Windows 10: "Hide protected operating system files" stays checked/unchecked.

Hey, everyone.

So, I'm having a problem with Windows Explorer on Windows 10 20H2. Sometimes, when I check/uncheck "Hide protected operating system files", it does the opposite action (e.g. I check it, it unchecks & vice versa). I've tried pretty much everything to fix it. Restarted Explorer & Windows multiple times, ran basically every variation of SFC & DISM, disabled startup programs through Task Manager, disabled background apps in Settings & I've even copied the "explorer.exe" file from a Windows 10 20H2 USB Drive (the same drive I used to reinstall Windows 10 on my PC a couple of days ago) & replaced the already present "explorer.exe" in C:\Windows with it to no avail. Using Process Monitor, I've determined that Windows Explorer sets the "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\ShowSuperHidden" value two times when it is functioning normally. However, when I'm having the aforementioned issue, it sets the value THREE times, thus not changing the view. Setting the aforementioned registry value manually through Registry Editor works with no issue. The issue does not happen when I'm booted into Safe Mode. I'm completely stumped. The OS was freshly reinstalled just days ago & I don't have that much software on my system (Windows Defender is the only AV on my system). This isn't a major issue, but it's annoying. Can anyone help me?

Edition: Windows 10 Pro
Version: 20H2
OS build: 19042.804 (all updates installed)
Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0

:)

 

"Hide protected operating system files" keeps unchecking itself.

Hi,

Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed that the hidden files desktop.ini and Thumbs.db were being shown on my desktop. I later found out that "Hide protected operating system files" was unchecked for some reason, so I checked it, and that fixed the problem.
However, I shut down my computer last night, and restarted it just now, and the hidden files are being shown again! Something unchecked the "Hide protected operating system files" without my permission. I did a full virus scan with McAfee yesterday (not in
safe mode, though) and it only found one suspect problem and resolved it. Yet this issue remains.

Now, how should I go about solving this issue? Is there a way to see which process is unchecking the "Hide protected operating system files" option behind my back?

Thanks,

 

Can't See files, not hidden

Uncheck " Hide Protected Operating System files". I'm believe 'recovery' files are protected OS files.

*Toast :toast:

 

Can't See files, not hidden

Ok, I unchecked the "Hide Protected Operating System files" and that did the trick. Thanks man.

@Dippy I'm actually using Server 2003, not vista. I've been using the "Vista Transformation Pack" on my XP and 2003 installs to make them look like that. Pretty sleek huh?