Are you looking for ways to protect a folder using a password on your computer but don’t know how to do so? Stay here. If you have stored some sensitive information within a file and want to protect it from being accessed by others, you can protect them through a password.
Operating systems such as MacOS and Windows allow you to make a file or folder secure through a password to avoid unwanted access by the persons who can access your computer. Let’s see how you can protect your essential document on Windows and MacOS.
Use Windows 10 Pro folder encryption
You get an integrated file protection system with Windows 10 Pro. This standard file encryption system makes your files protected by locking them to your account. If someone wants to access that file by copying them to their PC, they will need your account password. However, the person who uses your PC and account can access that file.
Locate the file that you want to protect and right-click on it. Then pick Properties from the drop-down.
Hit Advanced.
Checkmark the box near Encrypt Contents to Secure Data and tap OK.
Hit the Apply button. Decide if you have to encrypt all folders of that directory or only the top-level one. Finally, tap OK.
The process may take time depending on the contents within the folder and their size. It is good to wait and let the process complete because you are going to get top-level security by encrypting your sensitive data. Moreover, if you do all the steps correctly, your files will be protected through a password.
Protect folders on Windows with 7-Zip
The previous version of Windows 10 Pro doesn’t come with a folder protection feature. Therefore, it is good to go with a third-party alternative, a type of compression software. Here is 7-Zip, an open-source program that works like zip compression software. Here is how to use it.
Go to the download page of 7-Zip: https://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Choose the right thing to download based on your Windows build system. After downloading the software, you have to install and run it like other software.
Find the file or folder that you want to protect through a password under 7-Zip and hit on the addition symbol in green color located in the top left corner. You can drag and drop the file under 7-Zip.
Choose zip in the drop-down menu under the Archive Format option to make sure the compatibility of the folder without 7-Zip. Now you have to fill in a password and hit the OK button. And then let the program generate a password-protected and compressed copy of that folder.
Once the file gets ready, you have to test it. After testing it and making sure that the file is fully password-protected, you can remove the original folder.
Protect a file using a password on MacOS
As you don’t get a built-in ability to password protect a file on many Windows versions, just like users of MacOS don’t get a file protection system natively. Still, you can use Disk Utility, a native software of most Mac devices. You will need to make an encrypted disk image using this app.
After creating the same, you will have to open the folder through a mounted virtual disk. And from here, you can access the file using the password. Here is how to do so.
Hit the Disk Utility located under the Applications folder.
After opening the app, you have to choose the File option. Hit New Image from the following menu and then hit on Image From Folder. Here you can select the file that you wish to have password protection. Then tap Choose.
After selecting and naming the folder, tap Read/Write in the drop-down menu within Image Format. A new drop-down menu will appear within Encryption. You have to pick 128-bit AES encryption.
Type and do verify the password in the respective field. Now select Choose then Save. Disk Utility will inform you after finishing the image.
Now you have to test you have correctly protected the image by opening it.
Type the password and complete the verification. Pick Choose and Save.
To ensure the password protection of the file, you can open the content. Also, delete the original file to prevent someone from accessing them.
Commentaires