File Explorer Options: Hidden Files, File Extensions, and View Settings

File Explorer Options (called Folder Options in older Windows versions) is the dialog that controls how File Explorer displays files: whether hidden files appear, whether file extensions are shown, and what Explorer opens to when launched. To reach it, open File Explorer, click the three-dot menu (Windows 11) or the View ribbon (Windows 10), and choose Options — or search “File Explorer Options” in Control Panel. The two settings every technician changes on day one live on the View tab: show hidden files, and stop hiding extensions for known file types.

The three tabs and what they do

Tab	Key settings	Typical ticket
General	Open File Explorer to (This PC vs Quick access/Home), privacy history	”Make Explorer open to This PC”
View	Show hidden files; hide extensions for known file types; show protected OS files	”I can’t see a file I know is there”
Search	How search handles non-indexed locations, archives, file contents	”Search misses files in some folders”

General tab: where Explorer opens

The Open File Explorer to dropdown decides the landing page each time Explorer launches. The default (Quick access on Windows 10, Home on Windows 11) shows pinned folders and recent files; switching it to This PC lands on the drive list instead. Users who find the recent-files view cluttered or a privacy concern usually want This PC — and clearing the “Privacy” checkboxes on the same tab stops Explorer from tracking recently used files at all. When a question asks which tab holds the This PC/Quick access choice, the answer is General.

View tab: hidden files and protected system files

Windows marks certain files and folders with the hidden attribute so casual browsing doesn’t show them — configuration files, the AppData folder, and files an application deliberately flags. A web developer’s .htaccess file, a program’s hidden config, or the ProgramData folder will all be invisible until you select Show hidden files, folders, and drives on the View tab. The file was there all along; Explorer was just filtering it.

One level deeper sits Hide protected operating system files, a separate checkbox guarding critical system files such as pagefile.sys and boot files. Unchecking it triggers a warning, because deleting these can break Windows. Know the distinction: ordinary hidden files respond to the first setting; super-hidden system files require the second. A technician doing malware cleanup or disk-space forensics may need both, but should re-hide protected files when finished.

View tab: file extensions and the double-extension trick

By default Windows enables Hide extensions for known file types, so report.docx displays as just report. That cosmetic choice creates a real security hole. An attacker names a malicious executable invoice.pdf.exe. With extensions hidden, Windows suppresses the final, real extension — .exe — and the user sees invoice.pdf, which looks like a harmless document. Double-click, and the executable runs. This is the double-extension attack, and it works purely because of a display setting.

The countermeasure is to uncheck Hide extensions for known file types on every workstation, so users see the full name invoice.pdf.exe and can spot the lie. Pair the setting change with a quick user education moment — and with the workstation firewall and anti-malware defenses that catch the fakes users click anyway: the last extension is the one that counts, and a “document” ending in .exe, .scr, .bat, or .js is a program, not a document. Extension visibility also prevents everyday accidents, like renaming a file and unknowingly leaving a stale extension behind. If a machine has already run one of these fakes, follow the malware removal process.

Search tab

The Search tab tunes how Explorer searches locations that aren’t in the Windows Search index: whether to search file contents as well as names, and whether to look inside compressed (ZIP) files. It complements, but doesn’t replace, the Indexing Options applet — which folders get indexed in the first place is managed there, as covered in Control Panel applets.

Making the changes stick

File Explorer Options changes are per-user and take effect immediately when you click Apply. The View tab’s Apply to Folders button pushes your current folder’s view layout (icon size, sort order, grouping) to all folders of the same type — a different feature from the checkbox list below it, but a common source of confusion. In a business setting, extension visibility can be enforced for everyone through Group Policy rather than touching each machine, which is worth mentioning to a small-business owner even though the per-machine method is what A+ tests.

How the 220-1202 exam tests this

• The invisible file. A scenario describes a file a technician knows exists (often a dotfile or config file) that doesn’t appear in Explorer, then asks which File Explorer Options setting to change — show hidden files, folders, and drives.
• The disguised executable. Users open an attachment that looked like something.pdf but was really something.pdf.exe, and the question asks what setting change prevents the mistake — uncheck Hide extensions for known file types. Distractors include antivirus and firewall answers, but the question asks specifically about the display setting that enabled the trick.
• Tab identification. A user wants Explorer to open to This PC instead of Quick access, and the question asks which tab holds the setting (General). Expect the three tab names as answer choices.
• Hidden vs protected OS files. A question distinguishes the ordinary hidden-files toggle from the separate Hide protected operating system files checkbox, testing whether you know they’re independent settings.

These questions come from the Operating Systems domain — the full 220-1202 study guide breaks down the domains and question formats, and a set of practice questions is the quickest way to rehearse them.

Quick reference

• File Explorer Options tabs: General (opening location, privacy), View (visibility settings), Search (non-indexed search behavior).
• Show hidden files, folders, and drives — View tab — reveals files with the hidden attribute.
• Hide protected operating system files is a separate View-tab checkbox for super-hidden system files like pagefile.sys.
• Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types so invoice.pdf.exe can’t masquerade as a PDF.
• The final extension determines what a file actually is; everything before it is just part of the name.
• General tab > Open File Explorer to: switches between Quick access/Home and This PC.
• Settings are per-user and immediate; Group Policy can enforce them fleet-wide.