How to Hide or Password Protect a Folder in Windows 10

In this post, we will learn how to hide or password protect a folder in Windows 11/Windows 10. If you own a laptop or a personal computer, you want secure the folders and data within it. At the most a novice user can hide the folders but cannot completely prevent unauthorized users accessing it. The alternate way would be to encrypt the folder which is not a preferable option every time. To help you secure the folders you can simply use a software called Protect My Folders. Protect My Folders is designed to prevent and restrict unauthorized users accessing your important folders or files without the need of encrypting them.

You can download Protect My Folders software from here. There is a free trial download option that allows you to install and try this software. However the trial version allows you to use the program for 20 times. A full version (paid version) of the software allows you to use it without any limitations.

Protect My Folders – Key Features and Benefits

The below information outlines the key features of Protect My Folders.

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The software is easy to download and install. Any novice user can install this software without any help.
Using this software you can block unauthorized access to your files, folders and programs you choose.
Furthermore “Turn on safe mode” protection prevents access to your data in the safe mode of Windows.
When you restrict a folder, it cannot be read by viruses.
Once a folder is protected, the files within the folder can’t be accessed from network computers.
This software is protected with a password. Hence no one can run or uninstall Protect My Folders program without knowing the password.

Protect My Folders – System Requirements

Protect My Folders is compatible with all the popular client operating systems. This includes Windows 10, 8, 7 (32-bit & 64-bit). Your system needs at least 512 MB or more physical RAM to smoothly run the software. A hard disk space of 10 MB or more is required for program to install.

Installation and configuration – Protect My Folders

Let’s see some simple steps to install and configure Protect My Folders software. First of all download the software from here. I am going to install this software on my Windows 10 machine. Double click the executable and wait for the install wizard to appear.

Choose the default install location and click Next.

Click Install.

The software needs a restart to work properly. Save all your work and restart the computer. Click Finish.

Login to the computer and launch the software. You will now see the option to set a new password for this program. Set a complex password. The same password is required to uninstall the software. In addition, you will need to enter this password every time when you launch the program.

To protect a folder, click Add/Lock button. In the selection window, select the folder that you want to protect. Click Exit to close the software.

Note – You cannot select a drive instead of folder.
In this example i have selected Documents folder. If you choose any other folder such as D:\test, this folder will disappear from windows explorer when it is locked by the tool.

When you now try to access the folder that you just protected, you will see Access is denied message. So basically you aren’t hiding a folder here, you are just preventing access to that folder.

Take a look at the settings. There are some good options under Lock Options. Notice the last option, Safe Mode Protection. Checking that box will prevent access to protected folders even in Windows safe mode.