How to find hidden files in Windows using DOS command?

Hidden files are the files on computer that have hidden attribute with them. Files that exist but your computer don’t show them to you. Remember: Any file or folder can be made hidden. Right click on a file, select properties, and check the hidden attribute option under general tab and press OK button. Mind you all readers, this is not the general way to view and find hidden files. If you’re looking for the basic steps then this is not for you. In this article we are going to find hidden files in your Windows system using DOS command.

DOS Command to Find Any Hidden File:

Open DOS (Disk Operating System), go to search option and search for “CMD“or type “CMD” in RUN (Window Key+R). Now copy or type in Dos
Dir C:\*.mp4  /a:h/s
And wait for 2-3 minutes.

NOTE : The above command will only find hidden videos having .mp4 extension in C drive. If you wish to find in D drive replace C with D or with respective drive letter. Replace C drive with %systemdrive% to include searching operation in all the drives of your computer.

Dir %systemdrive%\*.mp4  /a-h/s 

ANY ERROR ? Please mind the necessary space in the command :

Dir <space> C:\*.mp4 <space> /a-h <optional space> /s

Dir  means directory(folder) and *.mp4 means mp4 files with any name
a stands for ‘attribute’. 
h for ‘hidden’.
s means ‘sub directory  included’.

Update: Change the :h to -h or vice-versa if any command is not working for you.

Find Hidden Videos:

Video files on windows have following extensions (.mp4, .avi, .mov etc.) as mentioned below and to find these hidden files in your windows system you have to use customized the above mentioned DOS command

MP4 files : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.mp4    /a-h /s
MP4, AVI, MKV and WMV : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.mp4 %systemdrive%\*.avi %systemdrive%\*.mkv %systemdrive%\*.wmv   /a-h /s

Some other Famous Video Formats are .flv and .mov that can be used in the above command.

Find Hidden Images or Pictures :

To find Hidden Images files, use following DOS command and sometimes you may have to replace :h with -h.

JPG files : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.jpg    /a:h /s
JPG, PNG and GIF : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.jpg %systemdrive%\*.png %systemdrive%\*.gif    /a:h /s

or

JPG files : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.jpg    /a-h /s
JPG, PNG and GIF : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.jpg %systemdrive%\*.png %systemdrive%\*.gif    /a-h /s

Find Hidden Music Files:

Following DOS command will find out hidden files that are music types on windows system.

For MP3 : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.mp3    /a:h /s 
or
For MP3 : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.mp3    /a-h /s 

Other Common audio file extensions that may be made hidden are .WAV, .AIF and .MID.

Find hidden Ebooks or pdf:

Use following DOS command to find out all .PDF, .EPUB and .TXT files on your windows computer.

PDF files : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.pdf   /a:h /s
PDF, EPUB and TXT : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.pdf  %systemdrive%\*.epub  %systemdrive%\*.txt /a:h /s

or

PDF files : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.pdf   /a-h /s
PDF, EPUB and TXT : Dir  %systemdrive%\*.pdf  %systemdrive%\*.epub  %systemdrive%\*.txt /a-h /s

I hope all the above DOS commands are working for you. If you are facing any problem in finding out hidden files using this DOS command then leave a comment below.