Can't open images after transferring them to my hard drive

Hello,
A friend of mine handed me a USB drive containing some photos transferred from a local photo studio. The issue is that when I open the drive, the files appear only as shortcuts—I can open them, sure, but as soon as I try to move them to my hard drive, I get an error stating that "window_api.bat" cannot be found.
When I check the shortcut properties, the location is listed as "C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /c start windows_api.bat&start IMG_0001.JPG&exit"

There are no other files on the drive—I have already enabled the option to show hidden files and folders.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

Is it possible they just copied over those shortcuts instead of the actual photos? It sounds like one of those classic "oops" moments...
If that’s what happened, you aren't going to find any images because, well, they simply aren't there.
I mean, I'd still give it a shot, but don't waste time on basic recovery—grab something like PhotoRec or maybe some high-end commercial data recovery software designed for corrupted drives. Those tools dig through everything bit by bit to see if anything can be salvaged from the wreckage.
But again, if we're talking about shortcuts, the pictures basically don't exist.

Sent from my iPhone via Reddit

The images were accessible via those shortcuts—but only while they were sitting on the USB drive.
That said, I’ve since formatted the drive and moved a Word document onto it; now, even that file shows up as a shortcut, though it actually opens fine.
I ran a scan with Malwarebytes, but it turned up nothing. Honestly, I suspect there is just something fundamentally wrong with the USB itself.

Ever tried running it on a different PC?

...just go into File Explorer, hit up the "View" tab in the top menu, and switch it to "Details." That way, you can actually see what was copied. I mean, the shortcut itself is barely 1-3 KB, whereas the actual photos and docs are way heavier.

Obviously, though, those shortcuts will only work on the original PC where the files are sitting. If you plug that USB into a different computer, those shortcuts aren't going to do anything since the source files aren't there.

It turned out to be some kind of virus—it was converting all my files into shortcuts whenever I plugged in a USB drive, which I picked up from a friend's thumb drive.
Basically, the thing would hide all my actual files and replace them with shortcuts that functioned as a delivery mechanism to spread the infection to the computer itself.
I ran the command `attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*` to reveal the infected files, which uncovered a `windows_api.bat` file along with some VBS scripts—all of which I promptly deleted. For some reason, Malwarebytes didn't flag them 😢(.
Later, using Norton, I actually located the source of the virus sitting in the AppData/local/temp folder; this was the script targeting USB sticks, which explains why simply formatting the drive did absolutely nothing.

Everything is back to normal now, and I've learned a vital lesson—don't try to be a hero by plugging a buddy's sketchy drive into your machine. Thanks to everyone for the help.

Honestly, this whole virus mess could’ve been dodged entirely if you were running Linux—the code wouldn't even be compatible, and Linux would've flagged those hidden files immediately if they were there in the first place.
It’s not a bad idea to keep Linux on the side... just in case. And look, all these antivirus programs and Malwarebytes—they’re only useful if the companies behind them actually caught the malicious code and pushed out a definition update. Without that specific definition, those tools are basically paperweights. Basically, you might run into a situation where one program catches a virus but Norton misses it... or vice versa. No antivirus is ever going to be 100% foolproof.
Plus, I definitely wouldn't recommend running more than one antivirus at a time.

I don't typically run any antivirus software—in fact, I haven't touched one in over a year—but I found myself forced to install something this time around. I was running Linux until my last system overhaul, when I decided to wipe everything clean and just stick with Windows 😢.
Anyway, thanks for the effort.