How to Fix Folders Turned into Shortcuts

Are you experiencing the same issue that the folders saved on your computer hard drive, external hard drive, USB, or SD card suddenly turned into shortcuts?

When you open your USB or hard drive partition in Windows Explorer, folders suddenly turn into shortcuts, and saved files become inaccessible, your device has been infected with the Shortcut virus.

Overview of Shortcut Virus Infection

Shortcut virus is a triggered issue. Once your device gets connected to the shortcuts virus, its malware will creep into your PC, USB pen drive, memory card or other removable storage devices. And then it will immediately create a shortcut of your folders with the same names, hiding the real folder and files.

You can neither open the shortcut folder nor access the saved files. What's worse, the virus will request money for decryption the folder.

If you suddenly find your folders turned into shortcuts, please take it easy! It is not horrible. Many users who have had a similar experience have found a solution. Next, we will show you how to fix folders turned into shortcut without losing data in two phrases.

Phrase 1. Remove Shortcut Virus [3 Ways]

There are three ways that you can apply to restore encrypted folders from shortcuts. You can try any one of the provided methods listed here to convert the shortcut file into the original file with ease. 

Method 1. Clear Shortcut Virus with Antivirus Software

Yes, the most effective and easiest method to remove shortcut virus is to apply Antivirus software for help.

Here is a list of highly ranked antivirus software that can clear this virus from your PC and storage devices:

• Shortcut Virus Remover
• Shortcut Virus Fixer
• USBFix
• Hitman Pro

You can also search online to find reliable software to remove this virus from your device.

Method 2. Run attrib Command

When you ask for help on how to fix folders changed into shortcuts, many experienced users will mention the CMD command prompt as a solution. And at most times, it does work to remove the shortcut virus and recover data. 

Step 1: Create a Notepad document on the Desktop of your computer.

Step 2: Copy these content into the Notepad and save the file.

• attrib -r -a -s -h /s /d
  del /f /s /q *.infMKDIR autorun.inf\Kill........\
  attrib +r +a +s +h *.inf /s /d

Step 3: Close the notepad document and rename it as "UPAN.cmd". (.cmd is the file extension.) 

• Copy the file to the device where your folders became shortcuts. 

Step 4: Double-click the .cmd file and run it. Wait for the process to complete. 

After this, the shortcuts will be removed and you should be able to access the folders and saved files again.

Method 3. Show Hidden Files

By changing the File Explorer settings, you will be able to view the files and folder that have been hidden by the shortcut virus:

Option 1. Show Hidden Files and Folder in File Explorer

Step 1: Connect the device with the folder turned into shortcuts to your PC.

Step 2: Open Windows File Explorer and open the USB or hard drive partition with shortcut folders.

Step 3: Go to the "View" tab and uncheck "Hidden items".

Option 2. Show Hidden Files with Windows Control Panel

Step 1: Open Windows Control Panel, locate and right-click on "File Explorer Option", and select "Open".

Step 2: At the View tab, under Hidden files and folders section, check "Show hidden files, folders and drivers".

: Click "OK" to confirm.

After this, you will be able to view all hidden files and folders on your device.

Phrase 2. Restore Data After Removing Shortcuts

After removing the shortcuts from your device, you can open the folders to check if the data are securely saved there.

If the data are still inaccessible, or you can't see any saved data, don't worry. Read on, you'll learn how to recover lost data after removing the shortcut virus.

First, download professional data recovery software

EaseUS EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a popular tool which enables users to fully scan and restore lost files due to deletion, formatting and even virus attack.

It also supports you to restore files that have been hidden or removed by the shortcuts virus.

Next, perform full data recovery

It will only take 3 steps to restore data from the device after removing shortcuts folders by using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:

Step 1. Select the storage location to scan

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and locate the partition or drive where your photos and videos were lost. Hover over the location and click "Search for Lost Data" to start scanning for recoverable files.

Step 2. Locate and select your lost files

When the scan is complete, browse the results and select the files you want to restore. Use the file type filter to narrow down the results, or search by file name if you remember it.

Step 3. Preview and recover photos and files

Preview the recoverable photos and files before restoring them. Select the files you want and click "Recover". Save them to another drive or an external storage device instead of the original location. You can also choose cloud storage, such as OneDrive or Google Drive, and click "Save".

(Note: The free version includes a 2GB recovery allowance. For recovering everyday photos and other files, you may not need to purchase anything. Simply select a safe destination to export your recovered ones.)