How to use Windows File Recovery Tool in Windows 10

Unfortunately, there are unexpected situations that can happen to any of us. We are now talking about accidentally deleting files we need. This situation is quite unpleasant and can happen at any time. For example, you deleted a folder, and then realized that it contained an important document. But do not rush to be upset and give up. We have an answer to the question “how to recover files”. Today there are many different file recovery software that help you recover deleted folders and files. But now there is a problem of finding the right software. Not all users find it easy enough to find an app that suits their needs. But Microsoft offers a solution that will be available to every user that will fulfill all the tasks and provide you with a great file recovery tool.

Check your Windows version

First of all, in order to use this Windows document recovery tool, you need to have Windows 10 version 2004 (Build 19041.0 or higher). If your version is lower than this one, you need to update it to download and use the software.
So how to check your Windows version?
We offer you 2 ways to find out:

First way:

  1. Press the Start button and select “Settings”.
  2. In Settings, go to the “System” tab and select “About”.

Second way:

  1. Press WIN+R keys. You will see the Run window.
  2. Type “winver” there and hit “Enter”.

Now you know your Windows version.<br>
So, if your Build is 19041.0 or higher, you can use the recovery folder Windows 10 tool.

Where can you find Windows File Recovery and how to install it?

You can find Windows File Recovery software in the Microsoft Store.
All you need to find and install this application is to write its name in the search bar of Microsoft Store, press “Enter” and click on the “Install” button. That’s all!
The program is now installed on your computer and you can launch it.

What recovery modes are there and what are they used for?

WinFR offers you three recovery modes: default, segment, signature. Let’s figure out what their differences are and which mode for which situation you need to use.

Default mode: You can use this mode if you have recently deleted a file or folder from NTFS drive.
Segment mode: You can use this mode if you deleted your file or folder a while ago or you formatted the drive. You can also use this mode if your drive has been damaged, but in this case use Segment mode first, and if it does not work, try using Signature mode.
Signature mode: You can use this mode if you want to recover a file or folder not from NTFS drive. This mode is used for ReFS, FAT and exFAT file systems.

How to use the syntax and switches?

As you may have noticed, this program has no graphical interface. Therefore, in order to use this recovery file for Windows 10 tool, you first need to understand how to use the syntax and switches.
How it looks: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: /switches
“source-drive:” is the drive that WinFR will scan for files and folders to recover.
“destination-drive:” is the drive where recovered files and folders will be saved.
Please note that the source drive and the destination drive must be different.
To know more about switches and how to use them, you can enter “winfr /?”.

How to recover files in Windows 10?

Default mode

Recovering files and folders in the Default mode is pretty easy. See how to do it:

  1. If you want to recover file called “file.pdf”, you should type:
    winfr C: D: \Users\Lily\Documents\Folder\file.pdf
  2. If you want to find and recover all files of pdf format in a certain folder, you should type the following: winfr C: D: \Users\Lily\Documents\Folder\*.pdf <br>And the application will recover all pdf files that were in that folder.
  3. If you want to recover all files that you removed from a certain folder, you should type this: winfr C: D: \Users\Lily\Documents\Folder This way, all files that were in the Folder will be recovered and moved to the D drive.
  4. If you want to find all files that contain a certain word in their name, you should type this: winfr C: D: \Users\Lily\Documents\Folder\ *file* This way, the app will recover all files that were in the specified folder and contain the word “file” in their name.

All recovered files will be in a Recovery_[date and time] directory on the drive you specified in the app.

Segment mode

The segment mode is not very different from the default mode. It’s just slower and more thorough. You can also use it if the Default mode didn’t find files to recover.
The segment mode is used to find and recover files of such format JPEG, PNG, MP3, ASF, MPEG, ZIP, and PDF files.
Note that if you recover ZIP files, Office documents that have PPTX, DOCX and XLSX formats also will be recovered. To use the segment mode, you just need to use the “/r” switch.

Signature mode

Signature mode can only find and recover files of certain file types. If you want to use the Signature mode ,you should type “/x” to let the app know that you are using the Signature mode and “/y:” to list the file type groups.

Signature mode

Signature mode can only find and recover files of certain file types.
If you want to use the Signature mode ,you should type “/x” to let the app know that you are using the Signature mode and “/y:” to list the file type groups.Here are the supported groupes:
ASF: wmv, wma, asf
JPEG: jpeg, ,jpg, jpe, jfif, jfi, jif
MP3: mp3
MPEG: mpeg, mpg, mp4, m4a, m4r, m4v, m4b, mov, 3gp, qt
PDF: pdf
PNG: png
ZIP: zip, docx, xlsx, pptx, odt, odg, ods, odp, odi, odf, odc, ott, odm, otg, ots, otp, otf, otc, oti, oth
If you want to specify multiple file groups, you need to separate them with a space.

Conclusion

As you already understood, at first glance, Microsoft’s Windows File Recovery tool may seem complicated and incomprehensible to many users. This impression is due to its non-graphical interface. But if you just try to use it, you will understand that there is nothing too complicated in it and it’s easy enough to Windows 10 update deleted files (update deleted files in Windows 10).
This file recovery software helps you find and recover files, while providing you with fairly flexible search settings. So, if you accidentally deleted a folder or file that you still need, feel free to download the Windows document recovery software and restore the deleted items.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Start Dissy. The application will automatically open in the “Scan & Analyze tab”. There you will see a list of all drives connected to your computer. Click on the "Scan Storage" button next to the drive you want to scan, and the program will start scanning. To scan a specific folder, you can open it through the menu at the bottom of the window.
To fix this problem, open a terminal, enter «sudo nano /etc/hosts», then enter «127.0.0.1 localhost» and save.
Dissy is fully compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. So it can be used on almost any machine.
Yes, it is possible. To prevent the folder from being scanned, it must be added to the “Important” section. To do this, you need to scan the folder in which the folder you need is located, and opposite it in the menu select “Add to Important”. Thus, the selected folder will not participate in further scans, and you will not be able to accidentally make changes to it or delete it.