Step1: Go to start or in your keyboard, press WINDOWS+R and type cmd then press ok button. Step2: Type attrib –h –r –s /s /d G:. G is your pen drive location. and press Enter. Step3: Replace G with your pen drive letter. Step4: Then, press the Enter button. When you have completed all these steps you refresh your pen drive and you can check for your files in on the pen drive. When ever you plug in your pen drive to a system and double click it to see it content you are spreading the virus to that system as well. The logic behind your folder becoming short cuts is that, this virus hides your original folders/files in the same removable media and creates the short cut with the same name. It's a virus, which creates shortcut of every storage device inserted into windows pc. This shortcut is usually linked with virus which is deep rooted into system folder. Whenever you Click on that shortcut, virus gets activated and infects other folders also. The solution to this problem is to install latest and updated Antivirus software. To get rid of it you either need to remove the shortcut virus manually or prevent the virus from getting access to that system program. Follow this step to remove shortcut virus from pen drive, USB drive. Insert the USB thumb drive on the PC and scan for any virus. Open windows explorer (open my computer) and note down the USB drive letter.
Last updated on... May 3rd, 2020
The Problem:
When I click on a USB thumb drive in windows explorer, windows explorer opens a short cut of the USB thumb drive. And when I click on the USB thumb drive short cut icon, windows display the message “The specified module could not be found”. I can not access the files in my USB thumb drive, even though windows shows the correct size and available free space in the USB thumb drive”
I am sure many of us have faced this Pendrive Shortcut Problem, error in reading the content of the USB thumb drive. Windows just can not read any content of the USB thumb drive.
This is a problem with the file structure. Most likely your USB thumb drive was hit the shortcut virus. Your anti-virus must have detected the virus and either isolated it or deleted it. Resulting in a problem with the file structure of the USB thumb drive.
See also How to protect Pendrive, USB drive from virus, and Malware.
What this shortcut virus does is take the help of one the system program to create a shortcut.exe on the Pendrive and you will not be able to access the data on your Pendrive without double-clicking on this shortcut (Which in return again install the virus on your system).
To get rid of it you either need to remove the shortcut virus manually or prevent the virus from getting access to that system program.
Follow this step to remove shortcut virus from pen drive, USB drive
- Insert the USB thumb drive on the PC and scan for any virus.
- Open windows explorer (open my computer) and note down the USB drive letter.
- Go to start>Run> type CMD in the field.
- Open Command prompt as Administrator.
- In the command prompt window type the following line
attrib -h -r -s M:*.* /s /d
Note: M should be replaced by your USB drive letter. Press enter. Wait for a few seconds.
In most cases, the above command works. But just in case it doesn’t solve your problem you can try the following command.
attrib -h -r -s /s /d M:*.* ( M stands for the drive letter for your Pendrive)
Get My Drive Shortcut
Now open My computer and check your Pendrive. It should open, it may contain the shortcut for the USB thumb drive and also a few folders.
Check the folder if all your files are intact, you can delete the shortcut icon. Copy your files save it on Desktop and format the Pendrive, to be on the safer side.
Additional TIP: If you know your Pendrive is infected with a virus, don’t double click on it. Try to browse it using right-click or try to open it in a new window.
Double-clicking runs the “Autorun.inf” which is mostly accompanied by a virus. Inside Autorun.inf there are commands written which finally execute your virus. Hence double-clicking an infected PD runs your virus and infects the PC.
Hello! I am Ben Jamir, Founder, and Author of this blog Tipsnfreeware. I blog about computer tips & tricks, share tested free Software’s, Networking, WordPress tips, SEO tips. If you like my post /Tips then please like and share it with your friends.
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When your USB drive is affected by shortcut virus, all it's files and folders will become shortcuts, which you cannot access or open. The only solution to get rid of this issue is first remove shortcut virus from your USB drive without losing data files, and then use Yodot Hard Drive Recovery, a reliable data recovery software to recover files affected with shortcut virus.
Viruses are the most dreadful programs that alter data on storage devices making it corrupt and inaccessible. Shortcut virus like Trojan horse generic32.tnu will either cause inaccessibility of files or makes them hidden from Windows Explorer. As pen drive is the most convenient way of transferring data from one system to another, it is very prone to virus infection.
How does a USB pen drive get infected by viruses?
USB flash drive usually gets affected by malicious malware when it is connected to virus infected system to transfer files to/from pen drive. Even if the system is free from malicious spyware; USB drive connected to it can get virus infected when user browse and open suspicious sites in internet. USB flash drive when affected by harmful viruses will not get initialized on system. Other times, pen drive will get detected normally but will show no data present in it as files will be hidden. In rest of the cases, files will be marked as shortcut and such files cannot be opened / accessed at any cost. However, data will be safe in these scenarios.
How to resolve shortcut virus infected USB drive?
The best employed method to recover data from shortcut virus affected USB drive is given here. After connecting your USB drive, Open Run command prompt and type this command, attrib –h –r –s g:*.* /s /d along with the spaces. Letter ‘g’ specifies the drive letter of USB flash drive connected on system. By pressing enter, you will see files in accessible state on USB drive. Copy-paste the files to any other location on system drive. If this doesn’t work, then the last option left is to use third party data recovery tool which will help to understand how to scan and fix flash drive and to safeguard data.
Software to Recover Data from USB Drive Infected with Shortcut Virus - Yodot Recovery:
Yodot Hard Drive Recovery tool is the excellent option to retrieve inaccessible and lost data from malware infected USB flash drive. This tool brilliantly recovers each and every file from pen drive / thumb drive that is not getting recognized or not working on any Windows computer. It can restore files like Word documents, text, Notepad, Excel files, PowerPoint files, applications, PDFs, folders, archives, photos, videos, music files, etc. without any difficulty. This program can retrieve data from inaccessible USB drive which is virus infected, not recognized / detected, failed, not working, crashed or turned unreadable for number of causes. This file retrieval tool can be used for recovering files lost or deleted from USB flash drives manufactured by HP, SanDisk, Transcend, iBall, Emtec, Lexar, Toshiba, Adata, Corsair, Kingston and many other brands. Moreover, it serves to be the best file recovery program to regain deleted and lost files from system hard disk, portable hard drive, SSD, FireWire drive, etc. formatted with FAT32, FAT16, NTFS, NTFS5, ExFAT and ReFS file systems. This tool can be utilized on Windows PCs and laptops running with Windows 10, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 and 2003 operating systems.
Steps to recover files from USB drive infected with shortcut virus:
Show Me My Shortcuts
- Connect your USB drive to a healthy Windows computer
- Download Yodot Hard Drive Recovery on this system and install it
- Run the utility from desktop icon or from Start menu and start the recovery process
- In the main screen, click on Partition Recovery option to restore shortcut files
- Then, select the drive that represents externally connected virus affected USB drive from which files are to be restored
- Also, if necessary choose the file types to restore from USB drive or else click on Mark All button
- By clicking next, allow the software to scan your USB drive to retrieve missing and inaccessible files
- Go through the list of files rescued in Data View or File Type view and preview required files
- At last save all your recovered files to desired destination location on system drive but not to the same USB drive from which you recovered data
Things to Remember:
My Pen Drive Shows Only Shortcuts List
- Before connecting flash drive to a system install good antivirus tool on it to treat shortcut viruses
- Avoid using pen drive on system while browsing internet or downloading any files