Password Protection of Windows 10 folders

[yang123]

I've tried, but failed, to password protect a W10 folder containing nthing but WORD files.  

The method was Folder Properties->Attributes->Advanced->Compress or encrypt attirbutes-> ...etc  to the final option Encrypt contents to secure data, but the click square was greyed out.  

The folder contains WORD documents.

 

Any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong?  My W10 is Home rather than Pro.

 

Any alternatives I can download?  A simple password protect will do fine.

Thanks.

 

[KannikaP]

Put them into a folder on your One Drive Personal Vault.

[MJCM]

51 minutes ago, yang123 said:

Any alternatives I can download?  A simple password protect will do fine.

Thanks.

 

Zip them with a Password??

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

2 hours ago, yang123 said:

Any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong?  My W10 is Home rather than Pro.

Home is "doing wrong".

From MS:

Quote

...  File encryption is not available in Windows 10 Home.

Why not use a serious tool like Veracrypt.

Create a volume for your files needing protection.

The volume can then be used like a drive letter in Explorer when open.

The volume file can be located anywhere on your mass storage.

Close volume (shut down device) and files are protected.

 

A most basic tutorial:

https://veracrypt.eu/en/docs/tutorial/

Edited February 2, 2022 by KhunBENQ

[yang123]

7-Zip works perfectly (so far)

 

Thanks to all! ????

[Johnmo89]

You can try to password protect the zip file. To begin, create a zip folder containing the files you wish to password protect.
In Windows Explorer, highlight and right-click on the files you want to put in the zip file.
Select Submit, then Compressed Zip Folder. Follow the program's instructions, give the folder a name and save it.
Double-click the zip file, then select File and Add Folder Password.
Fill in the required information, then click Apply.
Well, or use special applications:
Anvid Seal Folder
Lock-a-Folder
DirLock
Lim Block Folder (Lim lock Folder) 
hide folders
IoBit Protected Folder
Folder Lock 

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, Johnmo89 said:

Well, or use special applications:

I can only repeat, use a serious tool: Veracrypt.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 2/2/2022 at 7:21 PM, KhunBENQ said:

Why not use a serious tool like Veracrypt.

Create a volume for your files needing protection.

The volume can then be used like a drive letter in Explorer when open.

The volume file can be located anywhere on your mass storage.

Close volume (shut down device) and files are protected.

 

I've looked at that kind of approach before. But one thing I could never get a clear answer on is the following:

 

If you encrypt files on Windows 10 PC #1, let's say in a volume on a portable USB drive, using something like Veracrypt, and then later you want to move that drive and use it on a different PC, how's that going to work?

 

Does all the necessary encryption info reside natively on the encrypted volume?  Or, some of it remains on the original PC, and thus using the encrypted drive on a different PC is going to be problematic?

 

One other thing I think I came to understand from my inquiries:  once you encrypt data like that, the data on the encrypted drive isn't going to be accessible to the typical pre-scheduled Windows backup programs?

 

 

[AbeSurd]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I've looked at that kind of approach before. But one thing I could never get a clear answer on is the following:

 

If you encrypt files on Windows 10 PC #1, let's say in a volume on a portable USB drive, using something like Veracrypt, and then later you want to move that drive and use it on a different PC, how's that going to work?

 

Does all the necessary encryption info reside natively on the encrypted volume?  Or, some of it remains on the original PC, and thus using the encrypted drive on a different PC is going to be problematic?

 

One other thing I think I came to understand from my inquiries:  once you encrypt data like that, the data on the encrypted drive isn't going to be accessible to the typical pre-scheduled Windows backup programs?

 

 

I haven't used VeraCrypt but I used to use TrueCrypt.

As I understood it, the machine you use to try and access the TrueCrypt volume at the very least would have to have the TrueCrypt program installed on it.

I imagine VeraCrypt would be similar. But I don't know.

Re backup - yes that's my understanding. You'd need to open/decrypt the encrypted volume in order to backup its contents.

Having done that I used to use SyncToy to sync the contents to another encrypted volume on another drive. Tedious!

[JayClay]

2 hours ago, AbeSurd said:

Re backup - yes that's my understanding. You'd need to open/decrypt the encrypted volume in order to backup its contents

Surely you back up the whole encrypted container? There's not much point going to all the trouble of encrypting your data, just to then leave unencrypted backups lying around?

[KhunBENQ]

7 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

If you encrypt files on Windows 10 PC #1, let's say in a volume on a portable USB drive, using something like Veracrypt, and then later you want to move that drive and use it on a different PC, how's that going to work?

One of the easy questions:

basically you can move/copy the encrypted container to every device where Veracrypt or Veracrypt portable can be installed/run.

Nothing is bound/left to the device where you created/used the container.

The portable version can be run without actually permanently installing. So put it on a USB stick together with the container e.g.

 

BUT to install Veracrypt or run the portable version you need admin access to the device as like other SW installations need.

That's usually not a problem on Windows devices.

 

It might be a problem on some arbitrary 3rd party device.

Like trying to install something on another persons device, in an "internet cafe" or the like.

 

You can even copy the container to an Android smartphone.

There is a simplified app named EDS Lite which can open/read the contents.

That's what I do with a "password/data safe". Just the most critical stuff of 30 MBytes.

 

Looks like there are similar apps for Apple iOs.

But that's uncharted territory for me.

Edited February 21, 2022 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, JayClay said:

Surely you back up the whole encrypted container?

For the moment I also have no better idea. Indeed not possible to do differential backup or the like.

 

You could of course keep a copy of the container on a backup media and then open/mount both containers and do some differential update. Close when done.

I could easily do manually using a compare tool like FreeFileSync.

Whether this could be automated like a scheduled backup?

Don't know. At least it requires manual entry of the password(s).

Edited February 21, 2022 by KhunBENQ

[AbeSurd]

12 hours ago, JayClay said:

Surely you back up the whole encrypted container? There's not much point going to all the trouble of encrypting your data, just to then leave unencrypted backups lying around?

Re desirability of backing up the entire container file. This might depend on how big the file is and how often you want to back it up.

 

Please note I said "I used to use SyncToy to sync the contents to another encrypted volume on another drive."

[bendejo]

23 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

If you encrypt files on Windows 10 PC #1, let's say in a volume on a portable USB drive, using something like Veracrypt, and then later you want to move that drive and use it on a different PC, how's that going to work?

This would be an easy enough experiment to try yourself -- you needn't depend on what someone else posts.  I can tell you that I have opened Truecrypt files and mounted TC partitions I had created on other computers.  Pssst... TC does not recognize its files by the file extension name, it does so by looking at the file, or the partition.  Give the file any extension you like and TC/VC won't care, though if you call it "guestlist.doc" it will confuse Windows, but no matter to TC/VC.

Back when all that silliness with Truecrypt was happening, from which Veracrypt grew out of, I did a bit of experimenting.  Veracrypt will be able to open a TC volume, but TC will not be able to open a VC volume.  I believe that except for a little tweaking in VC they are the same program.  Here again, a little hands-on experimenting will build confidence.  There is nothing worse (computer owner-wise) than not being able to have confidence in your backups.

 

I have the impression that TC/VC volumes and partitions created in WIndows will be accessible in Linux on a PC, and vice-versa, though haven't tried myself.  Maybe not so on other hw architectures, like Mac or Android, maybe someone can report.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 2/21/2022 at 4:25 AM, AbeSurd said:

Having done that I used to use SyncToy to sync the contents to another encrypted volume on another drive. Tedious!

 

I use SyncToy on my Windows 10 PCs to handle my routine backups as well. It's pretty easy to set up an automatic run schedule for ST using Windows that picks what days and times the program will automatically launch and run.

 

However, any volume you want to use with ST would have to first be unlocked and available, e.g., not password protected. If it's encrypted (and not unlocked) or otherwise protected, ST won't be able to access that content.