How to restrict access to a folder in Windows. Closing an archive with a folder with a password

Your computer's hard drive may contain information that you would like to keep hidden. It so happened that standard means operating systems of the Windows family cannot provide limited access to files and folders using a password. But there is a possibility of limiting access using user accounts.

You will need

• OS:
• – Windows 7;
• – Windows XP.

Instructions

1. Limit access access to a folder or file in the Windows 7 operating system is allowed using the “User Accounts” tool. The manager has access to each folders, because he is at the head of the user hierarchy. If you decide to close access To folders, and everyone has one account, it makes sense to think about simply entering a password when logging into the system.

2. Select the folder you want to hide and click on it right click mice. In the context menu that opens, select “Properties”.

3. In the new window, go to the “Security” tab, select a user and click the “Edit” button. You can distribute rights to the selected folder among all users. For example, someone is allowed to view it, someone is allowed to allow its metamorphosis, and it is allowed to completely remove the user from this list.

4. If you cannot change the user rights to view and edit a given folder, then the rights are assigned to the parent directory (root folder). To edit this setting, return to the Security tab and click the Advanced button.

5. In the window that opens, go to the “Permissions” tab, highlight the item prohibiting metamorphosis and click the “Change permissions” button. Uncheck the box “Add permission inherited from parent objects” and repeat the operation again. This way you can hide any directory on your hard drive, including its partitions.

6. In the Windows XP operating system, the same action is performed differently. Click the Start menu, select Control Panel.

7. In the folder that opens, open Folder Options and go to the View tab. Uncheck the box “Apply light universal access to files" and click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

8. Right-click on the folder you want to hide and select Properties. In the folder properties window, go to the “Security” tab, select the user who will be limited access, and check the “Deny” or “Allow” column when you want to remove the block from viewing this directory.

9. Click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons to save the settings changes access A.

There are a lot different ways prevention access to the main information. Operating Windows systems own built-in encryption programs. Their use allows you to properly protect certain sources.

You will need

• DirLock.

Instructions

1. Turn on your computer with the Windows operating system installed. Log in using your standard account.

2. Please note that after directories are blocked, you will only be able to open them using this account. If there are no other accounts on your computer, create them yourself to ensure access other users to this system.

3. Open the My Computer menu. Go to that folder, which contains the main files. Right-click on its icon and open the directory properties.

4. Go to the “General” tab and open the “Advanced” submenu. Check the box next to “Encrypt content to protect data.” Click Ok and wait for a new window to appear.

5. Specify the "Apply for subfiles and subdirectories" option. Wait for the system to apply metamorphosis. If on this computer There are other accounts with manager rights, disable them. With their support, users can access your files.

6. To increase the level of information security, set third party application, say the DirLock program. Restart your computer after completing this procedure.

7. Go to the required folder, applying the functions Windows Explorer. Right-click on the directory icon. Once the new menu is created, go to Lock/UnLock. Set the password to this folder.

8. To hide the folder from prying eyes, check the box opposite the Hide item. Apply metamorphoses by clicking Ok.

9. To be able to view and change files located inside a protected folder, select UnLock. Don't forget to repeat the procedure for blocking the directory after you finish working with it.

Often people have information that needs to be hidden. Many people do not want people to have no limited access to their personal files and folders. Your computer may contain great amount important, and sometimes classified information. To keep your “secrets”, there are various ways. There are several to consider.

Hide files using Windows tools

The operating system has the ability to hide files. Of course, this method is the weakest in terms of information security, but an inexperienced user will not be able to bypass it.

1. You need to go to the “Control Panel”.
2. Here you need to select “Folder Options”.
3. In the window that opens, go to the “View” tab. Here you need to make sure that the “Do not show” checkbox is checked. hidden files, folders and disks."

Now, if any folder is given the “hidden” attribute, it will not be displayed.

To display your hidden folders, you need to check the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” checkbox in “Folder Options”.

This type of protection is very weak. It can only work on inexperienced user. Anyone can bypass such protection. Of course, there is a way out - deny access to the Control Panel. But for this you will have to use additional software or create another account with restrictions, such as "Guest".

Security software

There are many programs available to hide files and folders. Let's consider one of them.

Folder Guard Pro

In this example we will consider Folder program Guard Pro 8.2. All versions are similar to each other. They differ only in the presence of additional functions.

1. Install the program. The installation process is simple.

2. After the first launch, the program window will open. Here, Folder Guard will immediately ask you to enter a password, a master password, to access the program settings. You can enter it immediately or later. Note that “Display Password” allows you to display the entered password, that is, it will be visible as you type.

3. Once done, a window will open where you need to specify the folder to protect.

4. You can protect folders from the main program window.

5. In “Project” you should select “Lock with Password”. After this, you can set a password for the folder.

6. Now when you exit the program, a warning window will appear. A closed lock will mean that access to the folder will be immediately denied when you exit Folder Guard. In all other cases, you will be able to view the contents of the folders.

7. To reset your password, you need to go to the security management window. The screenshot is presented below.

Right-click on the protected folder and select “Unprotect”. A similar method is to click on “Lock with password” in the “File” menu item and do not enter anything in the values. The fields must be left blank. There is also “Access” here. This option allows you to simply close access to a folder without entering a password. It includes: full access, read-only and deny access.

In general, the program has many functions that will protect the user. It should also be noted that Folder Guard allows you to block access to the Control Panel. To do this, you need to select the “Permissions” item in the “File” menu and here activate “Allow to use the Control Panel" The check mark should look like a “cross”

As you can see, the program has great capabilities.
Of course, any defense has its flaws. It is almost impossible to ensure perfect security. But the methods described above will allow you to hide something from a layman. For most users this will be enough!

In the century information technologies The issue of protecting confidential data is very acute. Plays an important role in this Personal Computer, where materials not intended for public viewing can often be stored.
This article is intended to help protect personal materials from prying eyes.

Hiding a folder using standard Windows tools

The first method is the simplest and does not require the use of any third-party software.

To hide a folder, you need to open its properties, to do this, right-click on it and select the item in the context menu that appears Properties

In the folder properties window that opens, check the box "Hidden"

And then press the button Other… and in the window that opens, uncheck the box "Allow the contents of files in this folder to be indexed"

In the process of confirming the changes made and closing the folder properties window by pressing the key OK You will be prompted to specify which elements to hide. In most cases optimal choice will be the option " Apply changes to this folder only»

As a result of these actions, the folder will be hidden in the Windows file manager.

If the folder does not disappear, but becomes translucent, then this means that your system is configured to display hidden files and folders. In this case, you need to do the following: in the menu file manager follow the path Arrange –> Folder and search options(on Windows 10 File–>Change folder and search options) and in the window that opens go to the tab View, find there and switch the checkbox to the item Do not show hidden files, folders and drives.

To confirm the changes made and close the file manager options window, click OK.

This option will have to be switched every time you need to return the display of the hidden folder(s). We have to put up with this inconvenience if we take into account the fact that this method of hiding is the simplest, which also does not require the use of third-party software.

Hiding a folder using a free program

Using free program Free Hide Folder (not to be confused with Hide Folders, which with similar functionality is paid) you can not only completely hide the necessary folders from the system, but also install password protection(about how to create strong password– ) to access them.

When you first launch the program, you will be asked to set a password to access the program, and then will offer to get registration code– since the program is completely free and registration is not required, you can safely skip this step by clicking the button Skip.

After these steps, the main program window will open in front of us. To hide the required folder, click the button Add and indicate it. After adding another folder, it will pop up Announcement, which recommends doing Backup ( backup) program settings, in case of accidental or intentional deletion of the program. To create a backup copy of your settings, press Backup and specify the path for the saved file. This file will help restore access to hidden folders after reinstallation programs.

Hiding and displaying folders is controlled using the menu keys. The button is responsible for hiding the folder Hide, and for display Unhide.

The program interface is simple and not overloaded with controls. Thanks to this, mastering it is not difficult even in the absence of translation into Russian.

Shorthand or how to hide a folder with files in a graphic file

This method is based on hiding one file type in another. In the example, this will be an archive that will be hidden in a graphic file.

After the merger graphic file will still be displayed in the system, but when you open it through the archiver, you will have access to the archived files.

To create such a file, follow the instructions:

1) To hide desired folder it must first be archived by selecting the archive format rar or zip. You can set a password for everything else in the archive, which will further protect your data.

IN in this example we'll call the archive hide-files.rar

2) The resulting archive and graphic file with jpg extension(in this example this will be the file foto.jpg) must be placed in one folder, which in turn should be located closer to the root hard drive and have no spaces. In the example this will be the folder C:\join

3) Open the command line, to do this press the key combination Win + R and in the window that opens, enter cmd and press OK.

4) In the window that opens command line go to the folder with the files to be merged, to do this, enter the command:

COPY /B foto.jpg + hide-files.rar final-foto.jpg

As a result, a graphic file will be created with the name final-foto.jpg, which for an uninformed user will be a regular graphic file.

If the extension of this file is changed from jpg on rar or just open it with an archiver, you will see your archived files.

If joining files using the command line is difficult for you, then you can use the free File Joiner utility that works without installation and supports the Russian language.

The program presents a convenient GUI to combine files, do not forget to specify the desired file extension in the path for saving the output file, since by default the resulting file is created without it at all.

Brief summary

IN this review the most popular solutions for hiding files and folders inWindows. We hope that this will be useful to you and will solve all your problems.

If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.

Hi all! It often happens that all family members use one computer. Everyone can have their own secrets, their own confidential information, which I would like to hide from prying eyes and store in a safe place so that no one else has access to this place except the owner himself. This secret can be anything: documents, photos, videos, music files, etc.

In this lesson we will talk about one of the ways in which you can limit access to specific folder or disk.

It is worth noting that to implement this method, you need to have at least two accounts on your computer (for example, your account and the “Guest” account). Moreover, only you should know the password to your account. The instructions described in this lesson will not make any sense if other people know your login password.

If one account is created on the computer, then you can limit access to the folder or disk only to yourself, which is meaningless by definition.

And of course, in order to perform all the actions described below, you must have administrator rights.

This lesson is suitable for any line of Windows operating systems, the only thing is that Windows XP requires preliminary configuration.

So, let's begin.

Setting up Windows XP to control access to folders and files

IN operating system Windows XP hides the option to manage folder and file restrictions by default. We turn it on via Start > Control Panel > Folder Options.

If in your case the control panel looks different from the one shown below, then in the upper left corner of the window click on the link Switch to classic view.

Go to the tab View and uncheck Use simple general access to files (recommended), then click OK.

Restricting access to the folder

Right-click on the folder to which you want to restrict access, and from the drop-down context menu choose Properties.

At the top of the properties window, go to the tab Safety.

Here in the field Groups and users, users who have certain rights to this folder are displayed. And just below the checkboxes are the permissions and prohibitions of a particular user.

In order to add restrictions to a folder for any user, you need to click the button Change.

In the next window, click the button Add.

Now, using the search, you need to find all existing users and all groups on this computer. So let's click on the button Search. In the results you need to find the user (account) whose rights to the folder should be limited.

In my case, besides me, you can also log into the system under account"Guest", so I will restrict access to the folder specifically for him.

After you select the account you need to restrict rights from the list, stand on it (that is, left-click) and click the button above OK. Once again OK.

Now, in the field Groups and users, add an account for which you need to restrict rights (in my case it is “Guest”). Click on this account with the left mouse button and below, in the same window, check the boxes, thereby allowing or prohibiting any actions.

In my case, I deny the Guest user absolutely everything. These restrictions will not allow him to even open the folder.

That's all. Thus, we have blocked access to the folder for a specific user. This means that you will be able to access the folder using your account, but the system will deny access to the user for whom you have done all of the above.

Very often a situation arises when several people work at a computer and it is desirable that access to the personal files and folders of each user be limited to other users. You can deny access altogether, or you can limit it: for example, one user needs full access, another needs read-only access, and some are denied access altogether.

Why do this, probably each of you understands without my prompting. Here's how it's correct restrict access to files in Windows 7, not everyone knows. Therefore, we will analyze this process in great detail.

restricting access to files and folders in Windows 7

To begin with, of course, we need to decide on the object to which we will restrict access. So, we selected a file or folder and proceed according to the following algorithm:

1. Right-click on the object (file or folder) and select “Properties”.

2. In the window that opens, select the “Security” tab. It is here that the user rights to access the specific file or folder.

The top area will display all users or user groups created in the system. By clicking on a specific item, you can view and change the rights of a specific user to this object. To completely prevent the user from “touching” specific folder or file, remove it from the top list.

3. If you are unable to delete or change the rights of a specific user, then all of his rights are inherited from the “parent”. To still be able to restrict user rights to a specific object, do the following: go back to the “Security” tab in the file properties and click on the “Advanced” button (under the section displaying user rights (see the figure above).

The window “ Additional parameters security”:

Go to the “Resolution” tab if it does not open for you by default. Next, click on the “Change Resolution” button. Next, uncheck the “Add permission inherited from parent objects” checkbox, after reading the warning message, click on the “Add” button. And then “OK” all the time until you return to the “Security” tab of the file properties.

Now you can change user rights to access a specific object without restrictions.

access permission values

Let's take a closer look at the meaning of specific user rights:

• Full control - everything is quite simple here: you are allowed to perform all operations on the object, including changing the permission and becoming the owner of the object.
• Change – differs from the previous paragraph in that it is allowed to perform only basic operations with the object, i.e. reading, modifying, creating and deleting an object. Changing the permission of the current object and becoming its owner is not allowed.
• Read and Execute– speaks for itself: you can view the contents of an object and run programs.
• List of folder contents– the same as in the previous paragraph, only regarding directories.
• Read – only viewing the object is allowed.
• Write – allows you to create files and write data to them.
• Special permissions– these are permissions that are set by clicking on the “Advanced” button.

special recommendations when setting access rights to files and folders

• I advise you to pay attention to the following:
• If you check the checkbox for a permission with a higher priority, the checkboxes of the dependent permissions are automatically checked.
• Setting the “Deny” permission has a higher priority than “Allow”.
• By changing the permissions for a directory, the permissions for all sub-objects (folders and files) will also automatically change.
• If certain permissions are not available, it means they are being inherited from the parent folder.
• If you do not have the rights to change permissions, then all the checkboxes will not be available to you.
• When changing permissions for groups (for example: “Administrators”, “Users”, “System”), the corresponding permissions for all users of this group will automatically change.
• Do not change permissions for the “System” group; this may disrupt the operation of the operating system.

When changing permissions for a specific object, be careful and careful. Do not change several permissions at once; be sure to check the functionality of the system after making changes.