Windows File Recovery: the complete 2026 guide (winfr + better alternatives)

You deleted a file on Windows and want to know whether Microsoft's built-in tool — Windows File Recovery — can get it back. The short answer: sometimes yes, and this guide shows you exactly how. The longer answer: winfr is a free CLI tool that works in specific conditions, with measured recovery rates of 41–56 % depending on mode. When those conditions aren't met, a GUI alternative recovers 30–40 % more files with zero command-line work.

Here is everything you need to know, with real benchmark numbers.

Transparent affiliation. Save My Disk earns a commission if you buy a license through the EaseUS links in this article. It changes neither the price nor the content: EaseUS is tested under the same protocol as winfr, Recuva, PhotoRec, and other tools in our public methodology.

What is Windows File Recovery?

Windows File Recovery (package name: winfr) is a free command-line utility published by Microsoft and distributed through the Microsoft Store. It was released in June 2020 for Windows 10 version 2004 and is also available on Windows 11.

It does one thing: scan a drive for deleted files and copy the recovered data to an output folder you specify. It does not preview files before recovery. It does not reconstruct folder trees from FAT volumes. It has no graphical interface.

Supported file systems: NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS (in limited mode).

The tool is not pre-installed — you must download it from the Microsoft Store or via winget.

When does winfr actually work?

winfr performs best under three conditions:

1. The file was deleted recently on an NTFS drive — The NTFS Master File Table (MFT) still has a record for the file, pointing to its clusters. Regular mode exploits this directly.
2. The drive has not been heavily written since the deletion — Every write potentially overwrites recoverable clusters.
3. The drive is not an SSD with TRIM aggressively enabled — On NVMe SSDs, TRIM/Deallocate can physically erase freed blocks within seconds to minutes.

If these conditions aren't met, winfr's yield drops significantly — which is why we measured only 41 % in Regular mode and 56 % in Extensive mode across 160 standardized sessions.

Installing Windows File Recovery

Open the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 (v2004+) or Windows 11 and search Windows File Recovery. Click Get, then Install.

Alternatively, from an administrator PowerShell:

winget install Microsoft.WindowsFileRecovery

Once installed, winfr becomes available as a command in any PowerShell or Command Prompt session run as administrator.

The two recovery modes explained

Regular mode (NTFS only, fast)

Regular mode reads the NTFS Master File Table — the index that tracks every file on the volume, including deleted ones whose MFT entries haven't been reused yet.

winfr C: D:\Recovered /regular /n \Users\Eric\Documents\budget.xlsx

• Speed: 5–20 minutes on a 1 TB drive
• Best for: recently deleted NTFS files, files deleted from the Recycle Bin with Shift + Delete
• Yield (our benchmark): 41 % — good for fresh deletions, drops fast on SSDs with TRIM
• Limitation: if the MFT entry was recycled (common after heavy disk activity), the file is invisible to Regular mode

Extensive mode (NTFS, FAT, exFAT — slower, deeper)

Extensive mode does not rely on the MFT. It scans clusters directly using one of three sub-modes:

winfr D: E:\Recovered /extensive /n *.jpg

• Speed: 1–8 hours on a 1 TB drive
• Best for: FAT32/exFAT drives (USB sticks, SD cards), formatted volumes (quick format only), deletions more than a few days old
• Yield (our benchmark): 56 % — substantially better than Regular on aged deletions, still limited on SSD
• Limitation: recovers files by signature, so original filenames and folder structure may be lost

Complete command reference

Basic syntax

winfr SourceDrive: DestinationPath [/mode] [/n filter]

Both drives must be different. You cannot recover to the same drive you are scanning.

Recover a specific file (Regular, NTFS)

winfr C: D:\Recovered /regular /n \Users\Eric\Documents\report.docx

Recover all JPEGs from a USB stick (Extensive)

winfr E: D:\Recovered /extensive /n *.jpg

The USB stick is drive E:, output goes to D:\Recovered.

Recover a specific folder and its contents (Regular)

winfr C: D:\Recovered /regular /n \Users\Eric\Desktop\ProjectFolder\

The trailing backslash signals a folder — winfr will recover everything inside it.

Recover all Word documents in Extensive mode (signature scan)

winfr C: D:\Recovered /extensive /signature /n *.docx

Recover from a formatted drive (exFAT, all files)

winfr F: D:\Recovered /extensive

Omitting /n scans for all supported file types.

List supported file extensions (signature mode)

winfr /#

Outputs the full list of file types winfr can detect via signature. As of 2026, 85 extensions are supported including DOCX, XLSX, PDF, JPEG, PNG, MP4, ZIP, RAR.

Real-world limits of winfr

No preview

winfr copies files blindly to the output folder. You discover whether a recovered file is intact or corrupted only after opening it. For large batches — recovering hundreds of photos from a formatted SD card — this means manual verification after the fact.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard solves this with a preview pane before any file is written to disk.

No folder tree reconstruction on FAT/exFAT

In extensive mode on FAT32 or exFAT, winfr dumps files into flat subdirectories organised by file type (RecoveredFiles\JPEG, RecoveredFiles\DOCX, etc.). Original names are often replaced with hex identifiers. Sorting through 4,000 unnamed JPEGs from a camera card takes time.

CLI only — no GUI

Every option requires a PowerShell command. There is no drag-and-drop, no progress bar with estimated time, no pause/resume. For a non-technical user who deleted a presentation the night before a client pitch, this barrier is real.

TRIM on SSDs shrinks the window dramatically

On an NVMe SSD with Windows 11 Deallocate, deleted blocks can be physically zeroed in 70–95 seconds. winfr arriving 10 minutes after deletion may find nothing. Our benchmark shows a 21 % yield on NVMe SSDs scanned within 1 hour of deletion — versus 94 % for HDDs.

Step-by-step: recovering files with winfr on Windows 10 / 11

Here is the complete procedure we use in the lab.

Step 1 — Stop all writes to the source drive immediately

Switch off downloads, OneDrive sync, Windows Update, antivirus scans, and scheduled tasks. For an external drive or SD card, eject and unplug. This is the single action that most influences outcome.

Step 2 — Install winfr (if not already present)

Microsoft Store → search "Windows File Recovery" → Install. Or: winget install Microsoft.WindowsFileRecovery.

Step 3 — Identify the drive letters

Open File Explorer. Note the drive letter of the source (the drive that had the deleted file) and choose a different drive for the output. Never recover to the same drive.

Step 4 — Open PowerShell as administrator

Win + X → Windows Terminal (Admin). Confirm the UAC prompt.

Step 5 — Run Regular mode first (NTFS, recent deletion)

winfr C: D:\Recovered /regular /n \path\to\your\file.ext

Wait for completion. winfr prints a summary: number of files found and copied.

Step 6 — If Regular mode fails, run Extensive mode

winfr C: D:\Recovered /extensive /n *.ext

Allow 1–8 hours. A large NVMe drive in Extensive mode may take longer.

Step 7 — Check the output folder

Navigate to D:\Recovered\C. Open recovered files to verify. Intact files: done. Corrupted files: the clusters were partially overwritten; try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard's deep scan for a second pass with its multi-cluster reconstruction engine.

winfr vs GUI alternatives: measured comparison

Our 2026 benchmark tested six tools on identical hardware (Seagate Barracuda 2 TB HDD, Samsung 870 EVO 1 TB SATA SSD, Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB NVMe) using the same deletion-then-scan-within-24-h protocol with MD5 verification. 160 sessions total.

winfr's main advantage is zero cost and being signed by Microsoft — no third-party software trust required. Its main disadvantage is a yield 30–46 percentage points below EaseUS on identical conditions, no preview, and a CLI that filters out most non-technical users.

For a sysadmin scripting a recovery pipeline across dozens of machines: winfr is sufficient. For a home user who deleted their only copy of a wedding video: the 46-point yield gap matters.

Which tool should you use?

Use winfr if:

• You are comfortable with PowerShell
• The file was deleted recently from an NTFS drive (C:, D:)
• You have time to sort through a batch output without preview
• You want a 100 % free, Microsoft-signed solution

Use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard if:

• You want a graphical interface with file preview before recovery
• The drive is exFAT or FAT32 (USB sticks, SD cards, external drives)
• The deletion happened more than a day ago
• The drive is an SSD — EaseUS's multi-pass engine extracts more from partially intact blocks
• You want a higher recovery rate without command-line expertise

Both tools are non-destructive: they only read the source drive and write to a separate output location. You can run winfr first and then EaseUS without risk.

Recycle Bin, File History, and Previous Versions first

Before running any recovery tool, spend two minutes on the free native methods:

1. Recycle Bin: open it, sort by Date Deleted, right-click → Restore. Works if the file was not deleted with Shift + Delete and the Bin was not emptied.
2. File History: Control Panel → File History → Restore personal files. Works only if File History was configured on an external drive before the deletion.
3. Previous Versions: right-click the parent folder → Properties → Previous Versions tab. Windows lists VSS snapshots — pick a date before the deletion. See our Windows shadow copies guide for the full procedure.

These three native paths recover 38 % of cases in our sample without any third-party tool.

Frequently asked questions

What is Windows File Recovery and where do I download it?

Windows File Recovery (winfr) is a free command-line tool published by Microsoft in the Microsoft Store. It works on Windows 10 version 2004 and later, and on Windows 11. Search 'Windows File Recovery' in the Microsoft Store or run winget install Microsoft.WindowsFileRecovery in PowerShell.

What is the difference between /regular and /extensive mode?

Regular mode scans the NTFS Master File Table — fast (5–20 min on a 1 TB drive) and effective for files deleted recently on a healthy NTFS volume. Extensive mode uses a deeper signature-based scan — slower (1–8 h) and necessary for FAT/exFAT drives, formatted volumes, or deletions older than a few days. Our 160-session benchmark: 41 % yield in Regular, 56 % in Extensive.

Can winfr recover files from a formatted drive?

Yes, in /extensive mode. A quick format only wipes the allocation table; file clusters remain on disk. If a full format was run, winfr's yield drops sharply — below 20 % in our tests — because Windows may zero-fill sectors.

Why does winfr find files but they open corrupted?

Corruption happens when some clusters of the file have been overwritten since deletion. winfr cannot reconstruct partially overwritten content. Try deep scan mode in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which reassembles files across non-contiguous clusters.

Is Windows File Recovery enough, or do I need paid software?

For a tech-savvy user comfortable with the command line whose files were deleted recently on an NTFS drive, winfr is often enough. For everyone else — exFAT/FAT32 drives, older deletions, SSD with TRIM, formatted volumes — EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard's GUI and 87 % average yield make it the better choice.

Does winfr work on SSDs?

Yes, but with significantly lower success rates. If Windows TRIM has already processed the deleted blocks, the data is physically erased and no tool can recover it. On NVMe SSDs with Deallocate, TRIM can fire within seconds. On SATA SSDs, the window is 4–7 days.

Resources

• Microsoft — Windows File Recovery (official documentation)
• Microsoft Store — Windows File Recovery download
• Zenodo dataset — 160 recovery sessions 2026
• Our 2026 data recovery software comparison