Display hidden files and folders in Windows 7, 8 and 10

View Hidden Files in Windows

The following steps will help you how to show hidden files and folders on your hard drive file system.

Method 1 : Try this simple method

Click Start button, then get search box just above start button.

Type "folder" into the search box and press enter key

Then you will get the folder option dialouge box, click the View tab, under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files, folders, and drives, and then click OK

Click the View tab, under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files, folders, and drives, and then click OK

Method 2 : On Windows 8 or Windows 10

You can use the Explorer Window to get to the Options button.

Click the View tab, under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files, folders, and drives, and then click OK

Method 2 : On Windows 7

Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.

Click the View tab, under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files, folders, and drives, and then click OK

How to find hidden files using C#

FileAttributes Enumeration Provides attributes for files and directories, which is a bitwise combination of file attribute flags. If the file is hidden, and thus is not included in an ordinary directory listing. The following program shows how to display the hidden files in a given folder.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\\");
            FileInfo[] inFiles = dir.GetFiles("*.*");
            FileInfo[] hidFiles = GetHiddenOnlyFiles(inFiles);
            foreach( FileInfo f in hidFiles)
            {
                MessageBox.Show (f.FullName );
            }
        }
        public static FileInfo[] GetHiddenOnlyFiles(FileInfo[] Files)
        {
            List result = new List();
            foreach (FileInfo file in Files)
            if ((file.Attributes  FileAttributes.Hidden) == file.Attributes)
                result.Add(file);
            return result.ToArray();
        }
    }
}

How to find hidden files using VB.Net

Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim dir As New DirectoryInfo("C:\\")
        Dim inFiles As FileInfo() = dir.GetFiles("*.*")
        Dim hidFiles As FileInfo() = GetHiddenOnlyFiles(inFiles)
        For Each f As FileInfo In hidFiles
            MsgBox(f.FullName)
        Next
    End Sub
    Public Shared Function GetHiddenOnlyFiles(ByVal Files As FileInfo()) As FileInfo()
        Dim result As New List(Of FileInfo)()
        For Each file As FileInfo In Files
            If (file.Attributes Or FileAttributes.Hidden) = file.Attributes Then
                result.Add(file)
            End If
        Next
        Return result.ToArray()
    End Function
End Class