How to hide files and folders in Windows XP – The easy way

Posted on July 15, 2007 at 11:32 am

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

Ok, so here’s a quick little tip for those people who want to hide a particular file or folder on their computers, but don’t feel like spending $40 on a piece of software for that one single purpose! This method of hiding files and folders in Windows XP is quite rudimentary, which means that if someone knows what they are doing with computers, it could be found pretty easily. However, it’s a great way to hide folders from people like your parents or people who only know how to check their email and that’s it!

First of all, if you have a folder you want to hide, don’t create the folder in some obvious place such as My Documents, instead put it in a location that someone would typically not look into. For example, create a new folder under C:\Program Files. Creating a folder there doesn’t hurt anything at all and not many people go browsing through their anyway since it’s mostly just system installation files.

Now that you have your folder created in a strange location and your files stored in that folder, we can make it hidden. Setting a folder to Hidden in Windows XP is simply changing one of the properties of the folder, i.e. 0 means not hidden and 1 means hidden. Windows Explorer reads this property and appropriately shows or hides the folder. However, there is an option in Windows Explorer called “Show hidden files and folders” that will display all folders no matter what the hidden property value is set to.

We need to change that setting so that hidden files and folders are not to be shown. In order to do this, click on My Computer from your desktop and from the menu click on Tools and then Folder Options.

Click on the View tab and under the Hidden Files and Folders section, choose the radio button that says “Do not show hidden files and folders”.

Click OK to save the changes. Usually this option is already set by default to hide files and folders, but it’s good to check anyway just to make sure. Ok, now to hide the folder itself, go into the folder that has the folder you want to hide, right-click on it and choose Properties.

On the General tab, check the box in the Attributes section named Hidden.

Click OK and your folder should no longer be visible in the current window you have open. It’s hidden and you won’t be able to see it unless you do the same procedure as mentioned above and change the option back to Show Hidden Files and Folders. Now if you want to save anything into the hidden folder, you could un-hide it and then save the file and then re-hide it, but that’s really not necessary.

In order to save a file to a hidden folder, all you need to do is specify the entire path in the File Name box. Fox example, if you’re saving a Word document, you could save the files to the hidden folder by typing in C:\Program Files\Secret\filename.doc and click Save.

And that’s it! A very simple and easy way to hide a folder that will probably work on most people unless they are computer geeks!! Any more suggestions, leave a comment!
[tags]hide file and folders, how to hide files and folders, windows xp[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

21 Responses to “How to hide files and folders in Windows XP – The easy way”

hackers said on : March 31st, 2008 at 3:56 am

thanks alot

discostu said on : May 1st, 2008 at 2:50 pm

This method is quite flimsy and wouldn’t want my job (or spouse/children finding bad stuff) to depend on it. I would spend the $40 on FileLocker (http://www.lockyourfiles.com)

Cynthia said on : June 16th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

But how do hide photos that are in “My Pictures”?

Pallav said on : June 18th, 2008 at 7:26 am

Ha! this thing is way 2 old now!I know a much powerful trick 2 hide a folder!Follow these steps—-

1.Right click on the folder u want 2 hide.
2.go on 2 “Rename” option on the list.
3.Now press this combination—
Alt+2,5,5
Note—–The 2,5,5 numbers r 2 b used from the number pad on the right side of the keyboard and not from the horizontal pad provided just below the F1,F2,F3……..keys.
This will erase out the name of the folder.

4.to hide the picture of the folder. right click again and this time….select properties on the menu.

5.After the dialog box appears..click on the “customize”tab {the last tab at the top}, and click on “change icon” at the bottom of the dialog box,which is written at the left of a folder picture.

6.After the appearance of the “change icon” dialog box….click on any area within the dialog box,which seems “blank” and press ok.

7.come back 2 the dialog box { 2 the 1 from where u started..:p} and then select apply and then ok.

8.Happy playin’ hide-and-seek wid your foldrs!

9.2 unhide, refresh the screen.

10.u may see the hidden folder blinkin’ everytime the screen is refreshed.

11.go to the place where u see the folder blinkin’ and press right mouse button.

12.Again select “rename” and rename the folder.

13. Again go 2 properties and repeat step 4 to 6 but……instead of selectin’ a blank space,select ne other pic. a nd press ok..!!!

koma9 said on : July 20th, 2008 at 12:15 am

i am using presariov3000 i dont have numeric keypad on my rightside.how can i hide filenames by alt+255 method.alt+255 from the numericpad on top is notworking.

The Bishop said on : September 5th, 2008 at 9:49 am

koma9, you have double function keys in the regular keyboard for your numeric keypad. I have a Presario, too.

Gear said on : September 25th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Why not just create a New User in Windows and assign specific rights to that folder for that person ALONE. as long as it is NTFS and no one else is an admin account they can’t view the files.

You should also be able to “share this folder” and “log into it” by referencing you own pc like this: \\MYPC\SecretFolderName

It will then ask for login credentials. Specifically only allow the OTHER user (your non regular account) access to it and just type in the name/password. Bingo!

ViLenG said on : October 1st, 2008 at 12:32 am

thank you

sunil said on : October 25th, 2008 at 5:03 am

hey man…, i follwed u r process to hide the folder…but my folder was locked…it has no folder name..it shows…as empty…when i try to open the folder..it gives ..label syntax error…what happend…hw to open the folder..plz ..its imp…

Tony said on : December 31st, 2008 at 10:42 am

those ways and method are very useful. Thanks.

man said on : January 6th, 2009 at 6:36 am

My files and folders do not hide even after the attribute is set to HIDDEN and the OPTION menu is set to “Do not show hidden files or folders”.

Please help me.

Dima said on : February 1st, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Thank you for this tutorial!!!
I was searching for this for years!!!
THANK YOU!!!

sankari said on : September 14th, 2009 at 11:44 am

Hi, i don’t have Folder Options in my Tools menu..how can i hide my files??

Archie said on : October 21st, 2009 at 1:13 am

Another way to completely hide a folder or a file – Lock Folder XP or Universal Shield from Everstrike Software – http://www.everstrike.com/

Denis said on : November 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 am

Really, the easiest way to hide your files and folders is using of BDV DataHider 3.1: http://www.bdvnotepad.com/datahider_en.htm

It is much safer than way described.

Denis said on : November 12th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

Wow! BDV SecretFolder 2010 just released! It is freeware app for hiding of folders on USB Flash Drives. Hidden folder not visible under DOS, Windows and Linux OS!

http://www.bdvnotepad.com/secretfolder_en.htm

Larry said on : November 13th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

I tried BVD’s secretfolder and it doesn’t work. Furthermore the website as well as help “instructions” appear to have been written by an illiterate. Don’t waste your time

Brodsky said on : November 15th, 2009 at 5:24 am

Why? I use BDV DataHider on SanDisk mp3 player. It works well on my home win xp computer and on old win 98 se laptop. Also I use it on my work on win 2003 64-bit server without any problems.

Hav you realy tried it?

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