How to Keep Files Private on a PC: 7 Ways, From Hidden to Locked

Sharing a computer at home shouldn’t mean giving up your privacy. We all need a little privacy, whether it’s a diary, bank statements or family photos.

The trouble is Windows has no simple way to make a folder private. There’s no right-click option to put a password on it.

So in this guide I’ll show you 7 ways to keep files private on a PC, from simply hiding them to locking them away, and which one fits your situation.

Protecting Your Files: Who Are You Keeping Them From?

Before you pick a method, think about who you’re keeping the files from. It makes a big difference to which one you need.

There are two kinds of protection:

• Hiding (privacy): keeps files out of sight. Good for stopping accidental clicks and nosy glances. Low security.
• Encryption (security): scrambles the data so it can’t be opened without a password or key. High security.

And three situations:

• Someone else uses the same PC. A partner, the kids, visitors. Separate user accounts do most of the work, with hiding or a password for anything extra private.
• The laptop gets lost or stolen. You need the whole drive encrypted, so nobody can take it out and read it.
• The files are leaving your PC. On a USB stick, by email or in the cloud. They need a password that goes with them.

1. Give Everyone Their Own User Account

If other people use your computer, this is the most important one, and it costs nothing.

When everyone signs in with their own account, each person gets their own Desktop, Documents and Pictures. A standard user can’t open another person’s folders. Windows tells them they don’t have permission and asks for an administrator’s password.

The catch is administrators. An administrator can open anyone’s folders. So make sure you’re the only administrator, and give everyone else a standard account.

My guide on how to create a new user account in Windows shows you how to add one for each person. Not sure which type to pick? See my beginner’s guide to Windows user accounts.

2. Protect a File by Making It Invisible

If you just want to stop someone casually seeing a file or folder, you can make it invisible. It doesn’t lock anything, but it takes it out of view. What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t miss.

How to Hide a Folder Using Windows Properties

1. Right-click the file or folder you want to hide.
2. Click Properties.
3. On the General tab, tick Hidden.
4. Click Apply, then OK.

To see your hidden files again, open File Explorer and click View > Show > Hidden items in Windows 11, or tick Hidden items on the View tab in Windows 10. Hidden folders show with a faded icon.

It’s quick and it stops the casual user. But anyone who knows about Hidden items will find it in seconds.

The Ghost Folder

You can also make a folder with no name and no icon. On the desktop it looks like empty space until your mouse passes over it.

1. Right-click the folder and click Properties.
2. On the Customise tab, click Change Icon.
3. Scroll along until you see blank spaces, pick one and click OK.
4. Click the folder once and press F2 to rename it.
5. Hold down Alt, type 0160 on the number pad, let go of Alt and press Enter.

A ghost folder works exactly like any other folder. Double-click it and it opens. Alt and 0160 only work on the number pad, so on a laptop without one, stick to the Hidden box.

For both methods with screenshots, see how to hide folders in Windows.

3. Protect Files by Hiding Them Inside an Image

This one’s straight out of a spy film. You can hide a zip file inside a JPG picture. To anyone else it looks, and opens, like an ordinary photo.

1. Put your private files into a zip file, for example secret.zip, and have a picture ready, for example picture.jpg. Put both in the same folder.
2. Open that folder in File Explorer, click in the address bar, type cmd and press Enter. Command Prompt opens in that folder.
3. Type this and press Enter:

copy /b picture.jpg + secret.zip newimage.jpg

The new file, newimage.jpg, shows no sign it’s anything but a picture. Save it in your Pictures folder with all your other photos and it all but disappears.

To get your files back, open the picture with 7-Zip. The full steps are in how to hide a file or folder inside an image.

4. Lock Files in OneDrive Personal Vault

If you use OneDrive, you already have a private folder with a lock on it. Personal Vault is a folder inside OneDrive that needs a second check, such as a code sent to your phone, before it opens.

It locks itself again after 20 minutes of not being used. So if you walk away and forget, someone sitting down at your PC can’t just open it.

1. Open File Explorer and click OneDrive on the left.
2. Double-click Personal Vault.
3. The first time, click Get started and follow the steps to confirm it’s you.
4. Move your private files into it.

The limit: with free OneDrive you can only keep three files in it. With Microsoft 365 Personal or Family there’s no limit apart from your storage.

New to OneDrive? Start with what OneDrive is and how it works.

5. Password Protect Files with 7-Zip

Hiding your files is all very well, but it isn’t secure. It relies on nobody finding them. A password is different: no password, no access, it’s as simple as that.

7-Zip is a free, open source program that zips files and folders and can lock them with a password and AES-256 encryption at the same time. The lock goes wherever the file goes, so it’s the one to use for email or a USB stick.

My guide on how to password protect a folder compares 7-Zip with the other ways to lock a folder, and how to use 7-Zip to password protect files has every step.

6. Create a Secure Vault with VeraCrypt

For the strongest protection for files you use every day, use VeraCrypt. Like 7-Zip it’s free and open source, but that’s where the similarity ends. It creates an encrypted virtual drive that only opens with your password.

Unlocked, it works like a USB stick that appears in File Explorer. Drag files in and out, or save straight into it. When you unmount it, the drive disappears and everything inside is locked.

Read the full guide: how to use VeraCrypt to encrypt a folder.

7. BitLocker with a Password

This last one locks the whole drive, not one folder. It protects you if the PC is lost or stolen, because nobody can take the drive out and read it.

BitLocker comes with Windows 11 Pro and Windows 10 Pro. Normally it unlocks itself when the PC starts, but you can make it ask for a PIN before Windows will even load. Without the PIN or the recovery key, there’s no way in.

See how to use BitLocker, and if your PC has no TPM chip, how to enable BitLocker without TPM.

On Windows Home, look for Device Encryption instead. Many Home PCs have it switched on already. There’s no PIN, but it does stop someone reading the drive in another computer. Here’s how to check: Device Encryption on Windows Home.

Neither stops someone using your PC while you’re signed in. That’s what methods 1 to 6 are for.

FAQ

Q: Are hidden files safe?
A: Not really. Hiding only takes files out of sight. Anyone who ticks Hidden items in File Explorer will see them. Use a password if they need to stay private.

Q: Can an administrator see my files?
A: Yes. An administrator can open any user’s folders on the PC. Files locked with a password, such as a 7-Zip file or a VeraCrypt drive, stay locked even to an administrator.

Q: Can I put a password on a folder without extra software?
A: Not in Windows Home. Windows Pro can do it with a BitLocker virtual drive. OneDrive Personal Vault is built in on both, but holds only three files on a free account.

Q: How do I make a folder private in Windows 11?
A: Keep it inside your own user folders and give everyone else their own standard account. If it needs a password too, use 7-Zip, VeraCrypt or OneDrive Personal Vault.

Q: Does Windows 11 have a private folder?
A: The nearest thing is Personal Vault in OneDrive. It needs a second check, such as a code sent to your phone, before it opens, and locks itself again after 20 minutes.

Q: What happened to Microsoft Private Folder?
A: It was a free Microsoft tool for Windows XP that put a password on one folder. Microsoft withdrew it in July 2006, shortly after it came out. Personal Vault is the nearest thing today.

Q: How do I hide files on my laptop?
A: Exactly the same way as on a desktop PC. The only difference is the ghost folder trick, which needs a number pad to type Alt and 0160.

Summary

Protecting your privacy doesn’t have to be complicated. Pick by who you’re keeping the files from:

• Family or visitors on the same PC: their own user accounts first, then hide anything you’d rather they didn’t stumble on.
• Something properly private: OneDrive Personal Vault for a few files, VeraCrypt for a folder you use every day.
• Sending private files: 7-Zip with a password.
• A lost or stolen laptop: BitLocker or Device Encryption.

Related Guides

How to Password Protect a Folder in Windows 11 and 10
Four ways to lock a folder, and which ones need Windows Pro.

How to Hide Folders in Windows
Hidden folders and ghost folders, step by step.

How to Create a New User Account in Windows
Give everyone on the PC their own space.

Beware of Device Encryption on Windows 11 Home

Device Encryption is silently being enabled on all Windows 10 and Windows 11 Home editions that meet the hardware requirements and you’re signed in with a Microsoft account.

It’s very important that you check whether or not device encryption is enabled on your computer and if it is, then you MUST either disable it or find your recovery key. I’ll show you how to do both.

Device Encryption

You can find this and other related step by step guides in – At Home Computer Security Guides