How To Put A Password On A Folder Windows 7

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Both MacOS and Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education Editions have their ain encryption programs that you can utilise to encrypt and password-protect files and folders on your difficult drive. Windows ten Home Edition does not come up with any encryption software, but y'all tin can even so employ third-party software to encrypt and password-protect your files and folders. This wikiHow teaches you how to encrypt your files and folders.

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Press ⊞ Win+E to open up File Explorer . File Explorer has an icon that resembles a binder with a blueish clip. Click the File Explorer icon in the taskbar, or press the Windows key + E to open File Explorer. Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Pedagogy Editions have their own built-in file encryption software called BitLocker. BitLocker tin can exist used to encrypt an entire hard drive, or individual folders and files.
- BitLocker is not available on Windows: Home Edition. If you are using Windows: Home Edition, yous volition demand to utilize third-party software to encrypt your files and folders.^[1]
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Navigate to a folder you want to password protect, and right-click information technology. This displays a pop-up menu to the correct of the folder.

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Click Properties . It'due south at the lesser of the pop-upwards menu.
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Click Advanced . It'south at the bottom of the Backdrop window next to "Attributes".
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Click the checkbox next to "Encrypt contents to secure information." It's at the bottom of the Avant-garde Attributes windows next to "Compress or Encrypt Attributes."
- If you want to open up a password-protected folder, follow the previous steps up to this bespeak and uncheck this box. Then enter your password.
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Click Ok followed by Apply . This starts the process of encrypting your folder.
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Select "Apply changes to this binder, subfolders and files" and click Ok . It's the second radio option in the "Confirm Attributes Changes" window.
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Click the "Back up your file encryption key" in the pop-up message. You can also detect this popular-up message in the Notifications window by clicking the icon that resembles a foursquare-shaped speech box in the Taskbar.
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Insert a USB flash drive in a USB port and click Support at present (recommended) . This volition back up your encryption key to a flash drive. This volition help prevent you from losing access to your files if yous forget your password.
- If you do not accept a wink drive, you can click Back upward Later to be reminded side by side fourth dimension you log in, or click Never back up. Alert: If you don't support your encryption key, you lot could lose access to your files if you forget your password.
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Click Next two times. First, click Next at the bottom of the Document Export Wizard welcome window. Then click Next again to create a new password.
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Select "Personal Information Commutation - PKCS #12" and click Side by side . This is the default selection in the Document Consign Wizard window. And then click Adjacent in the lower-correct corner.
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Check "Password" and enter your password twice. To create a new password, click the checkbox next to "Password" so enter your desired password in the ii fields below the checkbox. Make sure you enter the exact same password both times.
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Click Side by side . Information technology'south in the lower-right corner of the Certificate Export Window.
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Navigate to the USB bulldoze. Use the file browser to navigate to the location of your USB drive. This may be a temporary "D:" or "Due east:" drive.
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Type a name for the certificate and click Save . This saves the certificate equally a ".pfx" file.
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Click Next then Cease . This finishes the procedure of encrypting and password-protecting your folder. You tin can at present eject the USB drive and put it in a rubber location.
- If you lot demand to access your folder, follow steps one - four. Then uncheck the box that says "Encrypt contents to secure data." Then enter your password to un-encrypt the folder.
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Download and install Axcrypt. Windows Home Edition does non come with BitLocker, which is the standard encryption software used on Windows. Instead, you volition need to download and install a tertiary-party encryption programme. AxCrypt can encrypt and password-protect files and folders on your computer. The free version uses 128 Fleck encryption and the premium version uses AES-256 Bit encryption. Both of which are international standards. Use the following steps to download and install AxCrypt:
- Navigate to https://www.axcrypt.net/ in a web browser.
- Click the green push that says Download.
- Open up the install file in your web browser or Downloads folder.
- Click the checkbox to agree to the license terms and conditions.
- Click Install.
- Click Launch.
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Enter your email address and click Ok . Brand certain yous enter a valid email accost. A verification code will be sent to your email accost.
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Retrieve the verification lawmaking from your email. Open the e-mail address y'all entered and expect for an email from AxCrypt. Information technology will contain your verification code.
- Information technology may exist in your junk mail service, or spam folder.
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Enter the verification code. After retrieving the verification code, enter information technology in the small box that says "Verification code" in the AxCrypt window.
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Enter your countersign twice and click Ok . Make sure you enter the exact aforementioned countersign in both password fields. This is the password you will utilize to encrypt and decrypt your folders.
- You may want to write your countersign down and put information technology in a safe place. If yous lose your password, you may non be able to access your files.
- Once you log in to AxCrypt, yous practice not need to enter your password each fourth dimension you enter your password. Don't be afraid to apply a strong password.
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Enter your password and Ok . This will log yous into AxCrypt.
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Click Start Trial or Not Now . If you want to start a gratuitous trial of Premium AxCrypt, click Start Trial. Otherwise, click Not Now.
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Press ⊞ Win+Eastward to open up File Explorer . File Explorer has an icon that resembles a folder with a blue clip. Click the File Explorer icon in the taskbar, or printing the Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
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Navigate to a binder you desire to password-protect and correct-click information technology. This volition display a pop-up menu next to the folder.
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Hover over AxCrypt and click Encrypt . After AxCrypt is installed and you are signed in, this option appears in the pop-up card that appears when you lot correct-click a file or folder in File Explorer. This will display a sub-carte. Click Encrypt in the sub-carte du jour.
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Enter your password and click Ok . This converts the binder and all the files into encrypted ".axx" files.
- To access the files once again, right-click the folder in File Explorer and hover over AxCrypt. Click Decrypt. Enter your password and click Ok.
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Open up Spotlight . Information technology's in the acme-correct corner of the screen.
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Blazon disk utility then press ⏎ Return . This volition open the Deejay Utility app.
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Click File . This carte item is in the superlative-left side of the Mac'southward screen.
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Select New Image , so click Image from Folder . This will open a finder window.
- On some older Macs, this option may be labeled "Disk Image from Folder" instead.
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Select the folder you want to password protect and click Open up . Click the box at the tiptop of the popular-upward window, click your folder'south location (east.one thousand., Desktop), click your folder, and click Open.
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Enter a name for your folder. Do so in the "Salvage Every bit" field.
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Click the "Encryption" drop-down box and select 128-bit AES encryption . It's in the "Encryption" drop-down menu.
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Click the "Image Format" drop-downwards box.
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Click read/write . This pick volition allow you lot add and remove files to your encrypted folder later.
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Click Save . This button is in the lesser-right corner of the window.
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Create a password and click Choose . Enter a password you want to set for your folder in the "Password" field, and enter it once again in the "Verify" field to confirm. And then click the "Choose" push to set the password.
- Your passwords must match in order to continue.
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Click Save . Information technology's a blue button at the lesser of the window. Doing and so will create an encrypted copy of the original folder.
- If you lot named your image the same thing equally your original folder, click Supervene upon when prompted to replace the folder.
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Click Done when prompted. Your password-protected folder has been created. Your new countersign protected binder will appear as a ".dmg" file.
- You can delete the original folder that you used to create the password-protected binder if you desire, your files are condom in the ".dmg" that was just created.
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Open the password-protected folder. Double-click the newly created ".dmg" file to open your countersign-protected folder. This will prompt you for a password.
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Enter the countersign you lot gear up before and click OK . Your binder will open as a mounted virtual "bulldoze" on the desktop. Once unlocked, this will open a window and display your files.
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Lock the folder. When y'all are done, y'all tin lock the folder again by "Ejecting" the drive that was opened by i of the following ways:
- Click and drag the drive's icon to the trash.
- Right-click on the icon and select Squirt "[Your Folder Name]"
- Click the squirt button side by side to your folder's name in the Finder window on the left.
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Add New Question

Question

Is the Windows method rubber for my estimator? Will it impairment annihilation or download anything harmful?

No, information technology will not. I've tried this method out, and information technology is safe.
Question

How can I unlock a folder?

Double click on the .bat file and blazon in the password y'all made for it when the command prompt menu opens upward.
Question

How do I change the name of the folder created by the .bat file?

Right click on the folder, then click "rename." Type the new folder name, then striking "enter."

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Y'all should create an unprotected backup of any folder yous plan on password-protecting. You lot can do this in an external hard drive, or in a cloud drive.

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If you lot forget your folder's password, you may permanently lose access to the corresponding files.

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Article Summary X

In the folder that contains the files you want to protect, create a new text file containing the script below, replacing "Your-Countersign-Here" (in the script) with your desired password. Salvage the file every bit FolderLocker.bat, then double-click FolderLocker.bat to create a folder called Locker. Copy files into the Locker folder, and so double-click FolderLocker.bat again to lock the files.

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