How to Hide and Unhide Folders/Files by CMD!

Earlier I had shared a complete post on Hiding and Unhiding Files or Folder in Windows PC. Most us may know that windows has a built in option to hide and unhide files or folders stored in it. And from my point of view this is one of the easiest and simplest task. But in this post I will try to do this task in different way. Today I will show you how you can hide and unhide files and folder of your PC using CMD (command prompt).


Now the question when windows has built in option then why you will use CMD for this task. The answer is  if you hide a file or folder using CMD then that file or folder can not be seen by any search option. Even if you use Show All Hidden Files and Folders option the hidden file or folder will not be shown. Which ensure the more security and privacy than the default option. The hidden object can only be unhide by the same CMD trick. Let's see the procedure.


For Example, you have a folder named Photos. Now follow the steps below to hide the folder by CMD.

Hide a Folder by CMD

• First go to the folder location that you want to hide.
• Then Copy the folder location from the Address Bar.

• Now press Windows Key+R to open RUN. 
• Then in the RUN box type CMD and press Enter. The Command Prompt window will open.
• Here in this window type attrib +s +h "Folder Location". Here in this line replace Folder Location with the folder location address that you have copied in the earlier step. So, the final attribution line will be as it is shown in the image below.

Now go to the location where the Photos folder is located. You will find that the folder is hidden. Now to Unhide this folder follow the steps below.

To UnHide the Hidden Folder:

• Again  press Windows Key+R to open RUN.
• Then in the RUN box type CMD and press Enter to open the Command Prompt window.
• Then here type the same attribute, but now replace both the + sign with - before s and h.

• Finally press the Enter key to apply the command.

That's it now go to Wallpaper folder location again and you will find that the folder is showing now.


Extra Tips: If you forgot the name of the file or folder, then don't worry. Just follow these steps to know the file or folder name.

• Open the Command Prompt .
• Type the local drive name like c or d in which you have hidden file or folder followed by : and hit the Enter.
• Type dir/a and hit Enter.
• Now you can see your file or folder name from the list.

Stay with www.iTTimesbd.com for more IT related post