Remove Shortcut Creating Virus in PenDrives on Windows 8.1 & Windows 10

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There are thousands of new viruses coming out every day from hackers systems. Some of the hackers intentionally write virus programs, and they will spread them all over the Internet. Among the thousands of the virus programs, few of the programs will spread rapidly, and they cause a lot of troubles to the users.

In recent times a funny shortcut creating virus is troubling PC users a lot. Even most of my friends in college are changing their Operating Systems (OS) because of this weird virus.

Recently, I gave my Pendrive to my friend to get a movie. He inserted my USB Pendrive in his PC and copied that file. After that, he gave it to me. To copy this film into my PC, I opened the Pendrive then I saw something like in the below image. This is all because of Shortcut creating Virus.

So today in this article I am going to show you the solution for Shortcut Creating Virus in Pen drives, Windows8 and Windows 7 PCs. This is not a dangerous virus, but it is irritating the Windows users.

I will tell you two solutions to remove Shortcut creating virus one is for Windows 8.1,8,7, and another one is for Flash drives, Pen drives.

  1. Temporary Solution to remove shortcut virus in Flash drives ( pen drives)
  2. Permanent Solution ( Remove Virus from your Windows 8.1 or Windows 8,7)

First, we’ll see the temporary solution to remove shortcut creating virus.

 Remove Short Creating virus in Pen/USB drive With Command Prompt (CMD)

  • Open your command prompt. ( If you don’t know how to open the command prompt, first just press Windows button+R then you will see a prompt like below image. In the search box type  CMD and press enter then you will see a command prompt.

run prompt Windows +R

  • After opening your command prompt see pen drive location ( Like in the image ) then note that drive letter.
removal of shortcut virus in windows
Copy your pen drive location.( Here it is J: )
  • Then type location of your Pen drive like in below image ( my pen drive location )
Copy pendrive location
Copy Pendrive location
  • After this, you have to type one final Command. Just copy the below command and paste it in your CMD  then hit enter.
  • Copy  the code ==>       attrib -s -h /s /d *.*
command to remove shortcut virus in pendrive
the command to remove shortcut virus in pendrive
  1. Now go back to your Pendrive and see all your files. You will see an empty folder open that empty folder there you can see your folders.
shortcut virus removed
Files after removing the shortcut virus.

How to Remove Virus permanently from  Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 PC?

This is very simple.

  • If you have AntiVirus on your Laptop, then just update it. Updating your Anti virus is very important.
  • If you don’t have Antivirus on your PC, then install any latest version of Antivirus.
  • I highly recommend you to use Free MS Essential or McAfee paid version.

If you have any queries or issues with this then do leave your comments.  If you enjoyed this tutorial, Share this article

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Srinu Ipathy

Hey, This is Srinu Ipathy. I'm the Founder & Chief Editor of Fast Tech Buzz. I'm a Full Time Blogger, Traveller, Landscape Photographer & Tech Entusiast. To know more, add me on Facebook or on Instagram.

66 thoughts on “Remove Shortcut Creating Virus in PenDrives on Windows 8.1 & Windows 10”

  1. Thks for the help.I would like to know if I have avast anti virus already installed and updated in my laptop,will the shortcut virus present in pendrive affect my laptop.

      • sir…i have the same problem i m using updated virsion of window defender and i working gud……bt the virus is still affecting…i wnt permanent solution pls help me..

    • Hi, can you help me?

      every time I try to copy my memory stick to my laptop to back it up it will only copy it as a shortcut.

      Deborah

  2. i have ms essential but it can’t delete virus. when i insert sd card or usb it come’s again.please help me!

  3. Thank you very much. I have been battling with this virus for months, have thrown away several USBs as a result…. Your guidelines are very clear and less technical.

    Best regards
    J

  5. i have already installed latest Norton antivirus but still virus shortcut in pendrive is a big problem

  7. Seems this solution only remove the virus from the USB, not from the Computer. Is there a chance that I can permanently kill this virus. Now I can no longer share files with my colleagues as a result of this virus. Please help…

  8. There is another simple way to do this,
    just go in your pendrive and write in search box *.*
    and you will see everything that was in your pendrive…

  9. i m also affectd by dis virus.. what should i do knw??
    u hav mentiond to use latest antivirus… bt some people hav told , “it didn’t work”
    what shud i do ,, help me bro:(

  10. Huh!!!? I have tried all the methods the command prompt, shortcut virus removal softwares and so on, but stiil not a single one worked, I guess I am to reinstall another OS Thanks for the blog

  13. here is the process to remove any kind of virus.
    open task manager,regedit,and msconfig.
    stop process wscript in taskmanager.and delete the wscript file in system32 folder …and remove the startup in msconfig.then delete the startup key in regedit by navigating to >hkey-current user>software>microsoft>windows>currentversion>run>and delete the wscript.restart the pc …..now ur lappy >>>>>>>virus free

  14. I’ve tried this solution for 11 times….and still no success. How can it be? I’m doing everything correctly. This is incredibly frustrating. I’m following each and every step, yet there is no file in my pendrive with the original files. Everything just stays the same.

    Am I the only one who hasn’t had any luck with this method? I seem to be the only one!

  15. Sir , I copy nd paste that code but it will display
    ‘attrib’ is not recognized as an internal or external command operable program or batch file. thn what is solution plz

  16. Same issue in my lap also, but I just have to double click on the short cut icon and voila, all the files open in a different window. There are different kinds of shortcut viruses, but try this one first before others… Hope this helps 🙂

  18. When I try to copy anything from my phone to pc (windows 8.1)nothing will be copied .But only short cut copy cam be done. .so I need solution plz

  22. As you said i have done but when i formatted my pen drive but again when i added my files to the pen drive that shortcut virus was their plzzzz suggest what to do………..

  24. I’m really searching in the web, to have any solution for this problem. my pen drive shows some full capacity, when there are no files. i have selected the folder options, to show the hidden files, still the result is same…no files shown

    then i tried the above said steps.. i really got back the important info. saved on my pen drive.

  25. Please, I have tried the steps several times but what it always tell me is ‘attrib is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file’. Hoping to hear from you soon

  26. Thank you very much for your help. I was really very worried about my files. I have them all now. Thanks a lot!

  29. It helped on my memory stick but it didn’t work on my c or e drive. And it show me that one of the folder access denied the command. Pleas help.
    Thank you anyway for the method.

  30. Hello. I have not tried this solution yet but i will try it soon. my friend got this problem when i transfer some movie files to the pendrive. Does that mean my laptop has virus? Its weird because i have paid anti virus which is McFee. Please help to explain , Sir. And also does this only works for shortcut viruses? Because i have a pendrive that is infected as well. im too afraid to insert it to my laptop. Please do help !

  32. I have Windows defender updated version….i already did the full scan of my pc., but no result, still when i insert my pen drive in pc, the files in it becomes shortcut.

  36. Dear ,
    Thank U very much…effective solution…I recovered my information from Pendrive.

    Br,
    Anup

  37. Each time I insert my pendrive it is showing the shortcut to itself. I’ve used MSE to scan for virus. But nothing found. Tried many methods, but not able to get rid of this virus.
    Please provide any effective solution to get rid of this virus completely.

  39. after i try, all the folder is gone. T.T What should i do? It gone but the used space is still showed.

  41. Srinu, i have tried ur tip several times, using cmd also n even using .bat file also but everytime it strucks me saying that access is denied
    I cannot even open the only shortcut of “system volume information” in my sandisk 8 gb pen drive. it strucks me saying access is denied.
    please help me out

  43. When i insert any sd card and pendrive into my laptop automatically inserted shortcuts in every folders i scan with my anti-virus (avast) but no result what to do bro..

  48. Not Working Pls help…” well it works really i found the file but after putting the Codes in CMD and deleting the Shortcuts. and i refresh it the folder, the Shortcut came back,,

  49. the Temporary Solution to remove shortcut virus in Flash drives ( pen drives) works fine. issue solved. But the permanent one is not working. I have macfee anti virus. but the shortcut issue continues.. please help

    • Dear
      srinu
      If there is a solution on formatting write protected USB drive pl upload
      third party software etc. did not worked (, cmd prompt & chkflash, restore etc already tried)
      presently I am using win 8.1 with latest Kaspersky antivirus
      regards

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