How to Hide Folders in Windows XP

Oh!!! C’mon don’t open that folder, you fucking asshole, Can’t i have privacy. That’s what I used to say to friends when they try to access my personal folder. But do you know what these morons do, after hearing my words, they get eager to see what the hell he keeps at that folder.

So I started googling whether there is a way to hide a folder in an easy way. I stumbled upon many tricks, some software related like folder hide are best but it cost money whereas i need it for free. So i continued my googling and at last I found this method which is best according to me till now.

So friends, Keep those prying eyes out of your file and folders and prevent unwanted people from reading your file.

This method involves the use of command prompt and built-in windows functions to change certain attributes of a file or folder. Once the attribute have been changed, the files can’t be seen by the system.

The reason I like this method is because it does not involve any third party software.

Caution! - Do not hide windows system files or folders. If a file windows need is hidden, a windows can’t find the file, then windows can become unstable and data can be damaged or lost.

Here’s how you can create a hidden folder in windows for free that’s pretty secure:-

1. Go to Start, Run and then type in CMD to open in command prompt window.

2. Now Navigate to the parent folder of the folder you want to hide. For example, I want to hide the folder in C:\test, so I would type in the following.

Cd C:\test

3. Now Type in the following command, replacing the word foldername with the name of the folder you want to hide.

attrib foldername +s +h

And that’s it. Your folder is completely hidden. It won’t show up in My Computer, it won’t show up if you browse via command prompt and it won’t show up if you select “Show all Hidden Files and Folders”.

If you want to un-hide the folder you simply follow the above steps, except now you will run this command:

attrib foldername -s -h

You’ll definitely need to remember which folder you have hidden as there is no easy way of determining what’s missing, so make sure you remember what you hide!

Note:- +h make the folder hidden and -s makes it system folder.

Drawback - Although this technique is the still best way of hiding folder from many other ways but this technique has one major drawback.

If you go to tools->folder option->View and Uncheck the “Hide Protected Operating System files” and click on “Apply” “OK” and hidden files become visible.

Solution - You can disable the Folder option with gpedit.msc

Follow this step - Go to start>run. Type in gpedit.msc->user configration\administrator templates\windows
componant\windows explorer-(right side window)-remove the folder options
menu item from the tool menu-DOUBLE CLICK AND DISABLE IT

So how is the trick, do you also hide folders like me. If you know other methods or tricks, please share here.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!