How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows 10 & 11

Sometimes people delete important files on their computers by accident. And if they don’t have backup software installed on their PCs, they won’t have any backups either. In this situation, most users will panic and look for ways to recover permanently deleted files on their Windows 10 or 11 PCs.

However, the deleted files on Windows can be recovered, unless they have been overwritten with new data. So, if you have accidentally deleted files and are looking for a way to recover deleted files on Windows 10 or 11, you have landed at the right place.

SEE ALSO: How to Reset your Windows 10 or 11 PC using Recovery Options?

A) Recover Deleted Files on Windows 10 and 11 using Native Windows File Recovery

So, as mentioned above, if files have not been overwritten, you can use some tools to recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10 or 11. Even if you used “Shift + Delete” to delete files directly or empty the Recycle Bin, you can still recover them.

If you ask us about the most efficient way to recover deleted files on Windows 10 and 11, we would definitely recommend Windows File Recovery by Microsoft to you. It is a free, command-line-based data recovery program developed for Windows 10 2004 and above.

Windows File Recovery supports the recovery of documents, photos, videos, etc. This data recovery tool is easily available in the Microsoft Store and you can easily download it to your Windows 10 or 11. You may also check our detailed tutorial for the recovery of permanently deleted files using WFR for Windows 11 and 10.

B) Recover Permanently Deleted Files in Windows 11 and 10 using WinfrGUI Utility

While Windows File Recovery is reliable, this method of data recovery isn’t for everyone. Because it requires you to type in complex commands. Besides that, different scenarios require different commands to recover deleted files on Windows 11 or 10.

To avoid that, you may try the free data recovery utility – WinfrGUI. It does exactly the same thing as Windows File Recovery and works as a replacement for it. But WinfrGUI provides a graphical user interface making it simple and convenient to use. So, users can recover permanently deleted files on Windows 10 or 11 in a few clicks. It helps users save a lot of time and effort. Let’s check the steps:

Step 1: Install WinfrGUI Utility on Your PC

First of all, download the WinfrGUI utility from the official website. After that, install the WinfrGUI utility on your Windows 10 or 11 PC. Follow the on-screen instructions while installing the WinfrGUI utility.

Finally, click on Finish to exit the installation wizard and launch the WinfrGUI utility.

Step 2: Set Options to Recover Deleted Files

Now, select the drive from which you want to recover permanently deleted files on your Windows 10 or 11 PC. After that, select the destination drive for your recovered files. Next, select the scanning mode from the drop-down.

There are two Scanning modes you can choose from. Quick Scan only supports the NTFS file system while Deep Scan supports other file systems as well.

Besides that, if WinfrGUI doesn’t recover deleted files in Quick Scan mode, try again with Deep Scan. Next, click Advanced Settings, to select file types to recover.

In Advanced Settings, select the file types that you want to recover. If you leave all options unchecked, WinfrGUI will scan for all file types.

Besides that, if you have selected Quick Scan mode, you can also choose the source directory in the selected drive to narrow down your search. However, this option is not available in Deep Scan mode.

SEE ALSO: Recovery Partition Blocking C Drive Extension? Here is the Fix.

Step 3: Start Recovering Deleted Files in Windows 10 or 11

Finally, click Start Recovery to start the scanning process. Depending upon the size of your disk, and system configuration, the scanning process may take some time.

After the scanning completes, you will see a scanning completed dialog box. So, click the View Recovered Files button to check the recovered files.

After you recover permanently deleted files in Windows 11 or 10 using WinfrGUI, you can check them in the destination folder.

SEE ALSO: How to Restore Desktop Icons in Windows 10, 7, and XP?

Restore Permanently Deleted Files with Ease using WinfrGUI

The above article shows you how to use the WinfrGUI utility to recover permanently deleted files on Windows 11 or 10. While you can also do the same using Windows File Recovery, WinfrGUI provides a simple GUI. So, the native Windows File Recovery is more suitable for CMD geeks and WinfrGUI is suitable for ordinary users.

Hope you liked this tutorial. We suggest you give WinfrGUI a try and share the results with us. Since WinfrGUI is a new utility, it may not work in every scenario but it deserves a shot. Enjoy and have fun.