How to Recover Files Infected by Shortcut Virus - An Ultimate Guide!

Files on external USB drive changed to shortcuts, how to restore?

A shortcut virus infected external hard drive, USB flash drive, pen drive or even internally fixed hard disk can definitely create endless troubles. But, you need not to be worried about this because it is possible to remove shortcut virus. And, you can also restore files lost due to shortcut virus easily.

Phase #1: Removing Shortcut Virus

First of all, make use of reliable Antivirus software to remove shortcut virus from your devices. If Antivirus software didn’t help you to remove shortcut virus, then try out the techniques mentioned below to get rid of shortcut virus and to recover files.

• Using command prompt
• Creating BAT files

Method 1: Recover files infected by shortcut virus using CMD

You can remove shortcut viruses easily with the help of CMD by following these steps:

1. Run Command

• Windows XP users: Go to Start -> Run ->type cmd and click OK button.
• Windows Vista, 7 or Windows 8 users: Press Windows + R key, you will see RUN windows, then type cmd and click OK button.

2. In command prompt, type attrib -h -r -s /s /d DriveName:\*.* (Replace DriveName with drive letter from which you want to recover shortcut infected files)

If virus hides the files and folders, now you will be able to open and access them. If you are unable to eliminate shortcut virus using cmd, then try out the second method.

Method 2: Recover Files Infected by Shortcut Virus using Bat file

You can remove shortcut virus, by creating and running Bat files. Follow the procedure mentioned below to remove shortcut virus-

1. Open Notepad and type below mentioned command on it

@echo off

attrib -h -s -r -a /s /d DriveName:*.* attrib -h -s -r -a /s /d Drive-Name:*.* attrib -h -s -r -a /s /d Drive- Name:*.*

@echo complete

[ Mention the drive letter of the device which has infected files instead of DriveName in the above mentioned command]

2. Now, Save your notepad as shortcutvirusremover.bat

3. And run the file to remove shortcut virus

Now, go back to the drive and try to access the file. Still not possible? Then, the better option is to make use of shortcut virus removal program. But, you need to be very careful as they may remove files from your devices. At the same time, many people format the drive containing infected files and thus result in losing the important data files.

If you end up losing files while using any of the above techniques, utilize data recovery software and get back your data from formatted drives easily.

Phase #2: Recovering Files Lost During Shortcut Virus Removal Process

Remo Recover helps you in recovering files lost while removing shortcut virus. You have to follow few simple steps to get back your files lost due to shortcut virus. First step is to, download and install Remo Recover file recovery software on your Windows system. Then, follow below explained guide to get back your files that are infected by shortcut virus.

Step 1: Launch the software by double clicking on the downloaded application and click Recover Files button. Then choose the drive which contains the files affected by Shortcut virus and click Scan

Step 2: The software now scans the drive and lists all the found files

Step 3: You can now preview the files by double clicking on them

Step 4: Finally, save desired files to any location of your choice

More About Remo Recover: -

Remo Recover will guide and explains to you how to restore files infected by shortcut virus from your hard drive and multiple storage devices such as pen drive, external hard drive, memory stick, USB flash drive, etc. It even recovers data lost by Kaspersky antivirus software or other anti-virus tools. The tool easily recovers data lost due to hard drive bad sectors, accidental deletion, formatting, and more.

It helps to get back all the missing files from both FAT and NTFS partitioned drives. Also recovers various types of files including Office files, PDFs, archives, media files, email files and so on. The file recovery utility shares compatibility with all editions of Windows operating system such as Windows 10. 8.1,8,7 etc.