How to Show Hidden Files On Your Computer

View Tutorial If you’ve ever looked for files that you knew were in a certain directory, but can no longer find them there is a possibility that the files have been hidden (someone else who uses the computer may have hidden them; you may have hidden the files, but don’t know how to get them to show). There is a very simple of way of telling Windows to show you those hidden files. Below you will find the steps necessary to accomplish this. As always comments/suggestions are welcome.


1. Open any window, for example; My Computer, My Documents, etc.

2. Go to Tools >Folder Options… on the window’s menu bar.

3. A box will open, click on the View tab

4. Under Hidden files and folders you will see two options, make sure that Show hidden files and folders is selected.

5. <Optional> Scroll down until you see Hide protected operating system files (recommended) (it is recommended to keep the OS files hidden to prevent incidental deletion of these files, however if you are looking for these files for a particular reason then disable this option)

6. Click OK