"Repair extracted files or files not showing in Windows 10 folder"

Here are some effective solutions to the issue of files not displaying properly.

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Issue: Files Not Showing in Windows 10 Folders

Scenario 1: Files Not Showing in Folders on Windows 10

"When I connect my USB drive to the computer and try to open a folder for data transfer, I don't see any files. I'm sure I saved some important work documents there. It seems like there's an issue that's preventing the files from showing in the folder. Is there any way to find and recover my data?"

Scenario 2: Extracted files not displayed

"I'm trying to call 7-zip from the command line to write a command. My command is: 7z x z:\dev\archive.7z. Every time I run this in the command prompt, it seems to work, but when I navigate to that folder after, the extracted files aren't there unless I run 7-zip through the right-click menu. Am I missing something here?" - A user's question from stackoverflow.com

As mentioned above, files going missing in a folder usually happen under two circumstances: when the files inside a folder are not displayed in Windows File Explorer and when unzipped files are not showing. Sometimes, you may receive an error message saying "This folder is empty". If you are also a victim of these two major issues and can't see your files in a folder on your hard drive, USB drive, or other storage devices, you can use the following four data recovery solutions to fix the problem.

Notice: If you are experiencing issues with "folder won't open" and have no access to your data, refer to the solutions in the article on how to fix File Explorer not opening in Windows 10.

Why isn't my file showing up?

There are several reasons why files might not be showing up in a folder or within File Explorer after unzipping them. The most likely cause is that your files are hidden. Other factors could be due to a malware or virus attack on your disk that has hidden or deleted the files, making them invisible within folders. Users have also reported issues with compression tools causing files not to display.

Regardless of the cause, try the following solutions to fix issues with files not showing up.

Solution 1: Use a File Recovery Software to Find the Invisible Files

To safely recover lost files or unzipped files without overwriting data or losing more files, the best approach is to use a file recovery tool. Data Recovery Wizard is a reliable and powerful tool that can restore hidden, deleted, formatted, and damaged files from any complicated situation.

Tool for Data Recovery is adept at retrieving files from an emptied Recycle Bin, formatted or corrupted hard drives, USB drives, Pen drives, and SD cards. Additionally, it excels in repairing damaged MP4 videos, photos, and documents.

Step 1: Launch the file recovery software on your Windows computer. Select the exact location from where you lost your files and click on the “Scan” button.

Select the location to scan

Step 2: The software will immediately start scanning the drive and display the deleted files in no time. If you find the required file during the scan, you can stop the scanning process. To quickly locate the target file, use the file type filter.

Step 3: Choose the files you want to recover, such as Word, Excel, PDF, photos, videos, or emails, and then click the "Restore" button. You can browse and select a different location to save your recovered files.

Fix 2: Show Hidden Files to Solve Files Not Showing in Windows 10 Folders Issue

If you don't want to use third-party software to recover your lost files, you can try un-hiding them using a feature in Windows.

Step 1: Click the "Start" button. Type Folder Options in the search box, and then press Enter.

Step 2: Click the “View” tab in the File Explorer options window.

Step 3: Check the box that says “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.” At the same time, uncheck the boxes for “Hide protected operating system files” and “Hide extensions for known file types.”

Step 4: Click “OK” to save all the changes.

In most cases, these steps will help show hidden folders/files that were hidden by a person or a virus. Check the folder to see if your files are showing. If this doesn't work, try the next method.

Fix 3: Use CMD to view or extract the file

Step 1: Click the Start button, type cmd into the search box, and press Enter.

Step 2. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 3: Type in attrib -h -r -s /s /d e:*.* and press Enter. (Replace "e:" with the letter of your device drive that you want to show the hidden files on.)

This command will quickly find and restore any hidden files or folders. Once done, refresh and check your external hard drive or USB drive, and you'll notice the issue with folders not showing up has been fixed, with all your files in place.

Fix 4: Use a different Zip utility

If the extracted files still don't display correctly after trying these steps, try using a different compression tool, such as WinZip, WinRAR, 7-Zip, or Zip Archiver.

Conclusion

This article aims to assist you in resolving the issue of invisible files and effectively recover your data. If you need to restore deleted or lost files, you can utilize a file recovery software. It not only supports data recovery but also repairs corrupted photos, videos, Word documents, Excel sheets, PDFs, and more.

If your files are hidden and not showing within the folder, you can use File Explorer options and CMD to display hidden files. To address the issue of files not appearing after extraction, try using a different compression tool for troubleshooting.