How to write an autohotkey script to toggle the Show hidden files and folders setting?

Question

I would like to make use of a hotkey to toggle the Show hidden files and folders setting. I want to use it on both windowsXp and Windows7.

Here is what I got so far:

#h::
RegRead, Showall_Status, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL, CheckedValue, 
If Showall_Status = 0
RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL, CheckedValue, 1 
Else
RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL, CheckedValue, 0
Return

Problem is when I run the script it simply does nothing. Not sure what I am missing.

Oq. · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-11T13:00:09.880

Ok, the problem was the regkey, this one works.

;------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Show hidden folders and files in Windows XP
;------------------------------------------------------------------------
; User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
; Value Name: Hidden
; Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
; Value Data: (1 = show hidden, 2 = do not show)

    #h::

        RegRead, ShowHidden_Status, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, Hidden
        if ShowHidden_Status = 2 
        RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, Hidden, 1
        Else
        RegWrite, REG_DWORD, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, Hidden, 2
        WinGetClass, CabinetWClass
        PostMessage, 0x111, 28931,,, A
        Return

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 03 '11 at 09:27

I don't have enough points to reply, so I'm posting this as another answer...

The explorer won't refresh with the above PostMessage in win7. So you'll want both of these to work in XP and win7.

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic1204.html

PostMessage, 0x111, 28931,,, A
PostMessage, 0x111, 41504,,, A

How to write an autohotkey script to toggle the Show hidden files and folders setting?

2 Answers2

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