How to create a secured and locked folder in Windows XP

Posted on August 20, 2007 at 1:27 pm

Make sure to read other posts from the Hide Files and Folders series!

How to hide files and folders in Windows XP – The easy way
How to create a secured and locked folder in Windows XP
Another way to hide files and folders in Windows XP
How to create an "Invisible" hidden drive in Windows

UPDATE: Since some people were having issues with this method of hiding a folder in XP (folder being renamed incorrectly, visible via the command prompt, etc), I am adding to the bottom another way to permanently hide a folder using a program called Free Hide Folder. Please scroll down to read about it.

If you’ve come across this page looking for a way to create a password protected, secure, hidden or locked folder in Windows XP for free, you’ve come to the right place. Unfortunately, Windows XP does not have any user-friendly built-in tools to create secure folders on computers with multiple users. Of course, you can encrypt data on your hard disk, but this only helps if your computer is stolen.

In a previous post, I wrote about how you can hide a folder in Windows XP using a rudimentary built-in feature. This method is useful if you want to hide a folder or file and you’re pretty sure that anyone who is using the computer will have no idea how to un-hide the data. If you’re dealing with someone a little more computer savvy, there is another way to create a secure locked folder without having to buy any 3rd party software.

It basically involves using a script to morph the folder into something completely different so that it’s still visible, but nothing inside the folder is accessible. In order to view the data, you have to run another script to morph it back. Anyone who clicks on the folder will be brought to the Control Panel and simply think it is a shortcut.

Here are the steps to create the protected folder in Windows XP:

First create a folder that you will use to store your confidential data. For example, I have created a folder called Fonts at the root of my D drive. Since the hidden folder will bring you to the Control Panel, it’s best to name the folder as one of the programs inside there.

In the same location where you created the new folder, create a new file in Notepad, copy the following below into it, replace Fonts with the name of your folder and save it as loc.bat.

ren Fonts Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

To save the file as a .bat file in Notepad, just put the whole thing in quotes, like “loc.bat” and then click Save.

Now you should have a bat file named loc in the same directory as your Fonts folder, not inside the Fonts folder.

Create another NotePad file and type in the following listed below and save it as “key.bat”.

ren Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Fonts

Now you’ll have loc.bat and key.bat along with your folder. Go ahead and double-click on loc.bat and your folder will turn into the Control Panel and nothing inside can be viewed. Clicking on it will simply bring you to the Control Panel. You’ll notice the icon should have changed also.

To view the data inside your folder again, click on key.bat and your folder will return to normal! Pretty simple!

Of course, keeping the key.bat file in the same folder will defeat the purpose of securing the folder, so it’s best to move the key.bat file somewhere else, or even better, put it on a USB stick or CD that only you can access.

Most people will be probably look at the folder and simply ignore it since it has the control panel icon and it links directly there. Of course, if someone knows this trick also, they can create their own key.bat file, etc and open it back up. However, if you’re dealing with someone who can do all of that, it’s best you check out more advanced 3rd party software to lock down a folder.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:

If you’re having trouble with the above-mentioned method (from what I can see from the comments, a good number of people), then here’s another quick and free way to create a secure folder in Windows XP. There is a very nice program called Free Hide Folder from Cleanersoft that allows you to easily hide your private folders.

Your folders are completely hidden and you must supply a password to open the program to unhide the folders. The personal edition is free, just click the Skip Registration button unless you’re using it for commercial purposes.

I’ve tried this program myself and I cannot access the hidden folder via Windows Explorer nor the command prompt. So if the above method is not working, give this a shot!

Any questions, post a comment! Enjoy!

[tags]how to lock folders xp, password protect folders, how to secure folders, folder security, hide folders, windows xp, protect folders[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

109 Responses to “How to create a secured and locked folder in Windows XP”

mehdi said on : August 25th, 2007 at 2:10 am

very nice . thank you

Green Star said on : August 28th, 2007 at 10:41 am

i tried on one of my folder called CPanel, it works fine but when i locked it is renamed to CPanel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}. I can rename it back to CPanel by right clicking it. after renaming i can access folder contents. so i do not need to run key.bat,

Keehun Nam said on : August 28th, 2007 at 10:49 am

That’s ingenious!

akishore said on : August 28th, 2007 at 10:56 am

Green Star, try it again because when you click on loc.bat it should simply be named CPanel, not CPanel.XXX. Something is wrong with your code, make sure you copy it directly from my site and change only the name. First try it with the name Fonts and see if it works, then change it carefully.

Thanks!

Green Star said on : August 28th, 2007 at 11:15 am

Thanks akishore, i tried with Fonts also, same results. as long as some one is not renaming it(by right clicking), them my data is hidden. but if some one renamed it, then they can see all my data.

I directly copied code from your site, check the file name from my previous post. it is same like what you had in the site commend.

Daniel said on : August 28th, 2007 at 1:16 pm

I’m having the same experience as Green Star. Running loc.bat renames the folder as xx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}.

akishore said on : August 28th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

I’m curious as to what operating system you guys are running (Daniel, Green Star) because I am not having this problem on my computer, which is running Windows XP.

Thanks

Daniel said on : August 28th, 2007 at 2:32 pm

Windows XP Pro Version 2002 Service Pack 2.

Michael said on : August 28th, 2007 at 2:32 pm

Same here as Daniel and Green Star, names the file Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}.

Running Windows XP Pro SP2

Brendan said on : August 28th, 2007 at 8:14 pm

What happened to the good old “Encrypted” attribute on folders? This seems like a rather overly complex way to protect a folder

akishore said on : August 28th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for visiting my site! That’s a great question that you have. The problem with the “Encrypted” attribute is that it does not prevent someone from accessing that folder if the person can simply log onto your computer under your name. This type of hiding is meant for people who have kids or someone else in the house that they can’t “restrict”, but they still want to hide something from! Does that make sense? Using Windows encryption only helps prevent someone from stealing your data if they take your computer and can’t log onto your account.

Aseem

i_am_the_maharishi said on : August 29th, 2007 at 12:50 am

why not use an free open source on the fly encryption utility like TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/) to create secure containers which can be loaded as a virtual drives… this is much more simple and very very very secure….

Me said on : August 29th, 2007 at 2:50 am

Hi, this tip is only effective if ‘Hide Protected System files’ is set in Tools -> View within Windows Explorer.

So hit-and-miss whether it would work for any particular PC and even then not very reliable- first thing I do on a new PC is turn all those Explorer ‘Hide’ settings off.

Cheers.

JeremyDuffy said on : August 29th, 2007 at 4:50 am

Note, if you move the batch files, you will have to adjust the code to compensate. For example, if your folder is in c:\temp (e.g., c:\temp\Fonts), and you put the batch files in c:, you will now have to code them like this:

ren c:\temp\Fonts c:\temp\Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

and

ren c:\temp\Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} c:\temp\Fonts

Neo said on : August 29th, 2007 at 7:34 am

uhmmmm….. yeah thanks guys for the tutor.it qorks well, but right now its not my main conern, I REALY NED HELP.IS IT POSSILE TO BYPASS or ACIVATE XP WITHOUT BEGGING MS FOR THE KEY? I m runni on 4days. I ‘ll buy you a coke and a pie you grant me help lol……. but seriously HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neo said on : August 29th, 2007 at 7:37 am

see what its doing to me? I m even misspelling the words. lol

xylph said on : August 29th, 2007 at 8:03 am

That’s an ingenious tip, a nice way to utilise Windows itself instead of using a third-party software.
I’m not very tech savvy, but I’m interested to know more about how renaming a folder can redirect you to another folder. Perhaps you can give me a link? Thanks!

Evan said on : August 30th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

I never thought of using clsid folders to hide contents. What this basically does is use the .{—–} as an extension }or class}. You can lookup clsids for most of the system folders. I have recently compiled a list of all of them because I’m planning to create a new control panel using html.

You could do a my documents folder with a secret my documents folder hidden behind it.

Note: This works for everything communicating through the windows API. If you connect through telnet, ftp, etc… the filename will be viewed as a filename (and wont hide the extension}. If you download it and you’re running windoze it should still work as a link since the clsid is basically a memory space assigned to be a direct shortcut to the specified folder.

Richard FDisk said on : August 30th, 2007 at 5:41 pm

I use a two or three step method for “Sensitive Documents”

1) use the “E” encrypted folders on external (NTFS formatted) hard drives / USB (NTFS formatted) chips, so if some one boosts my drive / chip they can’t access the files in the folder (unless they plug it into my pc) and
2) then within that “E” encrypted folder, I use a password protected zipped folder created with WinZip,

so now if someone boosts the drive they not only have to connect it to my PC, they also have to contend with cracking the password of the encrypted WinZip Archive.

step three is only for apps that offer it.
3) any time an application offers the use of passwords for a document, spreadsheet etc. use it. then do step 1 & 2

(the one exception is; if that “someone” can create a pc with the same: “computer name, user name(s), domain / workgroup name etc.” then the “E” encryted folder is effectively bypassed and accessible, but “they” still have to contend with the password protection on the files in the “Zipped” folder and then, for apps that offer passwords, any file that is individually password protected by the app. it was created with.)

Cheers
RfD
(no I’m not hyper paranoid, but these steps I use to protect customer information in files).

Clos1 said on : August 31st, 2007 at 1:13 pm

This is very kool -thanks for sharing, I sure would like to know more=) ????????

Decoy said on : September 3rd, 2007 at 10:06 pm

by the simply commandshell like FAR Manager or TotalCommander you can easy enter into “Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” and have to see all inside, also you can delete or rename this folder.

so this metod works with lasy users who uses WinExplorer

Gladkov Oleg said on : September 5th, 2007 at 5:57 am

loc.bat:
@echo [.ShellClassInfo]>.\Fonts\desktop.ini
@echo CLSID={21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}>>.\Fonts\desktop.ini

key.bat:
del .\Fonts\desktop.ini

Dark said on : September 5th, 2007 at 11:52 pm

You can see and access to hidden folder from de windows console:

cd font*

hofshi said on : September 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am

I encountered the same issue like GreenDay. The folder is renamed to :
Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
instead of to
Fonts

So it is fairly easy to access the “locked” folder.

Running Win XP Pro SP2

Theodorik O'Broin said on : September 10th, 2007 at 9:47 am

Hi,

Just tried this and I see how well it works… from Windows Explorer! NOT the CMD prompt though.

Is there any way to make this a proper “full” secure and locked folder in XP?
Otherwise, I’ll have to find another solution.

Cheers,

db

vipin said on : September 11th, 2007 at 1:45 am

can i creat it only in d: drive or any where i can notable to make bat file wht you write just clear it

hort said on : September 11th, 2007 at 1:53 am

Thanks akishore, i tried to protect folder like you recommand but it have problem like Green Star that when i run loc.bat is renames the folder as xx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}. so i can’t lock folder because it can rename and open it. i use windows xp sp2

akishore said on : September 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am

Ok, I just updated this post with another method for creating a private hidden folder, so check that out at the bottom if you’re still having trouble!

Thanks!

Sex Pistol said on : October 3rd, 2007 at 7:48 pm

Very cool technique – However, I can still search for files. How can we prevent the files from showing up in the search? Thanks.

OM said on : October 7th, 2007 at 10:38 am

thanks

serial_samurai said on : October 10th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

in all honesty, if you need an operating system and don’t want to pay Microsoft the money, take the time and look into Ubuntu which is based off of Debian. its been a very easy distro of Linux to learn compared to some of the others I’ve run into.

rajesh said on : October 27th, 2007 at 8:01 am

Dear All,

I have system with OS(Windows XP), This is useing many people, But I have created folders which is having confidential things, In this case those folder need to make security for that how i can set the setting like password to open folder.
King expecing the right response to solve this.

With Regards
Rajesh

Ravi said on : November 12th, 2007 at 7:57 pm

Good and a very detailed Post. This software provides similar functionality not just XP but Windows Vista/2003/XP/2000/NT/Me/98.

manoj yadav said on : November 22nd, 2007 at 11:18 am

thanks its really workable.

Chakri said on : December 3rd, 2007 at 3:34 am

Hey I think it dosent works for the folder having spaces in between the folder name. As i’ve tried to and got failed.
Is there any Sol. for this??

Tony said on : December 17th, 2007 at 8:54 am

Thanks very much for the expact on all you do, but i have some promise using the menthod discribe here. I did all you said but whenever I click on the “loc.bat” there is this popup that says it not a valid win32 some thing.
Please I don’t understand this.
Please if you can help I will appreciate it.
Thank you

anil said on : January 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 pm

best way to hide the folder is,
go to command prompt.
go to location(drive) using “cd” command where you want to create secret folder.
make folder using “md” command”.For example, I have created a folder called Fonts.
to hide type:ren Fonts Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

your folder will turn into the Control Panel and nothing inside can be viewed. Clicking on it will simply bring you to the Control Panel. You’ll notice the icon should have changed also.
To view the data inside your folder again,
type:ren Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Fonts
your folder will return to normal! Pretty simple!

joen said on : February 4th, 2008 at 3:41 am

i’ve read an article about this..if you rename the file (folder) any name, it becomes a folder and you can open it by just “double clicking” or “pressing the enter key”.

lloyd said on : February 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

heres the solution for those who have .{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} after the folder name:

go to windows explorer then Tools > Folder Options

go to the View tab and the check the box next to ‘hide extensions for known file types’

then go to the ‘file types’ tab and click ‘new’

paste {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} into the file extension box and click ok

the file extension after the folder should be gone now.

peter said on : February 20th, 2008 at 4:05 am

hi,
Please let me know how to add a password to my personal folders. But i’m not getting a compressed folder option

zeiss said on : February 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

remember to test “locking” and “hiding” software on folders that do not contain critical information.

Bj said on : March 12th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

I would like to lock a file I keep on my desktop but keep the ‘loc’ and ‘key’ in a folder elsewhere. Can I do this?

Sandeep Shonik said on : March 15th, 2008 at 12:12 am

Hi,
This is a very good article. I want to know if there is a way by which any other user can unlock the locked folder on a workgroup. I have seven systems’s on a network and I want only one of the users to have the access to the locked folder. So is there a way by which only one user, out of the seven can access the folder by unlocking it.
Thank You.

John Smith said on : March 24th, 2008 at 8:41 am

Very neat, but you are still able to get to the folder at a command prompt by referencing the DOS 8.3 name as given by the dir /x. Still cool none the less.

TJ said on : March 24th, 2008 at 10:42 am

MY folder is locked ..how to open it …not able to do so

Nazgul-Killer said on : March 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am

Thanks a lot man, it helps much. I share this computer with many people, including my parents, and as you might’ve figured, I really don’t want my parents to see this certain folder, and I don’t want anyone else to see the other one, excuse me if I will not specify why, but you get the picture.
Question: Does putting the loc/key files, or the locked folder under “hidden” mode in the settings, disrupt anything? Does it even matter? I really didn’t see any problems YET, so better safe than sorry. Please do reply, and thanks again.

santosh said on : April 1st, 2008 at 12:29 am

i have created a lock file and key file ,but when i click key.bat file the folder which i have created is not getting open

Ochao said on : April 11th, 2008 at 4:16 am

I used the following code for locking my personal folder in note pad and saved as mylock.bat, and the code was:

Quote:
cls
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Private
if EXIST “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Private goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure you want to lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p “cho=>”
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Private “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
attrib +h +s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to unlock folder
set/p “pass=>”
if NOT %pass%== password here goto FAIL
attrib -h -s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
ren “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” Private
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Private
echo Private created successfully
goto End
:End

it was working smoothly. today i made another lock in the same drive. after making another lock i found that my previous locking system i.e. mylock.bat not working. i tried to open mylock.bat by typing my password. after sometime i found that a “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” file near mylock.bat. i opened this file but it’s showing the control panel list. i tried to open this file with winzip and it’s showing all files but i could not opened any file. now i want to know how to restore all the files in normal folder.

Please help me

Alex James said on : May 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 am

Great tip.. however, XP, being a multi user system, is quite capable of locking folders BUT only IF you use it as a multi-user system and not 1 account for 7 members of the family. Create 7 accounts and specify what users can access what folders. Simply right click on a folder, choose Properties and choose Security tab. You can then add/remove users there and their privileges.

Techbuzzard said on : May 20th, 2008 at 1:42 am

I would like to add one note about Free Hide Folder utility. Its a nice program, but if you ever need to format your drive and reinstall the operating system again, first unlock the folder you have locked through Free Hide and then reinstall the OS. What happens is that if you dont unlock the folder, and after a fresh install, you will not be able to see the folder which you have locked via Free Hide. But there is a work around which I will tell later. My personal favourite for hiding and locking folders is Lockbox and this is free.

Voxzra Syet said on : May 20th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

My Friend played around with this and improved it.
First he made a folder called “bin” in your windows user home directory (ie. “C:\Documents and Settings\Your_User”)Then instead of the original code he replaced it with…

lock.bat:

@echo off
if not “%1″==”" ren “%1″ “%1″.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

unlock.bat:

@echo off
if not “%1″==”" ren “%1″.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} “%1″

This enables you to open command prompt, go to any directory, and type “lock folder_in_directory” or “unlock folder_in_directory” (minus the “”) and viola you’ve just locked or unlocked a folder

BBJ said on : June 12th, 2008 at 7:32 am

” Unfortunately, Windows XP does not have any user-friendly built-in tools to create secure folders on computers with multiple users ”

Oh really ? Why simply not use NTFS access control so that ONLY specific admin group can access to the folder and the others ” users or guests to your pc ” would not be able to ….

Rahul Jain said on : June 17th, 2008 at 4:46 am

I have used method of locking and unlocking folder Its nice, but anybody can open that bat file again by giving extns. as .txt so Is there any way to make a password protected folder.

ATTI202008 said on : July 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 am

It works, COOOL ! Thanks

saniya said on : July 8th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

dear llyod…
u are great …. nice code… its working…
we just want to protect our folders files from the persons near by us…(who only knows to right clik or hide & unhide) not from the programmers…

so it is nice…

Ravi said on : July 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Hi There
Thanks a lot. I found a lot of tips here.
But one more thing i would like to ask u could u please tell me how to create a secured or locked folder in vista u did tell for Xp but mine is vista so please.

Larry said on : July 19th, 2008 at 12:11 am

I am a consultant (not computer) and received an Excel password protected workbook from a client.

I opened and closed the workbook all day at his office using the password he gave – a date in this format 06222008.

I left his office to go home with the xl file on my laptop. Once I got home the password wouldn’t work. He asked me to email the file back to him. He couldn’t open it either.

Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, or solutions for me?

ankur said on : July 20th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

good article, i just needed simple security and it just helped once again thanks

Navstar said on : July 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Is there any way that you can create shotcut to any other “ordinary” folder, other than the ones in Control Panel, by this method…??

Anyways liked this one, was really cool…

Abduullah said on : August 7th, 2008 at 7:34 am

Hey guys there is no need to create two bat file to get ur folder locked. they only thing u want to do is to create a folder . Now rename this folder and Write this after its name like

1. create folder
2. RightClick->Rename
3. “Write name” just after this name write
Dot(.){21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
4. Example ” Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} “

Praneeth said on : August 16th, 2008 at 5:50 am

Thanks for the share dude!!. The first technique to lock a folder manually was amazing.

I also have an other question and I am not sure If you could help me out with it. I have a 500 gigs external Seagate HD and I use to store some important data in it. Here is the problem, When I connect the hard disk with the USB cable, I can see the pop-up that a new device is connected but the drive doesn’t show up in the windows explorer. I have plugged the same device to my friends PC and the problem is still the same so, by this I believe that it is a problem with my HD and NOT with my PC or USB cable. I have also checked under disk management and the drive is found. When, I check the properties of the disk, it shows as Unallocated space. Please let me know, If it is possible to retrieve the data without using any recovery softwares. I want my data back!!

raghav said on : August 18th, 2008 at 7:25 am

YOU ARE SIMPLY AMAZING !! SERIOUSLY….I JUST LOVE THIS !!

THANKS A LOT FOR THIS TIP.

dinesh said on : August 19th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

wo0o0ooo0 hhhho0o0o0o
it works, dude!!

thanksssss

jobin said on : August 28th, 2008 at 3:51 am

think it’s good but the folder can be deleted , any tricks for that ?

Ahmed said on : September 17th, 2008 at 7:43 am

I tried it but the notepad files were saved with loc.bat and key.bat respectively and not as “loc.bat” and “key.bat”. Also, I was not able to access my folder even when I click on key.bat file. Pls what’s the problem?

Deaner said on : September 22nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm

Amazing! thank you so much!

Ash Smith said on : October 6th, 2008 at 6:03 am

I tried it on my “actual” folder, and the lock worked fine, cant unlock it tho………..and all the data in there is no unaccessible…….even for me !! HELP NEEDED URGENTLY

david316 said on : October 17th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

In reference Lloyd’s Reply #39:

“Here’s the solution for those who have .{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} after the folder name:

1) go to windows explorer then Tools > Folder Options

2) go to the View tab and the check the box next to ‘hide extensions for known file types’

3) then go to the ‘file types’ tab and click ‘new’

4) paste {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} into the file extension box and click ok

the file extension after the folder should be gone now.

There is one further step (or procedure to add) to make the file extension not be visible for either the folder icon or the Control Panel icon views of the hidden (or re-directed) file and it is as follows:

When doing step #4 above, after pasting in the long numeric file extension in the text-box, when the ‘Create New Extension’ dialog box opens, you will need to also click the advanced button (to the right), and then associate this extension with a known file type, by clicking the drop-down arrow in the drop-down box below and be sure to select the “Control Panel Extension” as the associated file type. Having done this last step, the file extensions will disappear from either viewable folder. The Control Panel version will then not be able to be renamed as well.

Also, to those having trouble with their .bat files, #65 and #67, you very likely have mis-spelled something in the text of the .bat file (you should paste in the information from this website rather than typing it in!)

You can compare and correct the contents of either .bat file (depending on your problem) by right-clicking the file and then choosing “EDIT” from the options menu from where you can compare the text in both files and make your corrections as needed.

Thanks very much to “akishore” and Lloyd for their great solutions!!

ZTB said on : November 6th, 2008 at 7:03 pm

I need the work around for the Free Hide Folder. My HDD would not boot and I had to reinstall OS on another HDD. I can see everything on the original drive but can not access any of the files and folders I hid in Free Hide Folder. I would appreciate any advise. Norton 360 sees these files as I have scanned the drive and see the names flashing past.

welcome said on : December 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am

Free Hide Folder hides folder in Windows. May be DOS can’t find it (I didn’t give a try, honestly admitting). Total Commander, however, clearly shows the folder and the contents as well. One can, via Total Commander, open the folder and its files with no problems.

If one doesn’t know what is a Total Commander, and if one thinks no one would work on one’s PC with Total Commander, one may cotinue to use the Free Hide Folder!

Archiver said on : December 23rd, 2008 at 4:45 pm

The method above will surely trick common users; It’s also hard to create a key.bat from scratch for them. Alternative file managers/file explorers can get through though with only one click.

Vistro said on : March 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

Another good way to secure files is to place them in a secured (passworded) RAR file.

Asep Sutisna said on : March 31st, 2009 at 9:53 pm

It does not work in Vista!

Janmejay Pati said on : May 8th, 2009 at 2:06 am

Sir, thanks a lot….I appreciate your tips. Do you have any suggestions on how can I protect my hard drives (C:, D:, etc)?

YSV HALU said on : June 12th, 2009 at 6:25 am

I am using ‘Free Hide Folder from Cleanersoft’ and kept some important files in it. Unfortunately, I removed the software from my system. Please suggest me how to retrieve the data again!

YSV

sudhagaran said on : July 9th, 2009 at 1:12 am

thanks for the info, it was useful.. i tried both methods, with batch file and FHF software, but couldn’t find my file after locking with FHF, how to unlock that..?

DOCTOR_C said on : August 13th, 2009 at 4:22 am

To protect sensitive data, you can use the built-in ZIP feature/compression agent of WINXP. Just place all your sensitives files inside and protect it with a long and complex password. ZIP files will give you better protection PLUS it saves disk space. using CLSID method is…forgive me for saying this…is lame.

Justin said on : August 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am

It works great thanks so much!!
I tweaked the code a bit and it works like a charm

Cheers

Masum said on : September 12th, 2009 at 6:09 am

Hi and HELPPPP!! I’ve hidden a folder, and now I’ve forgotten the master password, the one to access the actual program itself. What an idiot!

- is there any way to get access to FHF again?
- i sort of remember the password, but I’m thinking I forgotten the sequence of caps and smalls. Is there any way of automating the process of trying all possible combinations of caps/smalls in each place? I’m thinking a windows script/.bat file for example?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Joe said on : September 16th, 2009 at 6:32 am

When I click on Loc.bat file, the folder changed and the folder locks. When I click on Key.bat file it will not unlock. What’s wrong?

Elaine said on : September 16th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

thanks! i learned something new! =) I liked creating secure folders!

David Locke said on : September 20th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Nothing entered on or resident on a PC is secure. If you are trying to keep your peers out of your content fine, but never think that it is really secured.

Oddly enough, using a police forensic application, I can pull your passwords for your online accounts off of your PC, this even if your browser did not save your passwords, and open your online accounts. Nothing is going to secure you from that application. Anything on silicon and magnetic media can be recovered. If it is on a PC, cell phone, or GPS device, it is not secured, except from your peers, which might be enough.

Further, current commercial encryption sold by U.S. companies have their bit length limited to 256 bits. Yes, 256-bit DES is being replaced by 256-bit AES, but the bit length isn’t getting longer, so brute force attacks can find the key in 2.5 months. There is no such thing as strategic encryption.

Yes, there are encryption packages available that have longer key lengths, but you won’t find those online, and you will pay a premium price. The vendors selling that stuff know that they are subject to export control laws. Putting that on your laptop means that your laptop won’t leave the country.

Aman said on : September 26th, 2009 at 1:48 am

Thanks man.. It was very useful and worked fine for me. Now I have a nicely hidden folder on my PC!

Umar said on : October 8th, 2009 at 5:58 am

Hai, The Suggestion is worth but the the locked file can be deleted when we use the Loc.bat and Key.bat..

So any suggestion for the files to be locked but cannot be accessed/deleted/movable other than the person who has locked the file..

chaps said on : October 15th, 2009 at 4:36 am

Thank you for this great tips. I am just wondering, what if someone deleted the secure “Fonts” folder? Is the file still there? I tried deleting the folder and the folder was deleted. Thanks again.

Archie said on : October 21st, 2009 at 1:16 am

Well, any File Manager, for example FAR manager, can view these folders, it’s not secure. I recommend to try “Protect Folder” from Everstrike Software.

Create a secure folder with your password, copy your files into this folder and they will be encrypted on-the-fly. You can click on this folder and you will be asked for your password – very handy.

Gaurav said on : October 27th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

its a cool and fantastic way to hide your stuff, but when you perform a search in windows xp, the hidden stuff shows up!

Sun Wu Kong said on : October 31st, 2009 at 10:41 pm

“Posted on August 20, 2007 at 1:27 pm

There is a very nice program called Free Hide Folder from Cleanersoft that allows you to easily hide your private folders.Your folders are completely hidden and you must supply a password to open the program to unhide the folders.”

Note!!!! Your folders are not completely hidden and it can be accessed with command prompt. The program renames your folder, so you can’t remember your folder. Folder name may be something like that…..”XXXXXXXÿÿ”. If you use the “cd” command, you can access the folder.

Denis said on : November 14th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

Another great and absolutely free tool for hiding of secret folder is BDV SecretFolder 2010: http://www.bdvnotepad.com/secretfolder_en.htm

Raj said on : November 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am

Dude who ever is the author of the article, I bow myself to him . Great work and could you tell me what computer course I can take to learn how to hide folders of files in Windows?

fadil said on : November 17th, 2009 at 9:10 am

hmm .. but i think it’s too easy to open the folder . just use the command prompt to unlock it. hmm but this is a nice tutorial

thank’s for ur share^^

teefa said on : December 4th, 2009 at 3:23 am

This was really helpful….I had some confidential files that I needed to protect on my computer.

Kaeyur said on : December 9th, 2009 at 4:31 am

It does nothing when I run on Windows. If i go to command prompt and run it, I get “system cannot find the specified file”!!

vijay said on : December 14th, 2009 at 8:57 am

Its working..I now have a secure and locked folder! Thank you so much!

Priya said on : December 16th, 2009 at 7:36 am

Its working well. Thank u so much…

Pankaj said on : December 28th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Folder locked is showing Recycle Bin icon.

how can i unlock ?

Deiva said on : January 12th, 2010 at 12:29 pm

It’s working great…nice and secure folder… Kudos to you

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