How To Recover Photos Deleted By Virus

“I recently lost all my photos on my computer when it was hit by malware. There were some precious memories that I had collected over the years. Is there any way I can get those photos back?”

You might fall prey to malware disguised as a genuine email or may have downloaded a malicious .exe file. Malware can attack you anytime. We are not scaring you, but over a billion malware programs are out there, and over 560,000 new variants have been detected. 3.2 billion malware attacks were registered in the first half of 2020 alone.   Keeping the trivia aside, what would you do if you want to recover photos deleted by a virus, malware, or any malicious threat? 

In this post, we’ll look at all the possibilities to recover photos that a virus might remove. You may want to bookmark this post for later reference. 

First Things First – Use Antivirus Software

Before you proceed and try the various methods to recover photos deleted by malware, you would want to ensure that while you are rescuing your images, no virus or other malicious threat hits your PC or laptop. So, while you are recovering pictures, keep an Antivirus program active. T9 Antivirus, for instance, is one of the most lightweight yet powerful Antivirus programs out there. Here’s why it is a force to reckon with when it comes to tackling malicious threats of any kind – 

• The database of T9 Antivirus is updated regularly so that it can tackle any ongoing malicious threats.
• Real-time protection against existing and emerging threats, including zero-day threats.  
• Web protection that keeps you away from suspicious and possibly malicious websites  
• On-demand protection to remove threats from PC  

We have covered a detailed post whereby we have evaluated its features, pricing, how to use it, and various other aspects. You can check out the post here. 

How To Recover Images Deleted By Virus?

Now that you have Antivirus software in place, you may proceed with some effective ways in which you might be able to get your deleted photos back – 

1. Use The CMD Command

Various kinds of viruses and other malicious threats hide your photos somewhere in your hard drive, making them completely inaccessible. In such a case, you can execute the CMD command in your Command Prompt. You may first want to take note of the drive from where you have lost your photos. After that, the right way to execute the command is mentioned below – 

1.  Type cmd in the Windows search bar. 

2. Click on Run as administrator from the right-hand side.

3. When the Command Prompt opens, type in the below-mentioned command-

attrib -h -r -s /s /d F:\*.*

Here, the letter F represents your drive letter. Replace it with the drive letter from where you lost the photos because of the virus, as shown in the screenshot below – 

4. Hit the Enter key. 

Once the process is complete, Windows will begin restoring any hidden files, which may also include your lost photos. 

This step is even applicable if you have lost photos from a USB drive that was affected by a virus. 

2. Use A Photo Recovery Tool

You can always recover photos removed by a virus or malware using an image recovery utility. Consider Photos Recovery, which is one of the best tools that can help you restore images deleted by a virus. 

What Is Photos Recovery? 

Photos Recovery from Systweak is one of the best recovery tools to recover media files that are not just limited to photos but even videos and audio files. The tool can handle any data loss situations such as human error, data corruption, virus attack, accidental formatting, and many others. 

How Can I Recover Deleted Photos Using Photos Recovery? 

1. Download, install and run Photos Recovery.

2. Select the drive from which you want to recover lost photos.

3. Select the photos that you want to recover. You can even preview photos before you decide to recover them.

4. Click the Recover button from the bottom-right-hand corner and select a drive where you want to save the photo. 

3. Use A Backup To Recover Lost Photos

Creating a backup from time to time can be very helpful, especially in a situation where you have lost your precious memories. If you are new to the concept or unsure how to back up your data, here is how you can back up data the right way. We urge you to create a backup of your data from time to time and not wait for a situation like this. 

If you have already backed up your data using the Windows File History feature, here is how you can restore files.  

Wrapping Up

We hope that you have been successful in retrieving photos that you lost to malware. If yes, do share your success journey in the comments section. We’d also like you to share this post with someone who might be in dire need of a solution. For more such updates, keep reading WeTheGeek. You can also connect with us on  Facebook, YouTube, Flipboard, Pinterest, and Twitter.