navigation

How to Remove a Virus Using Cmd

Part 1 of 2:

Making sure the data can be recovered

  1. Open the drive that contains the virus.
  2. Press Ctrl+A to select all.
  3. Hit Alt+Enter to view properties.
  4. Note the total space consumed by the data of the drive.
  5. Compare it to the used space of the drive. If the used space exceeds the total size of the data, then it is possible to recover the lost data.
    1. In other words, if the drive is showing more space consumed than the actual data inside the drive, then your lost data can be recovered.
Part 2 of 2:

Removing virus and recovering data through cmd

  1. Press Ctrl+R at the desktop.
  2. Type cmd and hit Enter.
  3. Type the command:    attrib -a -r -h -s /s /d x:*.*
  4. Replace x with the drive letter and hit Enter.
    1. The drive will now contain a folder without any name. This folder contains your lost data.
  5. Delete any unnecessary files that you see such as autorun.inf, recycle.bin etc.
  6. Backup your data and format the drive, if possible.
Update 05 March 2020