Windows File Recovery Tool — How to Use

Windows File Recovery is a free command-line tool published by Microsoft in the Microsoft Store. It can recover files deleted from the Recycle Bin, permanently deleted files, and files from formatted or corrupted drives. It works by scanning the raw sectors of a drive for file data that Windows has marked as deleted but not yet overwritten — unlike the Recycle Bin, which only works for files that were moved there, winfr searches at the disk level.

Windows File Recovery tool — install, command syntax, Regular vs Extensive mode, output folder

What Windows File Recovery can and cannot do

Can recover: Recently deleted files on NTFS drives (Regular mode), older deleted files and files from formatted drives (Extensive mode), files deleted with Shift+Delete, files from external hard drives and USB drives, files in FAT32 and exFAT format (Extensive mode only).

Cannot recover: Files on SSDs where TRIM has already zeroed the sectors, files on drives that have been heavily written to since deletion, files from drives with physical damage, files on BitLocker-encrypted drives without the decryption key.

When to use Regular mode vs Extensive mode

Regular mode (/regular) uses the NTFS file system records to locate deleted entries. It is faster (2–15 minutes) and more accurate when the deletion is recent. Use it first.

Extensive mode (/extensive) ignores file system records and searches for file type signatures directly in the raw sectors. It takes longer (30 minutes to several hours) but finds files Regular mode misses — especially on drives that have been formatted or used heavily after deletion. Use it if Regular mode returns no results.

How to verify the fix

Open each recovered file immediately to confirm its contents. A file that appears in the Recovery folder may be partially overwritten — it will open but display incomplete or corrupted content. Only files that open fully intact should be considered successfully recovered. Move confirmed files to a permanent location on a different drive from the one that was scanned.

Known limitations

winfr cannot improve results on an SSD where TRIM has executed. Consumer SSDs typically issue TRIM commands within seconds to minutes of file deletion. Enterprise SSDs and some older consumer drives may disable or delay TRIM, giving a wider recovery window. To check whether TRIM is active on your drive: open Command Prompt as administrator and run fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify — a result of 0 means TRIM is enabled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Windows File Recovery completely free?

Yes. Windows File Recovery is developed and published by Microsoft Corporation and is available at no cost in the Microsoft Store. It does not require a subscription, does not have a paid version, and does not contain ads. It is a command-line tool with no graphical interface — all commands are typed in Command Prompt.

Can Windows File Recovery recover files from an external hard drive?

Yes. To recover files from an external hard drive, use the external drive as the source and save recovered files to a different location — your internal C: drive or a second external drive. The syntax is the same: winfr E: C:\Recovery /extensive /n *.jpg — replace E: with your external drive letter. Use /extensive mode for external drives that are FAT32 or exFAT formatted, as /regular mode only supports NTFS.

What does the /n filter do in winfr?

The /n switch specifies a filename filter — it tells winfr which files to look for. Without /n, winfr attempts to recover all files it finds, which creates a very large Recovery folder and takes much longer. Use /n *.docx to find all Word documents, /n *.jpg to find all JPEGs, or /n \Users\YourName\Desktop\report.pdf to find a specific file at a specific original path. Multiple /n filters can be combined in one command: winfr C: E: /regular /n *.docx /n *.xlsx recovers both Word and Excel files.

Why did winfr not find my deleted file?

The most common reason is that the disk sectors containing the file data have already been overwritten by new data written to the drive after the deletion. On active system drives, this can happen within hours. On SSDs, TRIM commands can zero the sectors almost immediately. If Regular mode found nothing, try Extensive mode — it uses a different scanning algorithm that searches for file signatures rather than relying on the file system's records. If Extensive mode also fails, the data is likely not recoverable from that drive.

Does winfr work on Windows 10?

Yes, but only on Windows 10 version 2004 (the May 2020 Update) or later. To check your Windows version, press Windows + R, type winver, and press Enter. If you see a build number of 19041 or higher, winfr is supported. On older versions of Windows 10 or on Windows 7/8, consider using Recuva (free from piriform.com) as an alternative with a graphical interface.