The flash drive is detected as a shortcut and does not open. Folders have become shortcuts, and the hidden attribute is inactive

Read, how to remove a virus that converts files and folders into shortcuts. How to recover data that was lost as a result of such a virus. Have your files and folders on a USB flash drive or memory card become shortcuts? Does a USB flash drive or memory card appear as a shortcut after connecting to a computer? Are you looking for how to recover data and remove a virus that converts files and folders into shortcuts? Are you using an antivirus, but your computer is still infected? Unfortunately, not all antiviruses can protect you from such infections.

Types of shortcut viruses

Today, there are two most common types of viruses that create shortcuts: the first create shortcuts instead of files and folders on a flash drive or memory card, others create shortcuts to removable drives instead of the flash drives themselves, external USB drives and memory cards.

Names of the most common viruses:

Bundpil.Shortcu;
Mal/Bundpil-LNK;
Ramnit.CPL;
Serviks.Shortcut;
Troj/Agent-NXIMal/FakeAV-BW;
Trojan.Generic.7206697 (B);
Trojan.VBS.TTE(B);
Trojan.VBS.TTE;
VBS.Agent-35;
VBS.Serviks;
VBS/Autorun.EY worm;
VBS/Autorun.worm.k virus;
VBS/Canteix.AK;
VBS/Worm.BH;
W32.Exploit.CVE-2010_2568-1;
W32.Trojan.Starter-2;
W32/Sality.AB.2;
Win32/Ramnit.A virus;
Worm:VBS/Cantix.A;

A virus that converts files and folders into shortcuts

This virus duplicates your files and folders, then hides and replaces them. The virus is a combination of a Trojan and a worm. The danger is that you run a virus every time you want to open your file or folder. Once launched, the virus spreads itself to infect more and more files and often installs additional malware that can steal passwords and credit card information stored on your computer.

Virus that converts flash drives and memory cards into shortcuts

This is a purebred Trojan virus that hides any removable devices connected to the computer and replaces them with shortcuts for these devices. Each time you click on the shortcut, you again launch the virus, which searches for financial information on your computer and sends it to the scammers who created the virus.

What to do if infected

Unfortunately, not all antiviruses can detect danger in time and protect you from infection. Therefore, the best protection would be not to use automatic startup of removable devices and not to click on shortcuts to files, folders or drives. Be careful not to click on shortcuts that you did not create yourself. Instead of double-clicking to open the disk, click on it right mouse button and select Expand in Explorer.

Recovering data deleted by a virus

To reliably recover data deleted by this type of virus, use Hetman Partition Recovery. Since the program uses low-level disk functions, it will bypass virus blocking and read all your files.

Download and install the program, then analyze the infected flash drive or memory card. Perform data recovery before cleaning the media from the virus. The most reliable treatment option is to clean the flash drive using the DiskPart command; this will delete all information on it.

Removing a virus from a memory card or USB flash drive

After recovering data from a flash drive, you can completely clear it using the DiskPart utility. Deleting all files and formatting the device may leave behind a virus that will hide in the boot sector, partition table, or unallocated area of the disk. Watch the video to see how to properly clean a flash drive.

Removing a virus from a flash drive using the command line

This method does not guarantee to clean the flash drive from all types of viruses, but it can remove a virus that creates shortcuts instead of files. You will not need to download and install third-party utilities; removal is done using the tool built into any version of Windows.

Removing a virus from a computer

The simplest and most reliable way to clean your computer from a virus is to completely reinstall Windows and delete the system partition.

But if you are an advanced user, you can try the following method:

Various USB drives, SD cards and other data storage devices connected via USB are very convenient devices available to most users. You can take such devices anywhere: to work, on vacation, to a cafe if you work there. This, of course, is all very good, but at some point a problem may occur with the flash drive, which we will talk about today.

I, and most likely other users, had this problem, which was that all documents, folder files on a flash drive turned into shortcuts, there was also a strange folder called .Trashes. You might think that this is some kind of virus that has corrupted all the files on the USB drive. So what to do if the files on the flash drive have turned into shortcuts?

In general, if you try to check a flash drive with an antivirus, there is a chance that it will find something bad there, as happened to me. If this is the case, you can clean up this “bad” thing. After rebooting the computer, I went into the USB drive and everything remained as it was: the shortcuts remained.

There is a very good way to solve this problem on the Internet. I will describe it here to help users if they encounter such an unpleasant problem.

1 way

To begin with, in the Explorer options, this is done in the top menu of any folder. Next, launch the command line as administrator and enter the following command there:

attrib -h -r -s /s f:\*.*

By the way, don't forget to change f:\ to the letter of your flash drive. It might look like this, for example: attrib -h -r -s /s r:\*.*

After you have done the work, open the flash drive and make sure that the files and folders are present, but the shortcuts may remain, it’s okay, the main thing is that now you can move your files.

Transfer all files that are not shortcuts to another location, for example, to a computer. Now, format the flash drive, then try to scan the USB flash drive again with an antivirus, just in case.

Move the necessary files back to the flash drive. After all the above steps, your problem should be resolved.

Second way

If nothing worked out with the first option, then there is another method, which is to create a bat file with the following content:

Now, we run it as an administrator, after which the running program will prompt you to enter the letter of the flash drive with which the problem occurred. After this, the shortcuts and the virus will be removed from the flash drive, and everything that you had on the flash drive will remain safe and sound.

Sometimes when you connect a flash drive to your computer, you may find that all folders are now displayed as shortcuts. And thus the user cannot access the contents of the folder. In addition, some people also begin to panic and try to open all the folders one by one or even format the entire removable disk. Formatting will only make the situation worse, since all files on the flash drive will be erased.

But the data from the flash drive did not disappear anywhere and nothing happened to it. They remained there as they were on the flash drive, and the reason that the folders have now become shortcuts is a virus. And you also need to know that under no circumstances should you open these shortcuts. This will only trigger the virus, and if antivirus software is not installed on the computer, the consequences can be disastrous.

How can I get my folders back to work?

In order to return the folders to functionality, you need to find and destroy the virus. In this case, the culprit is the virus executable file with the “.exe” extension. The easiest way to do this is with an antivirus by running a virus scan on the flash drive.

You can also find the executable file manually. First you need to enable the display of hidden folders and files. To do this, go to the “Control Panel” through the “Start” menu, then select “Appearance and Personalization”, then “Folder Options”. In the window that appears, go to the “View” tab and select “Show hidden files” at the very bottom. You can also go to “My Computer”, select “Tools” in the menu bar, then “Folder Options” and in the window that opens, specify that hidden files are displayed.

After this, you need to open the flash drive and check all hidden files. You need to check the properties of each shortcut and pay special attention to the “Object” item in the “Shortcut” tab. Typically, all shortcuts launch the same executable file, and you need to figure out which folder it is in. The line of malicious code in the “Object” field can be long, but you need to find something like this in the line: “RECYCLER/5fa248fg1.exe”. The file “5fa248fg1.exe” is a virus (the combination of numbers and letters will be completely different), and “RECYCLER” is the name of the folder in which this virus is located. In this case, you need to delete this folder, and after that launching shortcuts will no longer pose any danger.

After removing the virus, all that remains is to return the folders to their previous appearance. To do this, you need to delete all folder shortcuts, but all the data on the flash drive will still remain, they are simply invisible. Then you need to select “Run” from the “Start” menu, type “cmd” (without quotes) in the search bar and click “Enter”. In the window that opens, you need to enter the command “cd /d f:\” (instead of the letter “f” you need to insert the letter value of the flash drive) and press “Enter”, and then enter “attrib -s -h /d /s” and press “Enter” again " After this procedure, the folders on the flash drive will become visible.

A flash drive is a removable storage device that helps many users keep all the necessary files with them and use them at the right time. However, there are times when the user discovers that the files on the flash drive have become shortcuts and cannot be opened. What to do in this case and how to fix the problem.

Reasons for the appearance of shortcuts to files and folders on a flash drive

The reason that folders and files on the flash drive have become shortcuts is a virus. Once on a removable device by transferring or copying files, it infects the contents and writes its own commands. Therefore, under no circumstances should you try to run all the files one by one with the hope of opening them. The virus prescribes its own command in each, which can be aimed at damaging the operating system. Also, do not delete all content or format the device. Remember, all files have become shortcuts, however, they are not damaged and have not disappeared anywhere.

How to fix the situation when all the files on a flash drive have become shortcuts?

Users often wonder: what to do if all the folders on a flash drive have become shortcuts and cannot be opened?

There are several simple steps to solve this problem.

First you need to enable the display of hidden folders and files. For Windows XP, the following address is suitable: “Start”, “My Computer”, “Tools”, “Folder Options”.

The settings window will open. Go to the “View” tab and check the “Show hidden folders and files” checkbox.

For Windows 7, follow these steps: “Start”, “Control Panel”, “Appearance and Personalization”.

Then click “Folder Options” and go to the “View” tab. Here we put an identical mark.

Go to the “Shortcuts” tab and check the “Object” field. This will be the address of the folder from which the malware is launched.

The name that is highlighted on the screen is the name of the folder that is located on the drive and open to the user. It needs to be removed. It is also worth looking at the path addresses of all shortcuts and destroying viruses.

For accurate and complete cleaning, it is worth checking for the presence of exe. file on your PC at the following addresses:

For Windows XP – drive C, folder “Documents and Settings”, “Username”, “Local Settings”, “Application Data”.
For Windows 7 – drive C, folder “User”, after “Username”, “Appdata” and “roamling”.

If there is an EXE file in these folders, it is a virus and needs to be removed.

After the folders with malicious objects have been destroyed, it is necessary to return the files to their previous appearance. There are several ways to do this.