How to Password Protect a Folder in Windows 10?

Do you want to password protect a folder in Windows 10? If you are not a single user of your system but have some important files or folders that you want to protect from the unauthorized access then you must lock your folder.

Windows 7 has provided the direct method to password protect a folder. But Windows 8 and 10 do not provide any direct method. Well, there is an indirect way, you can archive a folder and then add a password to that archived folder.

You can also employ a third-party app. But please check the security concerns of the app before employing it. In this section, we will discuss a method to password protect a folder in Windows 10.

Steps to Password Protect a Folder in Windows 10:

Step 1: Select a folder that you want to password-protect. See that none of the files of this folder are opened as it will create an error during the process.

Step 2: Right-click on the folder and from the displayed option you have to click on ‘Add to archive’.

Step 3: A new window ‘Archive name and parameters’ will pop up where you have to go to the General tab and then click on ‘Set password’.

Step 4: Again, a new window ‘Enter password’ will pop up where you have to put up the password you want to assign to the folder and repeat the password for verification purpose. Ensure that you have checked the checkbox ‘Encrypt file names’. This will encrypt the name of all the files in the folder. Then click OK.

The process will take a few seconds don’t interrupt in the middle.

Step 5: To ensure that the new archived folder is now password protected double click on the archived folder.

It will pop a window asking for the password and it won’t open the folder content until you provide the authorized password.

So, this is the method to add password to your folder in Windows 10. It is always a good idea to password protect your important file and folder. Hope the content is useful. Keep reading.