Password protect a folder

BriNylon

I am trying to password protect a folder.  I have followed some instructions I have found online and it says to click on Advanced button then click on Encrypt.  When I do try to click on Encrypt it is greyed out so not allowing me to do this.
Where am I going wrong?

forgotmyname

Are you using windows 10 or 11 pro?

BriNylon

How do I find out?  Sorry to be so ignorant

booneruk

BriNylon said:

I am trying to password protect a folder.  I have followed some instructions I have found online and it says to click on Advanced button then click on Encrypt.  When I do try to click on Encrypt it is greyed out so not allowing me to do this.
Where am I going wrong?

I think encryption is only supported on disks that are formatted with NTFS. If you've reused the hard drive from an old machine, or you're using an old machine that you've upgraded windows on (rather than fresh installing) it might not be in this format. Also, if you're trying to encrypt a system folder (C:\Windows and others) it will outright deny you.

Ayr_Rage

Encryption is not available on all versions of Windows.

wongataa

BriNylon said:

How do I find out?  Sorry to be so ignorant

Settings -> System -> About

Exodi

BriNylon said:

How do I find out?  Sorry to be so ignorant

There's other ways, but since the layout of Windows regularly changes, my preferred method is:

Hold Windows Key (the one between Ctrl + Alt) and press R to bring up the run window. Type in 'dxdiag' and press enter, press OK on any popups.

You then bring up the DirectX Diagnostic Tool which has your OS on a line, e.g.:

Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit (10.0, Build 22621)

Out of interest, could I ask the general purpose for doing so?

If it's just to share and you don't need to modify the contents (e.g. emailing a confidential set of documents), you could look into password protecting the zip file.

If you plan to keep updating the contents, then not relevant. If you have OneDrive, there is a feature called 'Personal Vault' which could do exactly what you need - it's a password restricted folder.

Many ways to skin a cat.

BriNylon

I have a shared PC.  So the file I want to password protect may have word docs in, excel spreadsheets, perhaps photos.
I only want to be able to see contents myself.

Exodi

BriNylon said:

I have a shared PC.  So the file I want to password protect may have word docs in, excel spreadsheets, perhaps photos.
I only want to be able to see contents myself.

Could you keep them on an online OneDrive account?

Depending on how computer savvy the other users are, you could always hide the folder or store it somewhere obscure like:

C:\Users\User.Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\ApplicationInsights

When I was young (I'M NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS, it's just a funny memory), as a way to 'password protect' files on a shared computer, I created a folder and inside it was 10 folders numbered 0 to 9. Inside each of them was 10 folders numbered 0 to 9 and inside them... you get the idea.

I then navigated to a folder deep inside using a secret number (probably my date of birth, or 8008135, I can't remember) and had my private files stored there.

To be fair, unless someone spent a decent amount of time right clicking > properties, or using file size software, it was relatively foolproof. It was parent-proof (or so I hoped!).

But yeah, keeping the files online in OneDrive or Google Docs sounds like the simplest way.

Newcad

Or if you don't like the cloud then put your files on a memory stick and only plug it in when you are using it.

If the stick is in your pocket and not on the machine then nobody can access the files on it.