How to Show File Extensions in Windows 10 – Guide
File extensions are the three letters that come after the file name on your computer. They’re what tell Windows 10 what kind of file it is. For example, if you open a picture file called “picture.jpg”, Windows 10 will show you the file extension as “jpg”. There are a lot of different file extensions, and they can be used for a lot of different things. Some common extensions are .doc, .xls, and .pdf. Windows 10 includes a built-in feature called File Explorer that lets you see all the files and folders on your computer, including the file extensions for each one. You can also use third-party tools like FileZilla to view the file extensions for any files or folders on your computer. Now that we know a little bit about what file extensions are and how to see them in Windows 10, let’s take a look at three methods for showing them:
- Using the File Explorer context menu: Right-click any folder or filename in File Explorer and select “Properties”. In the “General” tab, under “File Type”, click on the dropdown arrow next to “Extension”. This will show you a list of all the available file extension types. Select one from this list and Windows 10 will automatically show the corresponding extension when you view or open that type of file in future instances (for example: if you open a picture again later in File Explorer, it will now show as “jpg”).
- Using keyboard shortcuts: You can also use keyboard shortcuts to quickly show or hide all types of file extensions. To do this, press Ctrl+Shift+E (or Cmd+Shift+E on Macs) to open up the “File Types” window in File Explorer. Under “File Types”, click on “Extensions”. This will display all available keyboard shortcuts for showing/h ..
What are file extensions?
The extensions you see after the .jpg or .gif at the final of a filename are usually two to four characters long and reveal the file type of an image or document.
When displaying file extensions in Windows 10, you will see these suffixes in the final files and can therefore make more informed decisions about what to do with them. ..
Extensions are beneficial for security because they can help to disguise files as something else, such as accounts.xls.exe, which was actually a file with the extension accounts.
Show file extensions on Windows 11/10
- Open the Settings app and navigate to the General tab.
- On the General tab, select Security and Privacy.
- Under the heading “Privacy,” select Location Services.
- Under the heading “Location Services,” select Allow All Access to Location Data.
- Under the heading “Allow All Access to Location Data,” select Use OnlyKnown Locations for All Activities.
1]Through Folder Options or File Explorer
- Open File Explorer and click on the three lines in the top left corner of the window.
- On the left side, you will see a list of folders and files.
- The right side of the window will show you file extensions, if any.
Windows 11/10 users can search for File Explorer options in the Start Search box and open this box by pressing the Windows key and typing “File Explorer.”
You can see the extensions of all files on your computer anywhere in the Windows system.
In Windows 10/8.1 Explorer, you can access File Explorer options by opening the “Explorer” menu and selecting “File Explorer.”
In the “Search” section, change the “Folder” to “My Documents.”
Once here, you can do the necessary as explained above.
In Windows 7, open Explorer, and then press the Windows key + Alt key together. This will open the Classic Start menu. Then click on Tools > Folder Options. Now follow the steps mentioned above. ..
To view file extensions in Windows 7, follow these simple steps:
- Open the Start screen and type “cmd” into the search bar.
- When the command prompt is displayed, type “netstat -an” to view all network connections.
- Look for the “file extension” column and see which extensions are listed. If you don’t know what a file extension is, click on the link in that column to learn more about it.
2]Via Windows File Explorer
In Windows 11, the filename extension can be seen by looking in the “File” menu and selecting “Open file with extensions.”
In the View tab, under the File Types heading, click the Extensions tab. In the Extensions tab, under the Filename Extensions heading, you’ll see a list of all filename extensions installed on your computer. ..
Just check the Filename Extensions checkbox and you’re good to go. ..
3]Using Registry Editor
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and change the value of the key to the following: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit Press WINKEY + R button combination to stop the Run utility, type regedit and press Enter. After Registry Editor closes, you can close it by pressing the Close button.
Looking up the DWORD entry labeled HideFileExt will hide the file extension from the system.
To view hidden file extensions on your computer, double-click on the DWORD entry that corresponds to the file extension you want to view. This will open a dialog box in which you can set the value of the DWORD to 0. ..
A value of 0 will hide file extensions on the system.
Exit Registry Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
4]Use Windows Command Prompt
This fix can be used to fix both of the scenarios mentioned above. Insert a Windows 11/10 installer drive into the computer and install the fix from there.
To start the Command Prompt with Administrator Privileges, first press the WINKEY + X combinations and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the list. ..
type “cmd” and press Enter To view the file extensions on a bootable device, type the following command in the Command Prompt: type “cmd” and press Enter The file extensions on a bootable device are typically .iso or .img. ..
After typing in the password, hit the Enter key to log in. ..
netstat -a | grep “^.*extensions”
5]Using Group Policy Editor
Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Authentication Levels To change the authentication level for a user, you can use the Group Policy Editor. This editor is located in the Computer Configuration folder. To open the editor, click on the Windows button and then click on the Policies folder. In this folder, you will find the Security Settings folder. The Security Settings folder contains two folders: Authentication Levels and Logon Options. The Authentication Levelsfolder contains three files: User Account Control (UAC) and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). The Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) file is located in the Default Folder. You can change the authentication level for a user by editing one of these files.
This will allow you to see hidden files and folders on your computer. ..
Windows 10/8.1/8 show file extensions by default. You can change this setting in the File Explorer Options. ..
How do I show file type extensions on Windows 11/10?
To show the file type extension or file extension on Windows 10, you need to open the Folder Options panel and remove the check from the Hide extensions for known file types check box. Finally, click on the OK button. button to save the change.
How can I see all file extensions on Windows?
To view all file extensions on Windows 11/10, you need to remove the checkmark from the Hide extensions for known file types checkbox in the Folder Options window.
Final note
Windows 10 includes a new feature that allows you to see file extensions in the File Explorer. This can be helpful if you want to know what a file is before you open it. To show file extensions in Windows 10, follow these steps:
- Open the File Explorer.
- Click on the View tab.
- Under “File types,” click on the “Extensions” heading.
- If the list of file extensions is empty, click on the “Add extension” button (or press Ctrl+Shift+A). Select the “.txt” file type from the drop-down list and click on the “Add” button. The “.txt” extension will now be listed in the list of file types under “Extensions.” ..