In Windows, files can have the "Hidden" attribute, and if the special option for displaying such files is not enabled, they will not be visible to the user. How to find and display hidden files, you will learn from these instructions.
Instructions
Step 1
Open the directory where you assume there are or may be hidden folders or files.
Step 2
Now follow these steps. In the explorer window, in which a directory with possible hidden files or folders is open, click on the "Edit" section of the menu in the menu bar located at the top of the window, right below its title. In the menu that opens, select the "Select All" command. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A for this purpose.
Step 3
If there are hidden files or folders in this directory, the system will warn the user about this (the number of hidden objects will also be indicated in brackets), since it cannot select all files and folders for this reason. If there was no such warning, then there are no hidden files and folders in this directory. So, you found that there are still a number of hidden objects in this directory, now you need to find out what exactly these objects are. For this purpose, you need to enable the display of hidden files and folders.
Step 4
In order for the system to show hidden objects (not to be confused with the system ones, which are also hidden), select the "Service" section in the Explorer menu bar, and then select the "Folder Options …" item in the drop-down list.
Step 5
Now go to the "View" tab, you will see a list of configurable parameters. Scroll down the list and find the "Hidden files and folders" setting there. This setting has two options ¬– “Don't show hidden files and folders” and “Show hidden files and folders”. Accordingly, select the second option.
Step 6
If you want the system to display hidden system files, then uncheck the "Hide protected system files" option located just above the "Hidden files and folders" setting and click "OK" to confirm.
