Hiding files/folders which begin with a full stop (period)

Question

Windows does not use the dot-file convention for hidden files. However, many Windows applications (mostly opensource/cross-platform) use files and folders with this convention. How can I make Windows Explorer automatically hide these dot-files?

Answer 1

'ATTRIB +H /s /d C:.*' is the command to hide anything, directories included that start with a dot

Edit: was meant to be a comment to the other fellow mentioning just ATTRIB +H

Answer 2

Windows will hide files with the hidden or system flag. Or files may be hidden using ACL. Windows does not hide files based on filename.

To explicitly have Windows to hide files by filename, you'll need to explicitly create the feature. Either a file system driver (it use to be common for viruses to have this "feature") or a shell extension hack will work in this case.

On a side note, you can fake the feature by turning off "view file extensions" under Folder Options, since, to Explorer, a file that starts with a dot is a file with an extension, but no name.

Answer 3

I don't think there's a way to make it happen automatically, but you could try using the ATTRIB command to hide those files:

ATTRIB +H

Then make sure that you've configured Explorer to not show hidden files.

Answer 4

It is possible in C#, using System.IO.FileSystemWatcher. Code would be something like this. Just compile it and place it in the Start Up folder. But this code doesnt hide already existing files. So run first the code from Luke, and than this code. You need the System.IO and System.Security.Permissions

    [PermissionSet(SecurityAction.Demand, Name = "FullTrust")]
    public static void Run()
    {
        FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
        watcher.Path = "C:\\";
        watcher.IncludeSubdirectories = true;
        watcher.Filter = "*.*";
        watcher.Renamed += new RenamedEventHandler(OnRenamed);
        watcher.Created += new FileSystemEventHandler(watcher_Created);
        watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastAccess | NotifyFilters.LastWrite | NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
        watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
        Console.WriteLine("Started...");
        while (true) ;
    }
    static void Check(string filename)
    {
        string name = Path.GetFileName(filename);
        if (name.StartsWith(".") && !File.GetAttributes(filename).HasFlag(FileAttributes.Hidden))
        {
            File.SetAttributes(filename, File.GetAttributes(filename) | FileAttributes.Hidden);
        }
    }
    static void watcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
    {
        Check(e.FullPath);
    }
    private static void OnRenamed(object source, RenamedEventArgs e)
    {
        Check(e.FullPath);
    }
}