Enable hidden folders windows 8.1. Three ways to hide folders in Windows: simple, cool and cool

Privacy is constantly under threat, especially when it comes to a computer, and the danger is especially strong when you have to share a PC with other family members or friends. Perhaps you have files that you don't want to show to others and prefer to keep them in a hidden place. This guide will look at three ways to quickly and easily hide folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

It's worth noting that none of these solutions will allow you to hide your folders from an experienced user. For truly important and secret information, I would recommend more advanced solutions that not only hide the data, but also encrypt it - even an archive with a password to open it can be more secure than hidden Windows folders.

A much more convenient way to hide folders in Windows is to use a special program called Free Hide Folder, which you can download for free here: http://www.cleanersoft.com/hidefolder/free_hide_folder.htm. Do not confuse this program with another product - Hide Folders, which also allows you to hide folders, but is not free.

After downloading, simply installing and launching the program, you will be asked to enter a password and confirm it. The next window will ask you to enter an optional registration code (the program is free and you can also get a key for free), you can skip this step by clicking “Skip”.

Now, to hide a folder, click the Add button in the main program window and specify the path to your secret folder. A warning will appear that, just in case, you should click the Backup button, which will save the backup information of the program in case it is accidentally deleted, so that after re-installation you can access the hidden folder. Click OK. The folder will disappear.

Now, the folder hidden using Free Hide Folder is not visible anywhere in Windows - it cannot be found through search and the only way to access it is to run the Free Hide Folder program again, enter the password, select the folder you want to show and click "Unhide" causing the hidden folder to appear in its original location. The method is much more effective, the only thing is that you should save the backup data that the program asks for so that if it is accidentally deleted, you can again gain access to hidden files.

Cool way to hide a folder in Windows

And now I’ll tell you about another, quite interesting way to hide the Windows folder in any picture. Let's say you have a folder with files that are important to you and a photo of a cat.

Do the following:

• Zip the entire folder with your files into a zip or rar archive.
• Place the picture with the cat and the created archive in one folder, preferably closer to the root of the disk. In my case - C:\remontka\
• Press Win + R, enter cmd and press Enter.
• On the command line, navigate to the folder where the archive and photo are stored using the cd command, for example: cd C:\remontka\
• Enter the following command (the file names are taken from my example, the first file is an image of a cat, the second is the archive in which the folder is located, the third is a new image file) COPY /Bkotik.jpg +secret-files.rarsecret-image.jpg
• After the command is executed, try to open the created file secret-image.jpg - the same cat will open as in the first image. However, if we open the same file through an archiver, or rename it to rar or zip, then when we open it we will see our secret files.

Hidden folder in the picture

Here is an interesting way that allows you to hide a folder in an image, while the photo for those who don’t know will be an ordinary photo, and you can extract the necessary files from it.

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There may be a need to open hidden files and folders of the operating system, mainly to edit some important system documents.

To do this, you need to know how to make hidden folders visible.

The fact is that in all modern versions of Windows OS, the default settings assume the so-called “fool protection”.

This means that an inexperienced user simply does not see most of the important system partitions and cannot make potentially dangerous changes to them.

But on the other hand, some subtle settings of the operating system may require editing these hidden files.

This article will provide a detailed guide to implement this procedure on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, which currently occupy the lion's share of operating systems in use in the commercial and private sector.

Secrets of the Windows 7 system partition

This version of the operating system from Microsoft has taken the palm of popularity from the legendary XP, support for which ended several years ago.

This success is primarily dictated by the user-friendly interface, in which it is easy to find the necessary settings.

This also applies to the option to show hidden folders and files, which is most easily activated through the taskbar.

• First, you need to get to the taskbar in the standard way: open Start and select “Control Panel”.

• Then click on the link “Design and personalization”.

Advice! For convenience, you need to select a display method by category.

• In the variety that opens, we need the “Folder Options” category, or, more precisely, its “Show hidden files and folders” option, which speaks for itself.

• In the window that opens called “Folder Options,” expand the “View” tab and at the very bottom of the list of additional options we see the function of showing/hiding special files. All that remains is to set the checkbox to the desired position.

You can get to the “Folder Options” window in Windows 7 in a simpler way: to do this, just open any directory and select “Folder and Search Options” from the “Arrange” drop-down menu.

Advice! If you decide to use this method, by default only hidden files in the current directory will be displayed. To apply this rule to all drives, you must activate the “Apply to folders” option.

Having dealt with the classics, you can move on to more modern systems.

We delve into the intricacies of Windows 8

This version of the operating system is significantly different from Windows 7, which at one time caused many complaints from users.

The changes also affected hidden directories: in Windows 8, there are two types of files and folders that are not visible to the user.

The first is the actual hidden sections. Not only system files and folders have this status, but also components of various third-party applications.

Moreover, the user himself can assign this type to any object on the disk.

However, this opportunity is often used by malware, which, for example, results in problems with files on a flash drive.

For these two types, the algorithm of actions will be different.

To open regular hidden files and folders, you need to do the following:

• First, you should open “Explorer”, for which you can use the standard shortcut in the “Taskbar”.

• In the folder that opens, in the top settings panel, click on the “View” menu and select the “Show and Hide” function. In the list that opens, you must activate the “Hidden elements” checkbox.
  In the same way, you can assign hidden status to any selected file or folder.

In order to see particularly important system files, you need to make the following settings:

• In the same “View” menu, go to “Options” - “Change folder and search options.”

• As a result, the “Folder Options” settings window will appear, similar to that in Windows 7. Here you should go to the “View” tab and uncheck the “Hide” protected system files checkbox (recommended).

There is another way to get to this window:

• In Start, which in eight has an unusual Metro interface, click on the gear icon (Computer Settings).

• In the menu that opens, you need to click on the lowest link to open the Control Panel, which is familiar to most users.

• In the “Taskbar”, first select the function display method Large (or small) icons, and then click on the “Folder Options” link, which will ultimately give access to the settings window of the same name.

It is also worth considering separately the algorithm for enabling the display of hidden and system elements for Windows 10, since, despite its similarity to the eight, the settings of this OS have their own nuances.

Hidden files and folders in Windows 10

In the top ten, there is the same division of hidden files into regular system ones, therefore the methods for enabling their display are similar to those discussed in the previous section.

To see files and folders with the hidden attribute in the top ten, including on a flash drive or any other external storage device, do the following:

• Open “Start” and launch “Explorer”.

• The appearance of “Explorer” in the top ten is practically no different from Windows 8. Therefore, it operates according to the already known algorithm: View - Show and Hide - set the “Hidden Elements” checkbox to the active position.

In order to see system files and folders, we need to get to the “Explorer Options” function (analogous to the Folder Options option).

• The fastest way to do this is through the search, the icon of which can be found on the “Taskbar”.

Advice! You can also use a keyboard shortcut to access the search. Win+Q.

• By clicking on the search result, we will be taken to the functions window, which we have already encountered several times in this article. Here we are interested in the option “Hide protected system files (recommended), which is located on the View tab.

In conclusion, it is worth saying once again that editing hidden files, especially system files, can cause serious harm to the computer’s software shell.

Therefore, such changes should be treated as responsibly as possible.

Thematic video:

How to open hidden files and folders in Windows 7/8/10 Free lesson

In this video I show how you can easily open hidden files and folders on Windows 7/8/10 operating systems.

Before you open hidden folders in Windows 8 (make them visible), you must understand that “joking” with them is dangerous - these are usually system files.

You can show and display hidden folders in Windows 8 (8.1) in the same way as in Windows 7, only you need to enter the control panel differently, and you will need it.

However, in Windows 8 you can open hidden folders in another way, but the method described here is simple and accessible to everyone.

The standard way to open hidden folders in Windows 8 (8.1)

To show (make visible) hidden files and go to the "folder options" section.

A small window will appear. In it, check the box next to the line “display all folders” and open the “view” tab.

In the “View” tab, put a round checkmark next to the line (at the very bottom): “show hidden files and folders” - as above in the figure.

You can also uncheck the boxes next to the lines:

— hide extensions for registered…. .;

— hide empty files;

What do you get out of it? Now you can make changes to system files, and the eight needs it.

Without this intervention, you will only be able to see a few extensions on the C drive. Now there will be many of them.

You won’t have access to some at all, but you can get it using the “take ownership” utility.

It allows you to become the owner of even an entire directory, changes permissions and gives access to them to the computer administrator. Good luck.

By default, Windows hides some system folders and files to avoid accidental user intervention. But these folders and files may need to be edited for certain purposes, for example, to optimize system operation, clean up virus activity, etc.

About displaying hidden Windows elements

To display hidden elements in Windows, you do not need to download and install any additional software, since system functions are sufficient. In addition, by using applications that supposedly allow you to see hidden elements of the system, you expose your computer to the risk of becoming infected with some kind of virus. In modern versions of Windows, you can quickly view all hidden files and folders.

Method 1: Control Panel

The control panel is available in almost all versions of Windows (only the oldest ones are exceptions). With its help, you can quickly configure the system, including opening elements hidden from the user.

Use these instructions:

Method 2: Explorer

You can also make certain settings in the folders themselves, but some important system elements will still be hidden. However, this method is the most convenient and requires only a couple of clicks to complete.

Instructions:

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in enabling the display of hidden system files and folders in the Windows operating system. However, when interfering with the operation of system components, do not forget to create a restore point so that you can roll back all changes.

In any operating system, there are system files that are hidden from the user's eyes in order to avoid any third-party interference. But there are times when it is necessary to make changes to some documents (for example, the hosts file is very often edited by viruses, so there may be reasons to find it and clean it). In this article we will look at how to configure the display of hidden elements in Windows 8.

You can’t even imagine how many folders and their elements are hidden from the prying eyes of the user. Therefore, if you want to find any system file, most likely you will have to enable show hidden items. Of course, you can simply enter the document name in Search, but it’s still better to understand the folder settings.

Method 1: Use the Control Panel

The control panel is a universal tool with which you can perform most actions on the system. Let's use this tool here:

Using this method, you will open all the hidden documents and files that are in the system.

Method 2: Through folder settings

You can also configure the display of hidden folders and icons in the folder management menu. This method is much more convenient, faster and simpler, but has one drawback: system objects will remain hidden.

This method will allow you to find hidden files and folders, but important system documents will still remain inaccessible to the user.

These 2 methods will help you find the necessary file on your computer, even if it is carefully hidden. But do not forget that any interference with the operation of the system can cause it to function incorrectly or even lead to failure. Be careful!