files copied to usb become shortcuts issue has been reported by many users which got them a lot of stress and trouble. A USB drive is used to save important documents, images, music, videos and other crucial data that overtook CDs and DVDs a long time ago. Use of these flash drives is very high in current era as they ease users’ PC working experience, sharing files and documents activities and so on. However, what if all the stored files and documents in the USB drive turned into shortcuts? This is a small drawback that a flash drive has which looks terrifying because at the first glance, it seems to be all the important files and data have gone.

Internet is full of forums where users are asking how to fix shortcut files in usb. That shows it’s a big threat as it may completely ruin users’ vital documents and make them totally useless. The main culprit behind this issue is malware or virus which silently infiltrates your PC by stealth and then hides itself in the deep corner of the machine. After that, such notorious infections start executing malevolent acts in the background and cause too many hazardous issues inside including this particular one. The existing virus messes with important system files and affects all your installed apps and drivers, USB drives, external drive, hard drive etc.

If you are among those users who are dealing with files copied to usb become shortcuts issue and looking for a solution, you are at the right place at the moment. We have provided some genuine methods that will help you to get rid of the problem.

Solution 1- Check if your files are hidden

First of all, you should try to recover the hidden files by modifying the settings in file explorer options. And for this, just follow the below steps:

• Right-click on the ‘Start’ button, and then opt for ‘Control panel’.
• In the ‘Control panel’, click on the ‘Appearance and Personalisation’.
• Here, opt for ‘File Explorer Options’ and then select ‘Show hidden files and folders’.
• Click on ‘View’ tab.
• In the ‘Advanced settings’, opt for ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’ and then click on ‘OK’.
• In case you can’t see the infected files and documents with this method, then move to the next one.

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Solution 2- Use Command Prompt to recover files to fix files copied to usb become shortcuts issue

First of all, try the ‘chkdsk’ command to retrieve the infected files and documents and for this, follow the below steps:

• Connect the infected USB drive to the PC
• Type ‘cmd’ in the search bar of the start menu and then press ‘OK’.
• Now, right-click on ‘Command Prompt’ and opt for ‘Run as administrator’ and then click ‘Yes’ button.

• Type or copy-paste “attrib -h -r -s /s /d drive letter:\*.*“, (if your drive letter is ‘f’ is then type ‘f’) and then hit ‘Enter’.

Note:- Replace ‘f’ if the ‘drive letter’ is different.

• Now, type ‘exit’ command and hit ‘Enter’ button and check if the issue is resolved.

Solution 3- Format the infected USB drive

Once you successfully get the compromised files and documents, then you should format the USB drive to make sure that it is fully functional and usable. After that, you can use this with tool without any threat. To scan the drive, just go through the following steps given below:

• Connect the USB drive with the PC and backup all files and data.
• Now, right-click on the USB flash drive and opt for ‘Format’ from the background menu.
• Opt ‘Quick format’ and then opt for ‘Fat32’ as the drive format.
• Once the process is completed, you can use it again without fear.

Solution 4- Scan your PC for malware

As we mentioned earlier, the “files copied to usb become shortcuts” issue normally occurs due to the presence of malware or virus in the infected PC. Even if you recover the infected files by applying one of above methods, the virus still remains inside and cause such hazardous threats again. So, you need to scan the complete machine to remove all the pernicious infections from the device. You can do this both manually as well as automatically. The “Manual” process requires much attention and you need to be highly skilled in computer or technology. So, we highly recommend using “Automatic” procedure and for this purpose, you can use Advanced System Repair program.

Hopefully, one of these methods helped you in getting rid of the problem. If you have any other solution or want say something regarding this tutorial, you can write us in the comment below.