Files on External/Flash Drive Changed to Shortcuts Virus

Issue

I caught a virus on my flash drive at work and it appears to have changed all my file names to short cuts. I believe I’ve cleaned the virus but how do i get my files back so that I can view them?

Solution

* If you did not format your flash drive, then check whether the files are not in hidden mode.
* Click on “Start” –>Run–>type cmd and click on OK.
* Check your external Drive letter in My Computer
* Here I assume your external drive as G:
* Enter this command.
* attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.*
* Delete the unnecessary shortcuts.

Note: Replace the letter g with your flash drive letter.

Still problem? Write down in comments section.

Edit: Usually this happens when your system is affected by TOEUW.EXE malware/virus . Here is How to Remove TOEUW.EXE malware/virus

Don’t miss to read the comments section, there are some other methods mentioned.



About Jose Tinto

Professional blogger, technology enthusiast and the founder of HelloWeb. Follow us on Twitter at @techjunoon, or subscribe to techjunoon via Emailfor more updates. Add me to your Google+ circles.

Comments

  1. tredlow says:

    One more step: After doing all that, remove and reconnect your flash drive.

  2. chanchal says:

    dear friend, one of my friend told me how to recover my files, by changing the file names and removing the dot extesion in all the folder names. then i opened the folders and cut the files and pasted them in the another disk. then i emptied my disk like this and formated the hdd. next time i opened the hdd again,the virus has actuaaly transferred into the system,so every time that i connect the drive to the system it becomes infected again… im badly stuch..plssssssssssssss help…!!

    • Jose Tinto says:

      This is because your system is affected by the virus. Update your antivirus patterns and do a full system scan.

      If not resolved try the ComboFix method.

  3. logi says:

    Thanks it works fine for me.

  4. kirby says:

    Hi,

    I am working in a small company and since it’s rapidly growing I run pay every week. Thus we sometimes have problems with our payroll system during execution -;) which very slow in reponding.

    I am using sbs 2008 and thinking of putting a department server in our finance department. Does anyone have any tips on how to implement this or any other suggestions to fix this headache? I would very much appreciate your help.

    Kind regards,
    k

  5. Noah says:

    Please, someone help me out!!! I’m using a mac, is there anyway to fix this using a mac? There aught to be be right? Can’t find a suitable method… Please help me! I need all my files back!!!

  6. Ana-Maria says:

    Thank you a lot! It was very helpful. I thought i lost my project :)

  7. Anil Butola says:

    thank u so much…recovered all important files…it really works..

  8. george says:

    thank you very much cabbagefog. followed your instruction and it worked.

  9. Joline says:

    Thank you very much for the info! After doing exactly what you sasid here I was able to view and fix my memory card! You Rock Dude!! :D

  10. Rodnic says:

    Thank you, the information was very helpful.

  11. kuchiki says:

    Dude… i tried all your method.. but still didn’t change it back… is there any software i can use to change it back…. ( who the hell creating this stupid virus….and make others suffer…)

  12. nipuna marcus says:

    thanx dude …..thank you very much……………………..it’s work ……….awesome

    guys just copy and paste that command given above on to ur cmd then it’ll take 30 or 20 sec to turn ur shortcuts to turn to real files…………………

    ha ha it’s works…………

    actually what that command does dude?…………plz explain me………..

  13. krishna says:

    sir i have tried your technique …but my problem is still continuous…and after using the cmd
    attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.* ….
    its giving the access denied..and not unhiding

  14. anushka says:

    Thank you. You are amazing!

  15. Sangeeth says:

    thank u so much…recovered all important files…it really works..

  16. Hazem says:

    it worked fine with me, now it is removed from my BB device and meeory card, i belive my laptop now is clean

  17. surya says:

    thanq so much cabbagefogs

  18. Omee says:

    Worked for me!! thank you!!! :D :D

  19. reaz rahman says:

    thanks man… it really works…… thank u so much

  20. Ryan says:

    Thanks ……. your help info saved me a lot of valuable info… …..THANKS.

  21. afif says:

    hey bro its working.. thanks a lot……

  22. bramha prakash mohanty says:

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.*
    when i typed this and enterd it replied that parameters(means -) are not correct.what to do??????
    plz reply soon……

  23. Anand says:

    Thanks Jose.
    I tried this with a flash USB infected with 606de21.exe
    AVG found and removed the virus but didn’t solve the problem. Following the above instructions worked at treat!

  24. Kannan says:

    Thanks a lot, this helped me to recover my Honeymoon Photos… :-)

    * Enter this command.
    * attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.*

  25. cameron says:

    My flash drive was just working the night before but this morning when i tryed to use it sayed that it was not recognized and that it had malfunctioned. I googled whether i could fix it and it sayed i had to reformat it. i was wondering if there was any way i could fix it without deleting every thing on it

  26. Ore4444 says:

    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
    You just saved my life when I thought everything was doomed.
    I even started listening to Depeche Mod

  27. resolved says:

    thank you for the solution it worked just fine for me ! :)

  28. Mangala says:

    I used remover for win32 gaelicum.a virus now it says I have 1worm.generic.cjo too. what should I do?

  29. Mangala says:

    My flash drive folders cant open. It shows but type is application like .exe, and shows 237 and 233KB. How Im get open my folders? help please.

  30. Bonvivant says:

    Experiencing severe snafu. Instructions in comments are helpful but I am unable to access the internet because of a separate malware that causes tabs to malfunction-IE 7 and Safari keep crashing. I am unable to delete gairo and gairox viruses as well and autorun.inf viruses on my usb drives. I’ve scanned those disks with ESET NOD on a mac computer but when I run them on the PC they are acting up again. I’ve tried running windows in safe mode and deleting these viruses manually but to no avail. I do not have a virus program (okay call me stupid) installed so I can not scan. My only thought now is a complete restore of my hard drive unless someone has a plan.

  31. Dawoud says:

    Thanks…you are such a genius. It WORKED :D

  32. kay_k says:

    Thank you very April…it really helped.

  33. Jake says:

    Okay I ran Combofix, and Alot of my space was cleared but some of the folders in my C drive are still invisible there was like a $ next to the folders its gone but its still Hidden, How do i fix this?

  34. Rahul says:

    Thanks a lot…
    For the first time.. i was able to remove a virus without using any Antivirus Tool… Didn’t knew much abt this shitty “Shortcut Virus”
    Your Blog..helped me to clean up my 1TB of External HDD..

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.*

    really worked…!!!

  35. Kenneth Soria says:

    Access denied all. not worked. more command need help!!!!

  36. Nabillaindah says:

    how to? it doesn’t working on my PC. It was Windows7. And it was my External infected. I had nearly 500GB on my external.
    When I try those method, it doesn’t working. Help me please…..

  37. cabbagefog says:

    your welcome. may Allah bless you guys in this life too. Amen.
    - See Ya In Anotha Life, Brotha ! –

  38. need_help says:

    how to change the transparent file back to normal?

  39. Kibromey says:

    after using that command still there is a problem some short cut are available.

  40. Salman Nazim says:

    bravooo! thanks alot dear this command is magic wao
    dear use space after
    attrib
    -h
    -r
    -s
    /s
    /d
    note=it wil work on windows 7

  41. Carrotcake says:

    you are a lifesaver. thank you so much. God bless always. it works :D

  42. Nick29 says:

    Hi, i have windows 7 and i did the run attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.*
    and as admin rights and nothing it wont let me :s any other solution???

  43. Izett Foster says:

    Thanks a lot…….I have successfully recovered my files. Your information was the source of my help.

  44. Masss019 says:

    Thanks a lot.

  45. vedant kumar says:

    thank you so much…Strijelcina
    now pan drive is working fine..again thank you

  46. sathish says:

    thank you boss its work

  47. Puneet Nuhani says:

    Hi, the icons in my external hard disk got changed to the Shortcuts. i scanned my Hard disk through a antivirus and all the folders became Hidden. After that i formatted my external hard drive 5-6 times. Now it has got 2 hidden folders named RECYCLER and System Volume Information, which on scanning each time shows a virus name LNK_IRCBOT.SMW. Can anybody help me on this? I have very very very Important stuff in my laptop and i need to take the backup. Please Help! :-/

  48. Rachel says:

    cabbagefog, Thanks so muchhh… I got my files backkk!!! :D !!!

  49. Tboy says:

    These steps are very simple and work perfectly. Thank you again and again.

  50. AHMED says:

    cabbagefog

    THANKSSSSSSSSS 100000% WORKING

  51. nanete says:

    I used this solution and I can deleted all the unwanted files….The problem is still there because as soon as I open a folder on the stick, another unwanted shortcut file appears or an unwanted folder.
    Thanks for help,
    Nanete

  52. Ara says:

    just wanna share this to be aware sometimes…i was in the computer shop and asked one of their rep. if he can make me a picture mosaic for a gift, i gave him my usb drive to open the pictures. I don’t know what he did. He tried to open something in my drive w/c i dont know (he’s fast). then suddenly he said to me that the pics wasn’t there. Until i realized all my files became 1KB. I asked him why all my files in 1KB? He replied nothing. then when i open it in my office all my files 1kb and all gone.. STUPID MAN!! Anyway Thank You so much cabbagefog!! i found the hidden files because of you but don’t know what happen to the pics still wasn’t there.seems it’s already empty lucky me i have back up in my laptop.. anyway thanks again.. =) Godbless!

  53. Karthik says:

    Dear Brother

    Thanks it work for me, Be successes for ever… Recovered all my IMP FILES

  54. Zorro says:

    Thanx cabbageFog.. that helped! finally….

  55. rohan ranbhise says:

    sir,
    I have problem with my 8 gb spy pen. Recently i have recorded a video clip on my spy pen. now my spy pen’s drive show’s 7.16gb of data but 202 mb data is shown in drive & there are some files (avi)show’s the size 1 kb. I can’t open that files. I think this happen’s because of any virus, but the files on this drive are very confidential & legal. It is very important to recover these files.
    the drive is in FAT format. I never format the drive.
    So i request you please please immedieatly help me to recover my data. It’s urgent………….. please.

  56. sunil says:

    This was a lifesaver!! Worked liked a charm.
    Thanks.

  57. Mukesh&Bobby says:

    Hi dude Me and my Frd had 1Tb & 500Gb hard disk which got affected by the shortcut virus ur hints solved tht issue great work dude

  58. peter olasupo says:

    the files are still not recovered its writing access denied

  59. indhumathi says:

    dear sir.,

    on my destkop , all my files ,programs and folders become shortcut.

    when i delete it through recyclebin., it will delete.
    but when i create a new shortcut files on my desktop
    (right click->send to ->desktop) , than again it will be attacked by the shortcut virus.

    please send me the suggestion as soon as possible

  60. ksbwings says:

    Genius, ur info is supportive and working. thanks alot.

  61. yogendra says:

    my all orginal files changes to shorcut key on pen drive plz help abut solution any sol…………..n…………………

    • kirby says:

      try delete the shortcuts and run ‘attrib -h -r -s /s /d usb drive letter(eg:F):*.*
      go to command prompt and type “attrib -h -r -s /s /d f:*.*

  62. Hammad says:

    THANKX ALLOT IT REALLY WORKS!!!!

  63. kirby says:

    Can anyone help?
    My usb drive and 4gb memory card are inaccessible when connected. A driver letter is given but hardly to access. It says “Do you want to format your drive F”.

    I am using Windows 7 Pro.

    Would appreciate your help

  64. Prasad says:

    My problem is solved than Q very much
    Prasad

  65. Arul says:

    hey thank u friend. i got my problem rectified

  66. raviteja chinnambeti says:

    your solution is superb and it worked thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

  67. Ale Oluwasanmi says:

    My flash caught virus and affected my documents in the flash , I deleted the shortcuts. I want to know if I can still recover the documents and how do I go about it.

  68. Markus Tiong says:

    Fantastic! It saved my files.
    TQ

  69. Iris says:

    the comand don’t funcion on my 1tb disk

  70. simiona says:

    hi and still access denied…im using window xp

  71. Morteza says:

    thanks buddy
    it worked.

  72. linadass says:

    hi…can you tell me ..how to make pendrive to detect ..
    i hv tried so many work way..
    unable chkdsk..
    already uninstall and reinstall usb root
    just that upperfilter and lowerfilter unable to delete
    any other way?

    • Jose Tinto says:

      It’s quiet possible that your pen drive gone defective. Have you tried with any other USB device in the system?

  73. Maria J says:

    I took my flashdrive to get a document printed. When put in the persons computer, all my folders appeared as shortcuts. She told me that has been happening a while now on her system. I returned to work and scanned to realise it was a Worm/Generic2.Ausi and all folders on the fdrive still appears as shortcuts and is not opening. Can I retrieve my IMPORTANT Documents? I have scanned the fdrive but still appears as shortcuts

    • Jose Tinto says:

      Please follow the steps mentioned in the article and some of the methods mentioned in the comments. If it still not working let us know.

  74. Hssan k.Rutto says:

    Each an every flask drive ejected into my laptop turns the folders into shortcut.Could it be that the laptop is infected?

  75. Hssan k.Rutto says:

    Hi,I recoflask drivevered the folders ,in my flask drivebut it keeps recurrring.
    Also everytime I eject into the computer,it shows that there is a virus named “guuajuk”is it that my computer is infected?Please assist.

  76. Brice says:

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.* worked for me, Thank you.

  77. guggan says:

    thx dude… it works for me :D

  78. shravani says:

    hi jack….I don’t know how to thank you for this… actually one of my friend said about this website when i have trouble with my pen drive..It is of in urgent to send all the documents to my office, at this neck moment this problem(shortcuts) occurred….by doing this…. I felt really happy and it is really great… thank you very much…

  79. freewindwz says:

    thanks so much 4 ur help. It realy worked 4 me.

  80. Fareed Ahmed Quidwai says:

    Dear All,
    Wolf’s method works perfectly. I am out of trouble.
    However, in my case, it didnt show these 3 files and took longer to show the folders. may be because I had so many MP3s.
    Therefore, dont just give up immediately, wait for a while before trying something different.
    moreover, I found 2 new folders called Found and found0.1
    I deleted them both.

  81. Asish says:

    Comment Removed!

  82. Allan says:

    Worked perfectly. Thanks!!!

  83. ARKT says:

    thanx alot man

  84. lindokuhle says:

    oh my gosh thank you, thank you ,thank you so much it worked! you are a life saver or should i say file saver. thank you

  85. Nikki says:

    Here is what the situation is…..i plugged my usb into a my sister friends laptop and all the files turned into shortcuts….however i still had access to these files. A few days later i plugged my usb in to my sisters laptop and now i cant access the files….i tried everything that was suggested but nothing has worked. But here the strange thing, yesturday my teacher sent a file to my usb and on the computer all the files looked normal…meaning without any shortcut icons on them so i thought that the situation was fixed….how wrong i was…so can anyone help my….i really really need those file as it contains info that is very important

  86. Daniel says:

    ive tried that in the cmd it worked but when i unplugged my external hardrive and plugged it back my files turned into shortcuts again please help

  87. sharif says:

    Thanks for your help it solved my problem.
    God bless you and your family.

    Thanks and best wishes

  88. Mostafa says:

    Allah bless you,IT WORKED!

  89. vinoz says:

    ty alot bro…
    you rock…god bless you…

  90. khurr says:

    thnx cabbagefog

  91. sarah says:

    thank you..saved a year long research project…my bf forgot to make a copy. Thank you.

  92. harmit says:

    threatexpert.com/report.aspx?md5=af5ec168d7729de093655472f5bcc5c8

    Step1: Use task manager and stop “service196.exe” 196 could be any number.
    Step2: Find this in windows folder and delete it
    Step3 : remove all registry entry for this exe file. Normally uses name “Adobe Reader Speed Launcher”
    Step 4: remove autorun.inf and recycle folder from external pendrives etc.
    =================
    To recover file folder. They are just hidden.
    attrib -h -r -s /s /d F:\*.*
    F could be any external drive.

    • Dee says:

      Harmit,
      i did the command prompt solution but didn’t work for me. It keeps saying access denied. Any more suggestions? Thanks

      Dee

  93. khalid says:

    thx so much , rly u saved my life :D

  94. rajaji says:

    it helps and my lost files are protected. try it. follow what other person has done it.

  95. chandu says:

    thnk q buddy

  96. i hate viruses!!!!!!!!!!!!!! says:

    i dont know if i formated my drive.
    does it work with external hard drives?
    PLS RESPOND

  97. tyrany says:

    yes….. thanks a lot…… thank u very much

  98. tyrany says:

    wow! thanks a lot it worked…… thank u very much

  99. marko says:

    thankssss! it helps!
    dammit!

  100. Vinny says:

    Thankx very much!

  101. Beau says:

    Thanks dude, saved 2TB of data…

  102. Jd says:

    Thanks A Million

  103. tina b. says:

    THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS TUTORIAL SAVED ME.

  104. farhan says:

    Thanx a lot

  105. karua baru says:

    Hi there,

    My files & folders in the external hdd have change icons to shortcut icon for some reason. I put the external hdd in another laptop which was badly harmed by virus and had this problem. That laptop is gone and now can’t access my files & folders from my laptop. I deleted those shortcut icons before I did the troubleshooting. I type “attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.* but access was denied are showing to those files whilst in cmd.

    Is there any posible ways to fix this?

    • Jose Tinto says:

      Are you using a Windows 7 system? If yes, use “Run as Administrator” option to open the Command prompt.

      • Karua B says:

        Yes, I am using windows 7 and did run it as Administrator, but still can’t.

        thanks,
        KB

      • Karua B says:

        Hi Mate, this is the message I get;
        “Access denied – F:\System Volume Information” from command prompt.

        Where F is my external drive letter being given on my pc.

        Cheers,
        Karua

        • My says:

          I’m having the same problem as you, did you ever find a solution?

        • My says:

          I just managed to solve the problem myself, I did it by activating the hidden administrator user (in cmd: net user administrator /active:yes), and then it worked to run the attrib command.

  106. ina says:

    totally worked!it was like magic!!!
    thank you!

  107. jaspreet says:

    hi jose,my computer might be infected by a virus whenever i open any compressed file system hangsn i had to restart so please can u help me out with dis,…….

  108. Jose Tinto says:

    Hi Tom, have you tried to delete the Autorun.inf in Safe Mode? Still it don’t work then disable your current antivirus and try to delete the Autorun.inf file.

    Either of these two should work.

  109. rowena parone says:

    attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.* command works for me. thanks for the help!

  110. Tom says:

    Have the exact same problem as Malik on my hard drive. Have tried virtually all the solutions i can find and none have worked. Have seen the autorun.inf but cant delete it because apparantly it is running other processes which are interfering – or it says it can’t gain access to it. Have tried out virtually all different kinds of commands in cmd but no luck.

    I have checked all processes on my computer and all locations are regular and i don’t believe any are malicious. When I unhide the files through the command prompt or through the control panel no new processes are run.

    Internet doesn’t work on the computer so i cant download new antivirus software to remove it.

    Really not looking good….but thanks to everyone for providing solutions.

  111. ciproflox says:

    Dear Cabbagefog thanx a ton for your tips it worked and saved my pendrive with folders and files in it.

    thanx
    GOD Bless

  112. Yousram says:

    problem solved, for some reason on my sisters pc i was able to open the files..i copied them and deleted the shortcuts (as they werent viruses)
    TADA
    so happy

  113. Malik says:

    when i open my external HD, all the folders a part form 1 folder has change into 3kb-shortcut and still HD shows same level of consumption of space,
    the data in the HD is very important, can not tolerate loose..

    when i double click the shortcut file (which previously was folder) – i flash cmd prompt window and nothing open……..

    please help me ……

    • george says:

      i cant access my folders on an external hard disk coz they changed to shortcut and after running the attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.* its indicating access denied at the command prompt

  114. electrocrat says:

    Try this:
    After “attrib -r -s -h /S /D” type:

    del ?????????????????????????.pif
    del ?????????????????????????.exe

    These commands delete all .pif(shortcuts) and .exe files created by viruses in the parent directory of your pendrive. Number of question marks depends on the longest file name.

  115. Yousram says:

    Hi, i have a different problem but somewhat ended up with the same outcome.

    i was at the library and started the pc, and i plugged my usb right away.
    when i logged in the pc, all the files in my usb were shortcuts to the system/32
    but i was still able to access the content of my files.

    now that im on my pc at home, nothing works. i just want to know how can i convert the shortcuts to my files, or still access them..would i need to go back to the computer in the library to fix it?

    PLEASE help :(

  116. Aasmin kainth says:

    ma awl credit goes to Strijelcina
    so, Strijelcina thanx!!

    may god bless ya!!!…………………………

    -Aasmin kainth

  117. Justine says:

    cabbagefog Gracias..God bless U.

  118. Chad Fletcher says:

    worked like a charm

  119. yussuf says:

    Thanks your information has been very helpful.

  120. Kandemarn says:

    Thank you very much…It did work for me…

  121. jazmenn says:

    I tried the whole methods but am still at loggerheads with this issue please someone help

  122. Biswajit Acharya says:

    Thanks for the suggetions, it worked.

    • ronald says:

      i recently plugged my flip video camcorder into a computed infected with the shotcut virus … now its not pickin up on the computer …. i plugged it in another computer an it say searchin for installer driverss…. but not being found.. what can i do ??????????????????????? emergency got some videoss thats needs to be shown

  123. tersoo says:

    Im sorry but I tried everything you recommended but it dint work out, my folders are still short cuts and i cant access them.I have scanned my computer and external hard drive and found no varius or malware but the problem persists.

  124. Jose Tinto says:

    You must attempt the cmd method first before you do anything.

    • Bushman says:

      Jo, thankx heaps mate..

      i followed your instruction to remove visur that turns folders into shorcuts..it works for me and many thanks.

      cheers
      Bushman

  125. Xtrekter says:

    Hey this is just what i was lookin 4! B4 i do the whole thing, i just want to clarify. If i run my anti virus scan (avast) and delete infected folders which have become shortcuts (which it picks up and allows to be deleted), will i be able to access the contents of those folders? Or should i use the cmd approach?

  126. Brian says:

    Thanks!! It worked for me.. God Job! God bless you!

  127. Kuka says:

    Thaaaanks, mate!!

  128. ahdi says:

    tnx a lot ..it workss… muaahhh.. i tot i was going to lose my files… my important files..tnx tnx

  129. Bonny says:

    i tried this command- attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.* in cmd
    but it says unable to change attribute – (file address)

    What do i do ? Pls reply fast

  130. ramdha says:

    thanks! its really working! great job dude! thanks!

  131. Vignesh says:

    Amazing Its working fine with me…….thanks a lot..

  132. Elvis Asomah says:

    pls, i want you to overcome this malicious problem which is affecting my external drive by turning the folder into an executable file and hidden file, unless i go over to folder option to unchecked the hide operating system file before i can retrieve my file which not the best. pls i need a solution to mitigate this problem.

  133. John says:

    at first i was in trouble as i’ve concatenated -s/s/d rather than writing them as -s /s /d. finally all my PRECIOUS FOLDERS are returned and i’ve deleted thouse MALICIOUs folders.

    thanks a lot for ur genuine help!

  134. Jose Tinto says:

    Glad to hear that the solution helped some.

  135. Suneer says:

    Amazing its works in my flash very good, removed all the folder shortcuts. thanks for your advice.

  136. nekz says:

    im with win7 and there is a folder cssrs.exe (application) which cannot be deleted..and always prompt during my start up..how can i delete it? help plz..

  137. abey27 says:

    cabbagefog i love you…….kisses, hugs etc. etc. ……….may god bestow all his kindness upon you

  138. Joanna says:

    Hi,
    I want to extract the virus and keep it because I want to infect my usb several times to experiment different ways to remove this virus. Is there a way?

    Thank you

  139. Bluegal says:

    Wow it works! Thanks!! =D

  140. Thelma Davids says:

    Thanks shooooeee!

  141. faaez says:

    it works!….thanks a lot man…………

  142. lily says:

    If we use this command- attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:*.*
    will the hard drive get formatted and will all the files and folders be deleted???

  143. Mike says:

    tried the cmd option like this

    G:\>ATTRIB -s -h -r…
    but what i get in return is ‘ATTRIB-s-h-r is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.’

    how do i go about it?

  144. George says:

    Thanks so much because it worked in no minutes. I had a friend who had to take some bucks for the work and failed but it was a timely solution.

  145. Josh says:

    I tried the above it worked fine yesterday, today it happened again, this time when i go to the hard drive i click on tools then folder option, its on for a second then it goes off, tried to run and typed cmd entered on for a sec same thing goes off. frustrating, plz help!!

  146. Joel says:

    Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  147. STL says:

    Thank you very much. the commands solved the problem and i have helped a friend to avoid losing 5 years of his work on the portable drive.

  148. mir says:

    i tried
    ATTRIB -s -h -r
    ATTRIB -s -h -r /S /D
    but my files are still protected. ive got a bazillion folders and can’t do the manual new-folder-copy-files things. Anyone have a solution?
    Using vista.

  149. infant raj says:

    my desktop is affected by the same problem. files on pen drive are changed to shortcuts. the thing here is i cant even use the RUN. then how to view my files. can u?

  150. tata says:

    what should i do if my folder name has a space on it??
    example “my folder”
    plssss help!
    CMD cant find folders that contains space on it name!

    • Jose Tinto says:

      DOS will accept only 8 characters for folders. So have to use ~1 after 6 characters for long folders. In your example,

      cd myfold~1

  151. dazsipare says:

    what is the true solution for all this crap!!i have try many tips that u give…but still same…lolz….that nothing we can do….the best way is……format ur pc……..thats the correct ways….

  152. rachelle says:

    it worked, but when i plugged my usb back again on my computer, it turned into shortcuts again, then i tried doing the same thing but it didnt work, what can i do? i tried using mac to delete the viruses but problems still persist. help!

  153. Strijelcina says:

    I had to use cabbagefogs’ & wolf44s’ ways to fully get rid of that nasty mf:

    Follow steps from 1 – 5 (if you are using windows..):
    1) open your infected drive directory (example: drive F:\)
    2) open tool, folder option, view tab
    3) click “show hidden files & folders”
    4) UNCLICK both “Hide extension for known file type” and “Hide protected operating system files (recommended)”
    5) If there is a warning, just click yes

    /* Now you should be able to see your lost file (it is in transparent folder) and infectious files too*/ ; in my case named:

    wfdeut.exe
    wfdeutx.exe

    But surprise… there is one more resident in your User Folder:
    C:\Documents and Settings\(ie)User\wfdeutx.exe

    and if You don’t wipe and this bugger off too… It will keep coming back… on and on… (at least in my case did)

    You could of course use a Wolfs’ way all along…
    Now lets DOS…

    Hit Windows key and type cmd.exe in RUN. This takes you to command prompt.
    Open the directory of your flash drive…
    Type F: [ 'F' is the letter of your flash drive]

    Now type: ATTRIB -s -h -r /S /D

    and it will fully restore, unhide, and make visible and readable all your Directories and Files… now just delete that shortcuts…

    You could make a copy of your Flash Drive on HDD and format it (Flash Drive) just in case…

    Hope It’ll work for You as well too…

  154. Leah says:

    thank you so much…
    it works so much :D

  155. wolf44 says:

    Type cmd.exe in Run. this takes you to command prompt
    Open the directory of your flash drive
    Type d: [ 'd' is the letter of your flash drive]

    The command should now read;

    D :\>

    Now type [after D:\> ] dir/ah

    This will show all the files.

    The three files that we want to delete are

    fiuayin.exe
    fiuayinx.exe
    tere.ico

    These files have been attributed as hidden, read only and system files. now type

    ATTRIB -s -h -r

    This should remove the attributes of all files in your drive. This will recover the documents that had been hidden.

    This will also make the three files visible.
    Delete the above mentioned files, esp the first two.

    Delete all the extra shortcuts and you are clean for the moment.
    This is just a quick fix. I have tried and it works.
    Hope it works for you too.

    • merry says:

      i tried this step it works and display all hidden file but my problem is they are all infected and i wanted to delete it or format the drive it really disabled me to delete…

  156. Mayar says:

    Dear Brother

    Thanks it work for me, Be successes for ever…

  157. Paqd71 says:

    You nailed on the head cabbagefog, thanks a lot.

  158. cabbagefog says:

    Follow these steps (if you are using windows..):
    1) open your infected drive directory (example: drive F:\)
    2) open tool, folder option, view tab
    3) click “show hidden files & folders”
    4) UNCLICK both “Hide extension for known file type” and “Hide protected operating system files (recommended)”
    5) If there is a warning, just click yes

    /* Now you should be able to see your lost file (its in transparent folder)*/

    6) Enter the hidden folder, CUT all your file and PASTE it inside a new folder. (repeat this step for your other folder too)
    7) Delete all old folders that is empty and also the annoying 1kB shortcut folder. (also any suspicious folder or icon such as desktop.ini, thumb.db etc that might be virus)
    8) Dont forget to undo step 2 and 3 if your done.

    /*if you’re infected by this virus again in the future, i recommend you to put all your files and folder in just ONE folder inside your external device.(so you dont have to repeat step 6 so many time)*/

  159. Alger says:

    Thanks this solution worked for me.

  160. rajan says:

    i still have a problem i am using vista and my mobile is android i am typing as follows
    attrib -h -r -s /s /d h:*.* but problem still persists help me

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