{"id":1147,"date":"2010-06-25T16:04:22","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T10:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2020-11-28T04:41:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T04:41:30","slug":"fix-libraries-empty-hidden-restore-windows7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-libraries-empty-hidden-restore-windows7\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix Libraries are Hidden and Showing Up Empty in Windows 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you open Windows Explorer on your Windows 7 computer, the Libraries folder may be completely empty. Also, nothing may happen when you right-click the &#8220;Libraries&#8221; link in the navigation pane, and choose <b>Restore default libraries<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-lib-1.png\" width=\"539\" height=\"378\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This can happen if the library files are hidden inadvertently by the user. To restore\/unhide the libraries, you need to remove the &#8220;hidden&#8221; attribute from each of the .library-ms files, located at the following directory:<\/p>\n<pre>%AppData%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Libraries<\/pre>\n<p>To do so, open a Command Prompt window (cmd.exe) and type the following command:<\/p>\n<pre>attrib -h \"%AppData%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Libraries\\*.library-ms\"<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-lib-2.png\" width=\"598\" height=\"156\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Press <kbd>Enter<\/kbd>, logoff and login back to your user account. The libraries should now display correctly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-lib-3.png\" width=\"539\" height=\"378\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Note:<\/b> If you had accidentally deleted one of the four default libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos), you can restore it back by right-clicking Libraries (in the navigation pane) and then clicking <b>Restore default libraries<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you open Windows Explorer on your Windows 7 computer, the Libraries folder may be completely empty. Also, nothing may happen when you right-click the &#8220;Libraries&#8221; link in the navigation pane, and choose Restore default libraries. This can happen if the library files are hidden inadvertently by the user. To restore\/unhide the libraries, you need &#8230; <a title=\"Fix Libraries are Hidden and Showing Up Empty in Windows 7\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-libraries-empty-hidden-restore-windows7\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Fix Libraries are Hidden and Showing Up Empty in Windows 7\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-7"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1345,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-missing-hidden-libraries-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":0},"title":"How to Restore Missing or Hidden Libraries in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Explorer, all the libraries may be missing, and clicking the \"Restore default libraries\" context menu option would have no effect. For reasons unexplained, in some cases, the libraries may become hidden, and all you need to do is to remove the hidden attribute set from the \"library-ms\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/librares-hidden.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4921,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reorder-library-included-folders-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":1},"title":"How to reorder folder groups in a library in Windows?","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Libraries were first introduced in Windows 7 and the feature has been carried forward to Windows 8 and Windows 10. Libraries provide you a consolidated or aggregated view of related files in one place. For example, you can have .mp3 files in multiple folders on your hard disk. By adding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rearrange folders inside a library","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/arrange-library-folders-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/arrange-library-folders-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/arrange-library-folders-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3290,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-pictures-library-arrange-month\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":2},"title":"Windows 10 Pictures Library Arrange by Month Missing?","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Pictures library allows you organize your images in a variety of ways such as arrange by month, folder, day, rating and tag, and sort or group pictures as you'd like. You may be wondering if the option to arrange photos by month is removed in Windows 10, as the Arrange\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pictures Library - Arrange by","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/lib-arrange-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":848,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-customize-library-icons-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":3},"title":"How to Customize the Library Icons in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows 7 does not provide a GUI to change the icons shown for Libraries, and the Libraries don't use the icon references provided in the desktop.ini file. Here is a nice way to customize the Library icons in Windows 7. Thanks to Bogo for this excellent tip! Changing the Library\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-icon.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":952,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-error-library-ms-is-no-longer-working-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":4},"title":"Fix Error &#8220;Documents.library-ms is no longer working&#8221; in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When you double-click a library to view the contents, the following error may occur. \"<libraryname>.library-ms\" is no longer working. For example, the following error may occur when opening Documents library \"Documents.library-ms\" is no longer working. This library can be safely deleted from your computer. Folders that have been included will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-library-err-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6078,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-vcruntime140-dll-missing-error-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":1147,"position":5},"title":"[Fix] Missing VCRUNTIME140.DLL, VCRUNTIME140_1.DLL, MSVCP140.DLL","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On your Windows 10 or 11 computer, a 3rd party program (e.g., Epic Games) may throw the error that the module VCRUNTIME140.DLL, VCRUNTIME140_1.DLL, or MSVCP140.dll is missing from the computer. Here are the error messages which you may encounter: The program can't start because VCRUNTIME140.dll is missing from your computer.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"powertoys runtime files","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/runtimes-powertoys.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/runtimes-powertoys.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/runtimes-powertoys.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/runtimes-powertoys.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}