Lock Folder with Password via Folder Lock Software for PC

There are many different methods which can help you lock folder or solve these problem for free! Some make it by using script, some go through with third party software and some recommend build-in function in Windows. But do they work or match your expectation? Here, I have collected and tried these methods. And I am going to analyze them one by one! Let us go!

This methods lock folders with system script. It will modify the property of folder and rename the target folder, which will hide the folder at last. Once you enter the password in script file, the folder will be shown. This is one of the free method which can lock a specific folder.

Convenience: ★★★☆☆

Processing time: ★★★★★

Safety: ★☆☆☆☆

Difficulty to crack: ★☆☆☆☆

Suitable to defend: Those who do not know much about computer, such as children, housewife and the aged.

Supported system: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista/2K

Support to lock piles of folders at a time: NO

Please save the following content as “lock.bat” (Use Notepad). Or you can download the script that we have make (Click here to download).

With the text pasted in, you can adjust the locked folder’s name as well as the password used to unlock it. The default folder name is “Private” and the default password is “Pass”. You can find and adjust them in the “lock.bat” file.

After saving the “lock.bat”, please double-click it and then a new folder named “Private” will be created in the same catalog. Please put the files or folders into “Private”.

It is very easy to get this folder even you do not get the “lock.bat” file. All you need to do is to show all hidden files, folders and drive in browser.

Step 1: Hit “Win” and “E” button, please click “Organize” -> “Folder and search option”. (Here is the process in Windows 7). If you are using Windows 10, the “Folder and search option” could be found in “File” item.

Step 2: Please check the 3 items which has been highlighted in the picture. And click ok.

Step 3: Then the hidden folder will be shown but with another name.

This method is to compress the entire folder with the password protect function in some compression tools. This method is time-consuming. Especially you have include some large files. Of course, this method is safer than using script. And it is harder to crack. Besides, if you want to add new files, you need to go through the whole decompress process.

Convenience: ★★☆☆☆
Processing time: ★★☆☆☆
Safety: ★★★☆☆
Difficulty to crack: ★★★☆☆
Suitable to defend: Anybody
Supported system: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista/2K
Support to lock piles of folders at a time: Yes

Preparation: Please download one of these compression tools.

	Win RAR	Charge	https://www.win-rar.com/
	Winzip	Charge	http://www.winzip.com
	7zip	Free	http://www.7-zip.org/

Here we will make Winrar as an example.

Step 1: Download and install Winrar.

Step 2: Right-click the folder you want to lock and click “Add to archive…”.

Step 3:  Please click “Set password” in the pop up window.

Step 4: Set the password and confirm again for the compressed folder. Please click OK.

Step 5: Compression will go through automatically. The larger size the folder you try to lock, more time will need to compress.

Step 6:  After compression, you will get a compressed file which is password protected. Of course, you need to delete the source folder. Or other can still check your folder.

Besides cracking the compressed folders on your computer, people who are interesting in your folders can copy these folders to their computer and get more time to crack the files with any cracking tools they found on Internet.
Such software usually use dictionary cracking. Some can even add personal information like birthday, phone number, etc to increase the success rate of cracking.

This method only worked for computer which has different accounts with different privilege. If there is only one account in your PC, then this method will not work. The principle of this method is to make use of the built-in account settings in Windows. Once you encrypt the folder with the “Compress or Encrypt attributes” function, all the data you add to this folder will be encrypted automatically.

It is easy to use. But please note that the folder name is not encrypted. Of course, this method is free as well.

Convenience: ★★☆☆☆
Processing time: ★★★★☆
Safety: ★★☆☆☆
Difficulty to crack: ★★☆☆☆
Suitable to defend: Those who do not use the same account with you on the same PC.
Supported system: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista/2K
Support to lock piles of folders at a time: Yes

Step 1: Right-click the folder you want to encrypt. And click “Properties”.

Step 2: Choose “Advanced” on the pop up window. Then please check the item “Encrypt contents to secure data” and click “OK”.

Step 3: Then Windows will encrypt data inside this folder. 

Step 4: If you want to access the data inside this folder.

If you want to access the locked folder, please login the related account which you used to lock the folder. Others login with different account can not access the data inside. (But they can get the folder name. )

You need a offline Windows password cracking tools like “Ophcrack” (http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/). Then you need to create a bootable USB disk or CD. And boot the target PC with this disk. Then Ophcrack will help you get the password of this account.

Here, it just take 2 minutes and we can get the password to login the target account. It is so easy to access your personal files. It is not safe to take this solution? Now you can take the following tips into consideration.

This method works for those who need to share files via network. Similar to method 3, this method also make use of the built-in function of Windows – others need the account and password from you when accessing your shared folder. Under this circumstance, other will not know the folder name. Although the security of this method is good, it does not improve the difficulty of cracking. Related cracking method will be provide later.

Convenience: ★★★☆☆

Processing time: ★★★★☆

Safety: ★★★☆☆

Difficulty to crack: ★★☆☆☆

Suitable to defend: Those who do not use the same PC with you, like your colleagues and students.

Supported system: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista/2K

Support to lock piles of folders at a time: Yes

Step 1: Create a new account for sharing. 

I think no one would tell others the login password of own account. And here is about how to create the new sharing account.

Step 2: Share the target folder. Right-click the target folder and go to “Share with” item then select “Specific people”.

Step 3: Select the account you just created in the list.

Step 4: Click “Next” and the create will get finish. After sharing, other account can access the shared folder with the path here but need to enter the correct password.

Cracking shared folder is a little complicated. But we still can go through.

Step 1: Download SMB Scanner (http://www.cners.com/tools/smbscanner.zip) . Then launch the software and enter a IP. (Like: 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.255)

Step 2: After searching finish, please use the crack function in this software to crack the password of the shared folder. 

Methods above are some free solution to lock folder in Windows. However, those methods are inconvenience, not secure or easy to crack. If you care about this and want to find a better solution, then you can have a try of Renee File Protector which was designed by Rene.E Laboratory with over 2 years. Renee File Protector includes multiple helpful functions to provide overall protection to your data and private information.