How to Remove Shortcut Virus from Hard Disk/USB/Flash Drive Without Losing Data

• Reading Time: 3-5 minutes.
• Difficulty Level: Easy & Moderate
• What You'll Learn: How to remove shortcut viruses and recover files from infected hard drives, flash disks, USB drives, and external hard disks.

If all the contents of your hard drive, USB, flash drive, or external hard disk have turned into shortcuts, then your storage device and all the files in it might be infected with the Shortcut virus. How do you fix this? This article will teach you how to remove the Shortcut virus from your hard drive/USB/flash drive without losing any data.

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Shortcut Virus Overview

In this section, you will learn how to:

• What is a Shortcut virus?
• How does the Shortcut virus work or spread?
• What happens if my hard drive, USB drive, or flash drive is infected with a Shortcut virus?

Essentially, a shortcut virus is a combination of a Trojan and a worm that hides or deletes original files on an infected device and replaces them with shortcuts.

How does this shortcut virus spread? Primarily through two means:

• #1. You clicked on a shortcut link or downloaded a shortcut virus file from a browser.
• #2. You launched a file containing the shortcut virus, which then replicates itself and infects other files and programs on your device.

When your hard drive or USB is infected with the Shortcut virus, all of your files, folders, and even programs turn into shortcuts. You won't be able to open or access any of them like you normally would. If you double-click on one of these malicious shortcuts, you give the virus an opportunity to propagate and cause more damage to your data, system, and so on.

Follow the solutions in the two sections below to get rid of the shortcut virus and restore your lost files.

Part 1: How to Remove Shortcut Virus from Hard Drive/USB

Applies to: Remove shortcut virus from hard disk, USB, flash drive or external HDD without losing data or formatting.

Most people who see the shortcut virus simply delete the shortcuts. But that often does not work, because they simply reappear.

So, how to delete the shortcut virus or convert shortcut file into original file without losing valuable data? In this section, we've gathered 4 reliable methods that can help you get rid of the shortcut virus from your hard drive or USB without losing any data:

1. #Method 1: Removing Shortcut Virus with CMD - Moderate Difficulty
2. #Method 2: Deleting Shortcut Virus with an Alternate CMD Method - Easiest
3. #Method 3: Permanently Removing Shortcut Virus with the Registry - Difficult
4. #Method 4: Permanently Deleting Shortcut Virus with Antivirus Software - Simple

Note: We recommend trying to remove the shortcut virus and unhide your files first with Method 1 or 2. If you cannot see any files, proceed to Part 2 and use the Data Recovery Wizard tool for assistance.

After you've retrieved all the files from an infected drive, proceed to Method 3 or Method 4 to permanently remove the Shortcut Virus from your hard drive, USB, flash drive, or external disk.

Method 1: Remove Shortcut Virus using CMD

• Difficulty: Easy
• BEST FOR: Experienced users

Please note that misuse of the Command Prompt can have serious consequences. Be cautious when using CMD commands to resolve your current issue. In the steps below, we will first guide you through deleting the shortcut virus files and then show you how to reveal hidden files and folders.

Connect the infected USB/Flash drive to your computer and follow these steps to remove the Shortcut virus using CMD:

Step 1: Type cmd in the search box, right-click on Command Prompt, and select "Run as administrator."

Step 2: Type H and press Enter. (Replace H with the letter assigned to your USB drive or flash drive that has the shortcut virus.)

Step 2 Type in del *.lnk and press Enter.

Alternatively, type del autorun.xxx (where xxx is the extension of the shortcut virus) and press Enter.

Change the file extension to .exe, .vbs, .lnk, .ini, and so on, and repeat this step.

Delete all .lnk files
Delete autorun.xxx files

This command will delete the shortcut files and remove the existing shortcut virus from the drive.

Step 3: Type attrib -s -r -h *.* /s /d /l and press "Enter."

You can also type attrib -h -r -s /s /d H:\*.* and press Enter to show hidden files on the device. (Replace “H” with the letter of the infected hard drive or USB drive.)

Step 4: When you're done, type exit in the Command Prompt window, and press "Enter" to close it.

Method 2: Remove the Shortcut Virus Using CMD

• Difficulty: Easiest
• Best for: All Windows users, especially beginners.

Yes, there is a simpler way to replace CMD commands and remove shortcut virus and restore hidden files with just a few clicks. CleanGenius is a perfect alternative to CMD that can help you with this issue.

Manual execution through the command line is recommended only for tech-savvy users, as incorrect commands can do more harm than good. For safety and ease of use, we strongly advise you to try the automated Command Line alternative CleanGenius. This handy tool allows you to check and fix file system errors, enable/disable write protection, and update your system with a single click, instead of typing complex command lines.

With this one-click repair tool, you can show hidden files with these simple steps.

Step 1: Download the CleanGenius tool for free.

Step 2: Launch CleanGenius, and then select “Optimize” from the left. Next, click on “File Display” on the right.

Step 3: Select your hard drive and click on 'Execute'.

Step 4: Once done, click on this link to view the hidden files.

Important: If this works, you'll be able to view and use all the files on your hard drive/USB as normal. To completely get rid of the shortcut virus, proceed with Method 3 or Method 4.

Method 3: Permanently Remove Shortcut Virus Using Registry Editor

• Difficulty: High
• Best for: Experienced Windows users.

Since Method 1 and Method 2 are quick ways to delete Shortcut Virus from storage devices, some hidden virus files on your computer might not be deleted.

The Windows Registry is a database that stores information, settings, and other details about the operating system and installed apps/hardware. When your hard drive or USB drive gets infected with a shortcut virus, a new subkey with virus information is added to the Windows Registry.

Thus, you can also remove the Shortcut Virus using the Registry Editor by following these steps:

Step 1: Type regedit in the search box, right-click on regedit, and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Run.

Step 3: In the “Run” box, search for the following registry entries named WXCKYz, ZGFYszaas, OUzzckky, and odwcamszas.

Then right-click each one and choose “Delete” to remove them from the Registry.

Since the virus may use different filenames, you may have to search a few times. Be careful not to delete any important programs or non-virus processes.

After you delete the shortcut virus from your hard drive or USB device, restart your computer and use it as you normally would.

Method 4: Permanently Remove the Shortcut Virus with Antivirus Software

• Difficulty: Easy
• Best for: All levels of Windows users.

Aside from the Registry Editor, you can also use Shortcut Virus Remover or an antivirus software to get rid of the shortcut virus from your storage device.

Step 1: Find and download a reliable antivirus program on your computer.

Step 2: Connect the device infected with the shortcut virus to your computer, and run an antivirus program to eliminate the infection.

As recommended by many professional users, you can try using the TotalAV antivirus software to eliminate shortcut viruses from your devices and computers. TotalAV is a powerful antivirus and security tool that swiftly scans your system and safeguards your computer.

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After the virus removal, you can restart your computer and continue using the drive. If you find some files missing or lost, it's recommended to use a powerful data recovery tool to retrieve files from the virus-infected hard drive or USB drive.

Part 2: How to Recover Files After Removing Shortcut Virus

Applies to: Recover files after removing shortcut virus in Windows 10/8/7.

As mentioned above, a Shortcut virus may hide or delete existing files on hard drives or USB devices. Also, certain methods used to get rid of the Shortcut virus might cause data loss.

Fortunately, professional data recovery software can recover files or folders, such as documents, photos, audio files, and other important files from a virus-infected hard drive or USB. Here, you may give Data Recovery Wizard a try.

This software is able to perform virus file recovery to restore files and folders that are hidden, deleted, or erased by shortcut virus.

Steps to recover files after a Quick Heal virus scan from the device:

Step 1. Select the virus-infected disk to be scanned

Run an antivirus file recovery software on your Windows computer. Select the virus-infected disk and scan for lost or hidden files. Note that:

If the files were hidden or deleted due to a virus on an HDD, it's recommended to install the software on another volume or external USB drive to avoid overwriting data. If the infected device is an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or memory card, it's safe to install the software on a local disk of your computer.

Step 2: Review all scan results

The "Data Recovery Wizard" will immediately start scanning the virus-infected drive to find deleted or hidden files. To quickly locate the specific file you need, you can use the "Filter" or "Group by Type" feature to display only images, videos, documents, emails, and so on.

Step 3: Preview and recover the deleted/hidden files

Once the scan is finished, you can preview the files found. Select the ones you need and hit the “Recover” button. Save the recovered files to another secure location on your computer or storage device, not the original place where the files were lost.

In addition, the Data Recovery Wizard tool supports deleted file recovery, formatted data recovery, OS crash recovery, and many other tricky situations on various devices. Download the software now to make your files usable again.

Part 3: How to Prevent Shortcut Virus and Virus Infection

And actually, it's much more important to think about how you prevent the infection with the virus than how you eliminate the virus.

Here are some tips to help you better protect the data on your computer or external storage device from viruses:

1. Install professional antivirus software and regularly scan your computer and storage devices. 2. Download and install genuine programs on your computer. 3. Avoid visiting suspicious websites and links; think before you click. 4. Ensure your internet connection is secure. 5. Regularly back up your files to an external storage device using [free backup software](/backup-software/tb-free.html).

Bottom line

Here, we offer you four solutions to remove shortcut virus without formatting or losing any data. With the assistance of Data Recovery Wizard, you can get rid of the virus without losing any data.

Aside from the shortcut virus removal procedure, we also listed some tips on how to protect your device and data from the shortcut virus and other types of infections. We hope they will be helpful to you.