Recover Files in USB Flash Drives Infected By Shortcut Virus

USB flash drives and SD cards are usually prone to virus infections because people tend to use them to transfer files between different computers. Shortcut virus is one of the common viruses that has been bugging us for years. When it happens, all your data on the device will be changed into shortcuts and become inaccessible. However, if you check the property you'll find that the used space is as same as the original file, which means the shortcut virus just hide your files somewhere and does not permanently delete them.

The first thing we should do is to run a full virus scan. Unfortunately, this kind of virus is not typical and some anti-virus software won’t even detect it. Is there no way to remove the shortcut virus? Formatting is a good idea but it should only be used as the last resort, especially when we have important files stored on the USB flash drive.

Remove Shortcut Virus From USB Flash Drives & SD Cards

Method 1. Using command prompt

Step 1. Connect your USB flash drive or SD card to your computer. Scan USB drive with anti-virus program for any threats. If no threat detected, proceed with the following steps.

Step 2. Run Command prompt (CMD) as Administrator by pressing Windows key + R. Type CMD and press ENTER. 

Step 3. Type the following command in Command prompt and press ENTER: 

attrib -h -r -s /s /d X:\*.*

Please note that you should replace X with your USB drive letter. For example, if your USB drive letter is H, the line should be: 

attrib -h -r -s /s /d H:\*.*

Now all Shortcut files should be fixed and working as normal files.  After you have copied all data from USB flash drive to your computer, format the USB flash drive just to be sure.

Method 2. Format and Recover

If your anti-virus program failed to detect any virus and the above method is not working for you, and what’s more, you have tried those shortcut virus removing software on the Internet but to no avail, then we should go to our last resort.

By formatting your USB flash drive, you’ll fix the problems but also, lose all your data. But formatting is not erasing - the files are still there. We can recover them with the right tools. (Read more about formatting and erasing)

Let's show you how to recover data from a formatted USB Flash drive with just a few clicks:

Step 1. Launch Hdata Recovery Software. Select "Deleted Your Files From Flash Disk". Then click "Next" button to move to the next step.

Step 2. Select the disk where you lost your files and click "Scan" button, the software will quickly scan the disk to search all the recoverable files.

Step 3. You can recover all the listed files and choose a path to store them. Here you should save all the recovered files on a different drive or memory card to avoid data overwriting.