evgeny69 Author

Level 1

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How can I reveal just windows hidden files?

Hi everyone,

I noticed that in Lion there are at least two types of hidden files:

- normal ones (with dot)

- and windows-hidden files.

Normally I don't need to see macos hidden files but I always want to see windows hidden files (like it works in ubuntu for example).

I looked through the internet and I found nothing but this command:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

It is not really helpful because it reveals both mac and windows hidden files. Plus, I need to relaunch Finder -- which makes it completely inconvenient.

How can I reveal just windows hidden files?

Thanks in advance.

Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Nov 21, 2011 2:02 AM

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Level 10

118,962 points

Nov 21, 2011 4:49 AM in response to evgeny69

How are "windows hidden" files hidden? Not having Windows, I don't know how Windows hides files.

OS X can also use a file flag to mark files/folders as hidden.

chflgs nohidden path/to/file/or/folder will turn off the hidden flag; however, you'd have to know the path to the hidden files you wanted to unhide.

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Level 10

209,709 points

Nov 21, 2011 5:52 AM in response to evgeny69

Open a Finder window on the folder you want to search. Select File > Find from the menu bar or press the key combination command-F. Select "Other..." from the pulldown menu that initially has "Kind" selected. Select "File invisible" from the list of attributes in the sheet that opens and click OK or press return. The first pulldown menu now shows "File visibility" and the one to the right of it shows "Visible items." Change the second selection to "Invisible items."

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evgeny69 Author

Level 1

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Nov 21, 2011 9:37 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E,

I was surprised too especially when I plugged in my flash drive after a bunch of windows-computers. I found there autorun-virus and all my folders were hidden even though there was no dot in their names. And I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to unhide them.

How exactly I should use chflgs nohidden? I mean, do I need to run this command every time I plug in a device or go windows-shared folder in the network? 😟

Linc Davis,

It's kinda a workaround too but it sounds the same to me as running a command. I need something permanent so I wouldn't have to always think if there is a hidden stuff (e.g. virus) or not.

Thank you guys for your help.

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Level 10

118,962 points

Nov 21, 2011 6:34 PM in response to evgeny69

The flags are file specific. There is no system-wide way (as far as I know) beside the command you already know. There is no "show hidden windows files" command, that I know of. If you know how they are hidden on Windows, that may lead to a way, but I don't know.

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evgeny69 Author

Level 1

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Nov 22, 2011 9:03 AM in response to Barney-15E

Too bad. 😟 I hope Apple will fix it soon.

Thanks for your help.

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How can I reveal just windows hidden files?

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