It is very important to hide the confidential data in Windows. Some time the data which are really private need to be secured from the third party. We have already discussed about the data hiding and file security in previous articles. But this one can take your data protection to a whole new level, a more secured one.

Tip: Secure the folder containing private data without any password protection software.

We shall make a folder locked making password protected also hidden, so that any third party can not access its contents. There are tons of software, available in the market to hide or lock your folder in Windows. But if some thing can be done without the help of a software then why should you use one? In this article, I�ve described the whole process to lock the folder by creating a simple Batch file.

How to create the batch file to lock a folder1. Copy and paste the following codes in a notepad file.

cls@ECHO OFFtitle Folder Confidentialif EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCKif NOT EXIST Confidential goto MDLOCKER:CONFIRMecho Are you sure you want to lock the folder(Y/N)set/p "cho=>"if %cho%==Y goto LOCKif %cho%==y goto LOCKif %cho%==n goto ENDif %cho%==N goto ENDecho Invalid choice.goto CONFIRM:LOCKren Confidential "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"echo Folder lockedgoto End:UNLOCKecho Enter the Password to unlock folderset/p "pass=>"if NOT %pass%== Replace this red portion by Your password goto FAILattrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Confidentialecho Folder Unlocked successfullygoto End:FAILecho Invalid passwordgoto end:MDLOCKERmd confidentialecho Confidential created successfullygoto End:End[Download the text version of the code] [via Trap17.com]

2. Save the file as �Key.bat�. You are done. When you�ll double click on the Key.bat file for first time, a folder �Confidential� will be automatically created. You can move all your confidential data in that folder.

Now to lock the folder just double click on the file �Key�. You will get a confirmation message in Command Prompt. Type �y� to confirm. Now the folder �Confidential� will be locked and hidden.

If you want to access the contents of the folder then again double click on the batch file, you have created. Immediately you will be prompted to enter your password. After that you can access the folder �Confidential�.

By this process you can password protect the folder and no body can access the folder without the password. But still there is some risk. If some body is a computer savvy then he can easily retrieve the password from your batch file. He can easily find the password by choosing �Edit� option from the right-click context menu.

So, to prevent from that option you can make an executive file of the batch file. The facility of the executive file is that no body can�t see the source code of an exe file. Here I�ve described the process of converting the batch file to executive(.exe) file.

At first you need a compiler that compiles the batch file to an executive file.

1. Download Bat to Exe converter

2. Now run the application and put the source path of the batch file, then the target executive file name with location.

3. Click on �Compile� button.

That�s all. Delete the batch file �key.bat�. You can now protect or access the folder by using the exe file (key.exe). Your data is now fully protected.

The above method works in XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Update: After getting some feedback from the reader we modified the code and it should work properly. You can also get the code by clicking on the text version link.