Folder Password on XP

[saeed]

I want to protect my personal folder on Windows XP. Is there any tip/trick through which I can protect or make a password authentication on my folder.

any help regarding this will be benificial for me.

warm regards,
Saeed.

[Jason]

I have never hear of or found a folder locking mechanism for any of the windows platforms. You can do something else that is rather simple though. I normally use WinZip but any ziping program should be able to password lock a folder or its contents. Just know that when you access or change them you will have to modify the contents of the zip file.


Jason

[Spookster]

Originally posted by saeed
I want to protect my personal folder on Windows XP. Is there any tip/trick through which I can protect or make a password authentication on my folder.

any help regarding this will be benificial for me.

warm regards,
Saeed.

Set your account to use a password and any folders or files you want to protect just put them on your desktop or within a folder under your account.

[saeed]

I was using a 3rd party tool named as Folder Guard on windows 98. Spookster is right but Administrator will be able to access all my personalize folders even my desktop. I wish I had a tool that does the same as Folder Guard on Windows XP. Jason you were saying to make a zip file and make it passpord protected and unzip it whenever I want to use it. but for your information Zip files even Exe file of that can be cracked :D . anyways thanks guys for your help. If I found any software regarding this I will let you know.

warm regards,

Saeed.

[oracleguy]

If you are using Windows XP Professional you can use folder security so only your account can access a peticular folder on your hard drive.

[sage45]

oracle is right...

By specifiying security permissions under the Folder properties, you can remove everyone but yourself from having rights to the folder... You would not need to place a password on it either...

But I must warn you, be very careful as you could prevent your own access... One key to NTFS Security, Deniability takes precedence over Allowability...

Here is how you would accomplish this...

Right click on the folder you wish to modify, select Properties
Select the Security Tab
In the Box labeled "Group or user names:"
Select the groups or user names (you must select them one at a time) that you do not want to have access to the directory structure and click remove (if you just want sole access to this, remove all groups and users except your own), before you hit ok, (if you are not already in the box, add yourself)
To add, click Add, locate and select your username in the list and click OK
After you click OK
Select your username and choose the "Full Control" permission... After this step you can select 'OK'...

Be warned, you will be the only one with access to this directory structure (even with propogation turned off, users will not be able to enter the directory structure unless via a share to one of the child directories)... If this is your first time dealing with NTFS security, I would suggest creating a test directory and playing with it before you proceed with modifying your own... I would also Add your username and make the permissions change before you remove any other objects...

The only folders that you would not be able to modify directly like this are your Administrative Shares (x$ [Root of Drive] and ADMIN$ [x:\WINNT or x:\WINDOWS]; where x=drive designation)

HTH,

-sage-

[oracleguy]

Also something to note, if there is no "Security" tab when you view the properties of a file or folder in windows XP, it is because Simple File Sharing is turned on. To turn this off, open my computer then go to View > Folder Options. Then I think under the view tab, where there are all the checkboxes, go down the bottom of the list and there should be a checkbox for Simple File Sharing. Turn it off and the security tab will appear.

I haven't a clue why Microsoft would have this enabled by default on the Professional version that is supposed to be used in a business enviorment where you'd want to use file and folder security.

<edit>Also, the given drive in your computer has to be using the NTFS file system in order to take advantage of the security. FAT32 does not have those features. It is possible to convert FAT32 to NTFS but there is no windows built in program to reverse the operation because going from NTFS to FAT32 isn't recommended by Microsoft, however there are 3rd party programs that have that feature. I've never lost any data in the few times I've converted from FAT to NTFS file systems but you still would want to back up all important data before you do to be on the safe side.</edit>