Password Protect a Folder in Windows 10 without using any Additional Software

Everyone has some persnal and confidential information which he he/she does not want to share with other people. In our computer there are some very confidential files also. To hide these files we generally use some third party softwares. But in this article, I will tell you a trick that will help you lock and hide any folder without installing any third-party software. With just a simple .bat file, you can protect your folders easily. Whenever you want to open the protected folder, a password will be required before the folder becomes visible and accessible. So, without further delay, follow the steps given below to password protect a folder :

1. First of all, open the folder you want to secure with a password. You can see in the below animation that I’ve created a folder named “Test,” which consists of an image and an HTML file.
   
   
   
2. Now, create a new text file inside the same folder. You can name the text file according to your choice. I’m naming it “lockFolder.txt.”
3. Copy the following code and paste it into the text file that you’ve created in the 2nd Step.

   @ECHO OFF
   if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
   if NOT EXIST Private goto MDPrivate
   :CONFIRM
   echo Are you sure to lock this folder? (Y/N)
   set/p "cho=>"
   if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
   if %cho%==y goto LOCK
   if %cho%==n goto END
   if %cho%==N goto END
   echo Invalid choice.
   goto CONFIRM
   :LOCK
   ren Private "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
   attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
   echo Folder locked
   goto End
   :UNLOCK
   echo Enter password to Unlock Your Secure Folder
   set/p "pass=>"
   if NOT %pass%== YOUR-PASSWORD goto FAIL
   attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
   ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Private
   echo Folder Unlocked successfully
   goto End
   :FAIL
   echo Invalid password
   goto end
   :MDPrivate
   md Private
   echo Private created successfully
   goto End
   :End

4. Now, open the text file and move your cursor to line number 21(if NOT %pass%== YOUR-PASSWORD goto FAIL). Replace YOUR-PASSWORD with the password of your choice. In the below animation, you can see that I’ve used “Password” as my password.
   
   
   
5. Now, click on the File option in the top left corner. Click on the Save as button and save the file as “lockFolder.bat.”
6. Now, double click on the “lockFolder.bat,” and a folder named “Private” will be created automatically.
   
   
   
7. Move all the files you want to hide inside the Private folder that we’ve just created in the step 6.
8. Again double click on the “lockFolder.bat” A command prompt window will open asking you that “Are you sure you want to lock this folder?”. Type 'Y' and hit enter  to confirm.
9. Once you hit enter, your Private folder will be automatically hidden, and only lockFolder.bat will be visible to you.
   
   
   
10. To open your secured folder, double click on the lockFolder.bat file. A command prompt window will open asking you the password of the secured folder.(In our case it is 'Password')
11. Type the password and hit enter. Once you do that, your hidden folder will be displayed to you successfully.
12. If you want to hide your Private folder again, all you need to do is double-click on the “lockFolder.bat” file again.

So that’s how you can easily hide your private files without using any additional software.