Show - Hide Hidden Files - Add to Context Menu

How to Add "Show/Hide Hidden Files" to Context Menu in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to add or remove Show/Hide Hidden Files to the desktop, library, and folder window context menu for all users to be able to toggle "Show" or "Don't show" hidden files, folders, drives, and protected operating system files in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

While you must be logged in as an administrator to be able to add or remove the context menu, all users will be able to use the context menu.

   Note

When you right click on the Desktop and click on Show/Hide Hidden Files, the hidden files (faded files) will instantly show or hide. You will need to refresh (F5) any other opened inactive window to see the hidden files show or hide in them.

When you right click on a blank area in the main window of a library or folder and click on Show/Hide Hidden Files, the hidden files (faded files) will instantly show or hide in that window. You may need to refresh (F5) with any other opened inactive window to see the hidden files show or hide in them.

EXAMPLE: "Show/Hide Hidden Files" and/or "Show/Hide All Hidden Files" Added to Context Menu

OPTION ONE

To Add "Show/Hide Hidden Files" to Context Menu

1. Do either step 2 or 3, and/or step 4 or 5 for what you would like.


2. To Toggle Show or Hide ALL Hidden Files with Notify Sound Played
NOTE: When you click/tap on the Show/Hide Hidden Files context menu item using this option, you will hear the notify.wav file play only if Window Media Player is set as the default program for .wav files. If you do not have Window Media Player turned on in Windows Features, then you will get an error instead of the sound playing.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.
NOTE: This includes all "hidden files, folders, or drives" and "hidden protected operating system files".
Add_Show_Hide_ALL_Hidden_Files_to_Context_Menu_with_SOUND.zip


Download


3. To Toggle Show or Hide ALL Hidden Files without any Sound
NOTE: This option is if you did not want to have the Notify.wav play when you use the Show/Hide Hidden Files context menu item, or if you get an error from using step 2 since you have Windows Media Player turned off in Windows Features.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.
NOTE: This includes all "hidden files, folders, or drives" and "hidden protected operating system files".
Add_Show_Hide_ALL_Hidden_Files_to_Context_Menu.zip


Download


AND/OR


4. To Toggle Show or Hide Hidden Files with Notify Sound Played
NOTE: When you click/tap on the Show/Hide Hidden Files context menu item using this option, you will hear the notify.wav file play only if Window Media Player is set as the default program for .wav files. If you do not have Window Media Player turned on in Windows Features, then you will get an error instead of the sound playing.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.
NOTE: This includes only all "hidden files, folders, or drives" and not "hidden protected operating system files".
Add_Show_Hide_Hidden_Files_to_Context_Menu_with_SOUND.zip


Download


5. To Toggle Show or Hide Hidden Files without any Sound
NOTE: This option is if you did not want to have the Notify.wav play when you use the Show/Hide Hidden Files context menu item, or if you get an error from using step 4 since you have Windows Media Player turned off in Windows Features.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.
NOTE: This includes only all "hidden files, folders, or drives" and not "hidden protected operating system files".
Add_Show_Hide_Hidden_Files_to_Context_Menu.zip


Download


6. Save the .zip file to your desktop.

7. Open the downloaded ZIP file, and extract (drag and drop) both the .reg and .vbs files to your desktop.

8. Unblock the extracted .vbs file, click/tap on Properties.

9. Right click or press and hold on the extracted and unblocked .vbs file, and click/tap on Copy.

10. In Windows Explorer, navigate to and open the C:\Windows folder. Right click or press and hold on an empty area in the C:\Window folder, click/tap on Paste, then click/tap on Continue and Yes (UAC) if prompted. Close the Windows Explorer window.

11. Double click/tap on the extracted .reg file to merge it.

12. If prompter, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC-Windows 7/8) or Continue (UAC-Vista), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

13. You can now delete the downloaded files left on your desktop if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Remove "Show/Hide Hidden Files" from Context Menu

NOTE: This is the default setting.
1. Do step 2 and/or 3 below for what you would like to do.

2. To Remove "Show/Hide Hidden Files" from Context Menu
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Remove_Show_Hide_Hidden_Files_from_Context_Menu.reg


Download


3. To Remove "Show/Hide All Hidden Files" from Context Menu
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Remove_Show_Hide_All_Hidden_Files_from_Context_Menu.reg


Download


4. Save the .zip file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC-Windows 7/8) or Continue (UAC-Vista), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. In Windows Explorer, navigate to and open the C:\Windows folder, right click or press and hold on the file below, click/tap on Delete, and Yes (if prompted).
Toggle_Show_Hidden_Files_On_Off.vbs

OR

Toggle_Show_Hidden_Files_On_Off_with_SOUND.vbs
AND/OR

Toggle_Show_All_Hidden_Files_On_Off.vbs

OR

Toggle_Show_All_Hidden_Files_On_Off_with_SOUND.vbs
8. You can now delete the download reg file if you would like to.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Show or Hide All Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Hide or Unhide a File or Folder in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove "Hidden Files and Folders" from Folder Options in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 87
• How to Add "Show/Hide Known File Extensions" to Context Menu in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Add "Hide" and "Unhide" to File and Folder Context Menu in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Add "List Hidden Files" to Context Menu in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Woki, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[Infinite]

Brink, I was wondering if there was a Context Menu tweak so when you Right click on something it shows Hide File if showing and Show File if Hidden and Show Hidden Files is on at AppData, it makes it a lot easier than going into the File Properties.

 

[Brink]

Hello Infinite,

I'll look into it, but it may be a wee bit hard to unhide a file/folder like that if it's already hidden though.

 

[Brink]

Ok Infinite,

New tutorial completed for this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/204725-file-folder-add-hide-unhide-context-menu.html

 

[Miranova23]

Cool! Nice one, thanks again Brink!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Denise. Thank you.

 

[7user78]

Another cool tutorial plus support files ! thank you Mr. Brink .
works like a charm (7 Ultimate x64)

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. I'm glad you like it.

 

[daanodinot]

Thanks for the script! The only problem is that if you want to assign the .vbs to a keyboard shortcut, via a shortcut placed in the desktop/start menu, the explorer window becomes inactive when you press the keyboard shortcut. As a result, the "F5" refresh no longer works. I was able to solve the problem with this AutoIt script:

$Key = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced"
$SHid = "ShowSuperHidden"
$Hid = "Hidden"

If RegRead($Key, $Hid) = 2 Then
RegWrite($Key, $Hid, "REG_DWORD", 1)
RegWrite($Key, $SHid, "REG_DWORD", 0)

ElseIf RegRead($Key, $SHid) = 0 Then
RegWrite($Key, $SHid, "REG_DWORD", 1)

Else
RegWrite($Key, $Hid, "REG_DWORD", 2)
RegWrite($Key, $SHid, "REG_DWORD", 0)
EndIf

ControlFocus("[CLASS:CabinetWClass]", "", "[CLASSirectUIHWND]")
Send("{F5}")

As you can see, I've also edited the toggle somewhat to allow for all 3 possible combinations of hidden files with one keyboard shortcut. I found this a bit more intuitive. If you have AutoIt installed: please compile it and try it out

If anyone is able to get the same result in a .vbs script, please let me know!

 

[Swiftkidd]

You're most welcome. I'm glad you like it.

I like this but is it possible to exclude certain files from showing up such as Thumbs.db and Desktop.ini ? I added.ico extensions to My Music folder in order to display them as full flat thumbnail view similar to XP and prefer this explorer context menu then 'ToggleHiddenFiles' as it runs as a constant process but would prefer if it didn't show Thumbs.db & Desktop.ini.

I guess I want 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' and not Show protected operating system files (Recommended) ? I'm also curious why does it display little icon shield in the context menu

Thanks

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. I'm glad you like it.

I like this but is it possible to exclude certain files from showing up such as Thumbs.db and Desktop.ini ? I added.ico extensions to My Music folder in order to display them as full flat thumbnail view similar to XP and prefer this explorer context menu then 'ToggleHiddenFiles' as it runs as a constant process but would prefer if it didn't show Thumbs.db & Desktop.ini.

I guess I want 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' and not Show protected operating system files (Recommended) ? I'm also curious why does it display little icon shield in the context menu

Thanks

Hello Swiftkidd,

Correct, you could use step 4 in Option One to not have protected OS files unhidden. These would included the desktop.ini and thumbs.db files.

 

[Swiftkidd]

Hello Swiftkidd,

Correct, you could use step 4 in Option One to not have protected OS files unhidden. These would included the desktop.ini and thumbs.db files.

Thanks for the prompt reply, I must have missed that section

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[KreAch3R]

Hello Brink,

I've been using your tweak for some time now, and given the chance that I registered, I would like to thank you, it's been very useful!

I wanted to expand its functionality though, and insert it into the Windows 7 Libraries Context Menu. With a little googling I found the place where I should place it is here:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibraryFolder\Background]

It seems to work, the option appears in the context menu but when I click on it, I get the following error:

I don't have the knowledge to pursue it any further. I hope you do!

 

[Brink]

Hello KreAch, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'm not sure what you mean. This context menu already gets added to the context menu in libraries.

What did you want to right click on and see this context menu at?

 

[KreAch3R]

Hello KreAch, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'm not sure what you mean. This context menu already gets added to the context menu in libraries.

What did you want to right click on and see this context menu at?

Thank you for the warm welcome.

You are right. I had modified an earlier version (I guess) of this tweak to install into Program Files, and that version didn't include the Library shortcut. When I tried to re-invent the wheel and create it on my own (I didn't know of your version) the error showed up.

Nevertheless, everything is OK now. I removed my version, installed yours and modified it to run from my Program Files folder.

So, thank you for your support. Keep up the good work.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome KreAch. I'm glad that it was able to work for you.

 

[M18XR2]

"Show" or "Don't show" hidden files, folders, drives, and protected operating system files


thats the ability of the added context menu. however is it possible to have some of these functions on a separate menu? If possible I'd like to see show hidden files separate from show protected operating system files.. wondering if thats possible

 

[Brink]

Hello M18XR2,

I shall look into it tomorrow to see what I may be able to come up with, and post back.

 

[M18XR2]

Hello M18XR2,

I shall look into it tomorrow to see what I may be able to come up with, and post back.

thanks brink you're a life saver !!