how to pasword protect any folder in windows xp

to stop somebody from seeing ur Documents and Settings folder make it private so none other than The ADMIN account can view it.. jus right click and go to properties for the folder u require to make private and check the "Make Private.." box in the sharing tab

as in ur case the "Gaurav" folder is the one on which this is to be performed

Use zip folders to password protect. This is one of the easiest method. Otherwise u can use pc security or folder security software.

For the softwares to protect folders, just search a bit. It was discussed many times earlier.
Here are some

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29259

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16560

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29951

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8837

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6360

Format Drive in NTFS

You make your account as ADMIN and your brothers LIMITED.
The MAIN thing is that the drive should be formated in NTFS & not FAT/FAT32. Only then MAKE YOUR FOLDER PRIVATE BOX will appear.
If your drive is formated in NTFS then your brother wont be able to see whats in your account.
If its in FAT anybody can view any file even if they have a limited account.

Folder Security

If you want you can encrypt the folders you want to protect and give them password. To do this just right click the folder you want to protect and click encrypt.
Another way is by using free wares such and Directory Security etc. which was provided with Digit. I dont remember thecorrect month.
Anyway look in the DVD s after June and you will find it.
If you dont have Digit Subscription then just email me to deepak.infosoft@gmail.com and I can send you the s/w to you.

there is this real nice software called HIDE FILES AND FOLDERS

its a free 30 day trial...u can get around that by looking for serials on google BUT ITS ILLEGAL SO DONT DO IT...

if u want i can mail it to you though u should be able to find it on google easily

though the name says HIDE, it has the function of password protecting also

and u can set the time limit that it stays unlocked once u've ritten the password

so for example u want to give sum1 access to the fodler just for an hour, u can do that also...

hey guys... why don't you go for FolderGuard Prof.... it has all the feature like a Administrator... only you have to implemet these features....

use this thing called Universal Shield. good soft, can encrypt, hide stuff, pretty fast too...

Here are the steps you can do to hide your files from your brother...

First of all get ur drive formatted as NTFS..... for doing this follow the following steps...

c:\>convert c: /fs:ntfs

It will ask for a restart....

Then there are two ways to make your folder private

1. Right Click My documents > Sharing and security
click on the make private tab > click OK

2. Change your My documents folders path to D: (or any other drive) then follow the above steps.... in this way you can make the whole your drive as private...

But let me assure you that if your windows is erased or formatted then its immpossible to recover the data... You can use softwares like Hide Folders Xp which is very straight forward and easy....

By the way what is it that you want to hide from ur brother

jay4u said:

2. Change your My documents folders path to D: (or any other drive) then follow the above steps.... in this way you can make the whole your drive as private...

Click to expand...

i think you can not make the whole drive as private with changing the my documents path. it will change only the destination path.

by default, Admins my documents are not accessible from restricted user accounts, if you have the admin priv then make it private and it will act like admins.

or what you have to do, create one Group policy with all the privs and permissions and put your brothers id into that policy. i don't know how to create in XP, but its easy in win 2000 or 2003.

Use Folder Lock XP.

Lock files with any extension.

Lock Folders.

Lock even Drives.

ishaan i downloaded HIDE FILES AND FOLDERS but what to do now??? it asks 4 a password first where its given an instruction to use "admin" word as password but i want to have another word as password .

i may be wrong but im unable to catch it ...

yeah i got stuck there too...just type admin rite now

then once the program opens, there is an option to set a proper password...'admin' wont work once u set it

there are additional passwords also that u can put (i think upto 5 more)

I use Hide folder XP and it works just fine for me.