versions of the OS Windows settings by default, they assume the so-called "foolproof".

This means that an inexperienced user simply does not see most of the important system partitions and cannot make potentially dangerous changes to them.

But on the other hand, some fine tuning the operating system may require editing these hidden files.

This article will provide detailed manual allowing this procedure to be implemented in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, which currently occupy the lion's share of the used operating systems in the commercial and private sector.

Secrets of the Windows 7 system partition

This version of the operating system from Microsoft took the lead in popularity from the legendary XP, which was discontinued several years ago.

This success is primarily dictated by user-friendly interface, where you can easily find the settings you need.

This also applies to the option to show hidden folders and files, which is easiest to activate through the taskbar.

• First you need in a standard way get into the taskbar: open Start and select "Control Panel".

• Then click on the link "Design and personalization".

Advice! For convenience, you need to select the display method by category.

• In the opened variety, we need the category "Folder Options", or rather, its option "Show hidden files and folders", which speaks for itself.

• In the window that opens called "Folder Options", expand the "View" tab and at the very bottom of the list of additional parameters we see the function of displaying / hiding special files. It remains only to set the checkbox to the desired position.

You can get to the "Folder Options" window in Windows 7 in a simpler way: just open any directory and select "Folder and Search Options" in the drop-down menu of the "Organize" option.

Advice! If you choose to use this method, then by default only hidden files in the current directory will be displayed. To apply this rule to all disks, you must activate the "Apply to folders" item.

Having dealt with the classics, you can move on to more modern systems.

Understanding the intricacies of Windows 8

This version of the operating system is significantly different from Windows 7, which at one time caused many complaints from users.

The changes affected, including hidden directories: in Windows 8, there are two types of files and folders that are not visible to the user.

The first is the actual hidden (hidden) sections. This status is possessed not only by system files and folders, but also by components of various third-party applications.

Moreover, the user himself can assign this type to any object on the disk.

However, this opportunity is often used by malicious programs, as a result of which, for example, problems arise with files on a USB flash drive.

For these two types, the algorithm of actions will be different.

To open ordinary hidden files and folders, you need to do the following:

• First you need to open "Explorer", for which you can use the standard shortcut in the "Taskbar".

• In the opened folder in the upper settings panel, click on the "View" menu and select the "Show and hide" function. In the list that opens, activate the "Hidden items" checkbox.
  In the same way, you can assign the hidden status (hidden) to any selected file or folder.

In order to see especially important system files, you need to make the following settings:

• In the same "View" menu, go to "Options" - "Change folder and search parameters."

• As a result, the "Folder Options" settings window will appear, similar to that in Windows 7. Here you should go to the "View" tab and uncheck the "Hide" protected system files checkbox (recommended).

You can get to this window in another way:

• In Start, which in the eight has an unusual Metro interface, click on the gear icon (Computer Settings).

• In the menu that opens, you need to go to the lowest link to open the Control Panel, which is familiar to most users.

• In the "Taskbar", to begin with, select the method of displaying the functions Large (or small) icons, and then click on the "Folder settings" link, which ultimately will give access to the settings window of the same name.

It is also worth considering separately the algorithm for enabling the display of hidden and system elements for Windows 10, since, despite its similarity to the eight, the settings of this OS have their own nuances.

Hidden files and folders in Windows 10

In the top ten, there is the same division of hidden files into regular system files, therefore, the ways to enable their display are similar to those discussed in the previous section.

To see files and folders with the hidden attribute in the top ten, including on a USB flash drive or any other external media, do the following:

• Open "Start" and launch "Explorer".

• The appearance of "Explorer" in the top ten is practically no different from Windows 8. Therefore, it operates according to the already known algorithm: View - Show and Hide - put the "Hidden Elements" checkbox in the active position.

In order to see the system files and folders, we need to get to the "Explorer Options" function (analogous to the Folder Options option).

• The fastest way to do this will be through the search, the icon of which can be found on the "Taskbar".

Advice! You can also use the keyboard shortcut to access the search. Win + Q.

• By clicking on the search results, we will be taken to the function window, which we have already encountered many times in this article. Here we are interested in the option “Hide protected system files (recommended), which is located on the View tab.

In conclusion, it is worth saying once again that editing hidden files, especially system files, can seriously harm the computer's software shell.

Therefore, such changes should be treated as responsibly as possible.

Thematic video:

How to open hidden files and folders in Windows 7/8/10 Free lesson

In this video, I show how you can easily open hidden files and folders on operating systems Windows 7/8/10.