Hi R. C. White and Bob,

Sorry I have taken some time in getting back to you had a few problems at
work that needed sorting out.

Yes I can see all the hidden files and folders and with the command Dir /s I
have a screen full,

Paul

"R. C. White" wrote:

Hi, Bob.

Dir /s shows subfolders - all the way down - so you get all files and
folders in the entire tree.

Dir c:\ /s/a is a command that I use often to see ALL files, no matter where
they are and no matter what attributes may be set. The c:\ (or other drive
letter) starts at the Root of the drive, /s shows the whole tree and /a show
all the files. Dir C:\ help*.* /s/a will show every file that starts with
"help", no matter the extension, location, attributes or anything else.
That's my "brute force" command when all else fails to find a file that I
KNOW is there...somewhere.

In Paul's case, he knows the folder name (although he hasn't told us), so he
can cd to that folder and save some time. If that doesn't work, he can
start in "\", the Root, and search the whole volume. He may have time for a
cup of coffee - or even lunch, if it's a big drive with lots of files.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

"Bob" wrote in message
. ..
Dir /s shows the whole nine yards.

"R. C. White" wrote in message
...
Hi, Paul.

Now, what do you see with a simple Dir? How about Dir /a?

When I opened an Administrator:Command Prompt window and tried your
attrib -h *.* (I had to add a space after the -h, as Bob instructed.) in
my C:\Windows\System32 folder I got hundreds of lines of "Access
denied..." because I was (unintentionally) telling Vista to remove the
Hidden attribute from all those system files.

So I switched to C:\ and tried it again. This time, I got just two
lines:
C:\attrib -h *.*
Not resetting system file - C:\hiberfil.sys
Not resetting system file - C:\pagefile.sys

That's because Vista was refusing to reset the Hidden attribute for those
two system files. But now there are no hidden files on C:\ and I can see
all files and folders in C:\ by using the simple Dir command.

But if I use Dir /a, the /a shows me not just files and folders, but
Junctions, too - AND those two .sys files from which Attrib wouldn't
clear the Hidden attribute. Dir shows 1 File and 12 Directories; Dir /a
shows 3 files and 16 Directories, including the Recycle Bin and System
Volume Information, which don't show with the simple Dir - even after the
Hidden attribute is removed from *.*.

So, in an Administrator:Command Prompt window, cd to the folder that
holds your hidden files. Enter Dir /a. What do you see?

RC

"PAS" wrote in message
...
Hello R. C. White,

I have just rebooted my computer, I have the Administrator Command
Prompt on
my screen, at this point before when I typed attrib -h*.* the screen
just
flashed, I now have text within the black screen.

There are nine lines of text all starting, Not resetting system file....

Paul

"R. C. White" wrote:

Hi, Paul.

tried the below,

You tried WHAT below?

At what point does:
a black screen flashes onto the screen but not long enough

Step by step, HOW to you open the Administrator:Command Prompt. I do
this
often and it never just "flashes". The window stays open until I
dismiss
it. And any command I run in this window "runs elevated".

In an earlier post you said:
Yes I am logged on as Administrator,

Just to be clear: Start | All Programs | Accessories, right-click on
Command Prompt, then Run as Administrator. You'll need to furnish
Administrator credentials to get past here.

Even if you are already running as AN administrator, this is what you
need
to do to open the Administrator:Command Prompt as THE Administrator.
In
Vista, there really are two levels of administrator; only THIS one is
GOD.

You shouldn't really need THE Administrator credentials to run the
Attrib
command, but there may be some restrictions that you might not know
about or
might have forgotten about. But the window should stay open as long as
you
want, plenty of time to see whatever you need to see.

RC

"PAS" wrote in message
...
Hi Bob,

tried the below, a black screen flashes onto the screen but not long
enough
to read any thing, but still no luck in viewing the folder and its
contents.

I have retrieved the files using Search and copied them to another
folder.

I have run every type of Anti virus, Malware, Spyware program, I have
tried
all the system restores. the only other thing I can think of is
running
the
recovery program.

But any other ideas before I go for that.

Paul

"Bob" wrote:

Try this.
Open an administrator command prompt and navigate to the folder.
Type
attrib -h *.* and press Enter.

Or open an administrator command prompt. Type [path] attrib -h *.*
and
press
Enter.


"Bob F." wrote in message
...
"PAS" wrote in message
...
Hello Bob F.
Yes I am logged on as Administrator, and I have followed the link
and
followed the instructions, the icons in the Control panel
disappear
briefly
when I click Apply but when I go to the folder where I know there
are
hidden
files there is nothing, If I copy this folder to an external hard
drive
and
then connect it to another computer I can view the files.
Paul

I am out of ideas. I've never had these steps fail. Maybe
someone
else
can help.
Bob F.


"Bob F." wrote:

"PAS" wrote in message
...
Hi Bob F.
The box you indicated is greyed out.

Paul
See:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial130.html
Note items 6 and 7.
Bob F.


"Bob F." wrote:

"PAS" wrote in message
...
Hi Bob F.

I can not uncheck the Do Not Show Hidden files or folders
it
just
highlites
the text, if I click on the line below Show hidden files
and
folders
the
blue
marker moves to show it has been selected but when either I
click
apply
or
ok
I get the same result I can not view hidden files.


Ok you are about there. You are right. Just click on "Show
hidden
files
and folders" Then what I left out was:
Hit the first rectangular box, in the View Window, above that
says
"Apply
to
Folders".
Bob F.