How To Password Protect a Folder (in Windows)

Protecting your sensitive data from prying eyes is extremely important, which is why most of the programs that collect your data come with password protection. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Windows, there is no built-in password protection feature for Windows.

This is why, many of us try to use different tricks to hide folders and files in Windows, such as, mark them hidden, hidden under a different name and using command prompt to fool people into believing the Folder is protected.

All these tricks might be able to save your data in many situations, however, anyone with an appetite for your data and some tech knowledge can easily access your data. To make sure your data is protected for sure, you need to Password Protect it and for that you will have to opt for Third-party tools.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you two different tools to Protect Folders in Windows for free.

Tool #1: Use Lock-A-FoLdeR to Password Protect Folders

Although, there are many tools that will let you Password protect folders, but almost all of them are paid tools and come a free trial. Yes, they do provide attractive features with powerful encryption capabilities, but you need to pay for all this and all trials end after a fixed time.

If your only attention is to add a password to a folder and are not fascinated by all the looks and feature of paid tools, then we can get it done for Free. Lock-A-FoLdeR is a free open source tool that will easily let you add a password to multiple folders and lock them. It has an extremely simple interface, making it perfect for beginners and provides enough security to satisfy many.

However, if you are not interested in using a free tool with less features, you can also try out paid tools such as, Protected Folder $19.95 or Folder Lock $39.95.

Using Lock-A-FoLdeR

Download and install Lock-A-FoLdeR. When you will run the tool, you will be first prompted to provide a password. Click on “OK” and on the next window, and provide password twice.

Note: This will be the master password, don’t ever forget it or you will not be able to access protected folders. This is the only password that will be used in this tool to protect your folders, so make sure you put a password that is strong and also easy for you to remember.

Once you will provide the master password, the main interface will open where you can lock or unlock folders or change the master password.

Lock a Folder

Click on “Lock a Folder” and select the folder which you would like to lock. The folder that you have selected will be locked and displayed in the interface. You can repeat the same process to add more folders and lock them as well.

Now, when you will close the Lock-A-FoLdeR window, the locked folders will become inaccessible. To access a locked folder you will first have to launch the Lock-A-FoLdeR Tool and unlock the Folder and then access it.

Unlock a Folder

To unlock a Folder, open the tool again and enter the password you specified.

In the interface, click on the folder which you would like to unlock and click on “Unlock selected Folder”. The folder will be unlocked and you can access it normally, although, you will have to lock it again (with the above process) when you are done using files in it.

Drawbacks

1. Due to lack of reputation, some people might not trust it.
2. You will have to Lock and Unlock the folder every time in the Tool’s interface in order to protect data.

Tool #2: Use a Compression tool to Protect a Folder

If you don’t trust the above mentioned tool or don’t like locking and unlocking process, then you can also use a compression tool to add a password. There are many renowned compression tools such as, Winzip or 7-zip that also come with password protection feature.

These tools are supposed to compress folders, but also let you add a password to the compressed folder. To add a password to a folder, you will have to compress the folder as well and extract the folder using the password.

In this tutorial, we are going to use the tool 7-zip due to its ease of use. It is completely free to download and use and comes with all the required tools to compress and protect folders.

Using 7-Zip to Password Protect Folders

Once downloaded and installed, right click on the folder which you would like to compress and password protect. From the context menu, hover your mouse over “7-Zip” and from the side menu click on “Add to archive…”.

A window will open up with all the options to compress and protect a folder. You can customize compression options if you want to decrease the size of the folder (here is a guide to do it), but it is not mandatory for password protection, so we will skip it.

Just enter the password in the two fields below the “Encryption” heading located at the right side of the window. After that, click on “OK” and the compression process will start.

The compressed folder will be saved in the same directory where your original folder is located, with a “.7z” extension.

Now, delete the original file so no one will be able to access it. However, keep in mind that files can still be recovered even after deleting from the PC, so we will recommend deleting it permanently using a dedicated tool such as File Shredder.

Open the compressed folder (7-Zip will open it, you don’t need any additional tools), and you will be prompted to provide a password. Enter the password and the 7-Zip interface will open up.

 

In the interface, click on the Folder that you would like to decompress and access, and click on “Extract” located at the top. From the prompt, either change the destination or directly click on “OK” to save the extracted folder in the same directory.

 

The folder will be extracted in the same directory if you didn’t change it and you can access it easily. When you are done using it, do remember to delete it again as it will not be password protected, only the compressed folder is password protected.

Drawbacks

1. You are bound to compress the folder.
2. You will have to delete the original file every time you will access it.

Here is a Video as well, showing how you can use 7-zip to Password protect Folders.

The above mentioned processes might not be very convenient to use as compared to the Paid tools, but they provide enough protection while being completely Free to use. If there are any questions or you would like to introduce any other free method to password protect folders in Windows, let us know in the comments below.

Karar Haider
Categories: Computers
Tags: Security, Windows