Recover Files Infected by the Shortcut Virus
How to open or recover shortcut files on USB flash drive
"I have a USB flash drive and use it to save all of my favorite pictures and important documents. But, this morning when I connected it to a computer, it was infected by a virus, and suddenly all the files turned into shortcuts. My files, images, and folders on my pen drive were not accessible. I am wondering if it's possible to recover shortcut files and how to open shortcut files in pen drive?
A shortcut virus is a type of malware that combines the characteristics of a Trojan and a worm. It targets USB drives, external hard drives, and SD memory cards, hiding the actual files and folders on these devices and replacing them with shortcuts having the same names. When an infected drive is connected to a computer, the virus transfers to the PC, affecting the files stored on it.
This annoying issue makes it difficult for people to open or view files, but it's possible to recover virus-infected files and retrieve shortcut files from a pen drive or other USB flash drives.
Solution 1. Recover Shortcut Files Using CMD
If the flash drive is not formatted, the shortcut files should be stored in the hardware under a hidden mode, allowing them to be recovered using CMD by following specific steps.
Step 1. To open Command Prompt as an administrator, press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box, type "cmd", and then click "Command Prompt". Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start button and select "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the menu. This will open the Command Prompt window with administrator privileges, allowing you to execute commands that require elevated permissions.
Step 2. The command "attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.*" is used to remove the read-only, system, and hidden attributes from all files and folders on the current drive. Here's a breakdown of the command:
If you can't find the files you want on your pen drive, you can try recovering shortcut files with Qiling data recovery software. Otherwise, you can follow the steps to check your files on the pen drive. If you still can't find what you're looking for, this solution might be worth a try.
Solution 2. Recover Shortcut Files with Qiling Data Recovery Software
If the CMD command can't unhide the files and recover shortcut files, don't give up, you can use Qiling hard drive data recovery software to recover files infected by shortcut virus from hard drives and other storage devices.
Qiling data recovery program excels not only in virus attack recovery but also in recovering deleted files from USB flash drives or pen drives.
Step 1. Select file types and click "Next" to start
Run Qiling virus file recovery software on your Windows PC, select the desired file types, and click "Next" to initiate the recovery process.
Step 2. Select the virus infected drive to scan
To scan for lost or hidden files, select the disk attacked by the virus. This is a crucial step in the process, as it allows the system to identify and recover any files that may have been deleted or hidden by the virus. It's worth noting that this step should be performed with caution, as the virus may attempt to interfere with the scanning process.
- If a virus has hidden or deleted files on an HDD, it's recommended to install recovery software on a different volume or an external USB drive to prevent overwriting of existing data.
- If the infected device is an external hard drive, flash drive or memory card, it doesn't matter to install the software on the local drive of the computer.
Step 3. Check all scanned results
Deep Data Recovery will immediately start a scan process to find deleted or hidden files on the virus-infected hard drive. To quickly locate wanted files, you can use the Filter or type grouping feature to display only pictures, videos, documents, emails, etc.
Step 4. Preview and recover deleted/hidden files
After the scanning process is complete, you can preview the recovered files. Select the desired files and click the "Recover" button to restore them. It's essential to save the recovered files to a different, secure location on your computer or storage device, rather than the original location where they were lost.
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