Lock Folders in Windows

Posted by Martin in Operating Systems, Windows  Tags: , , ,

5

Feb



Windows has no obvious method to lock folders, even administrators have no obvious way of locking folders. Locking folders could be important if you want to hide certain files or folders to prevent someone else from seeing them or altering the contents. You never know what your children could do until they do, so better lock the important folders.

Locking folders can be easily done with just two batch files that protects the contents. This is no fool proof method of course and everyone who is computer savy is able to counter this. You need to create two textfiles, add one line of code to each and save them as .bat files to make them executable.

Add the following line to the first text file ren xxxx xxxx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} .Replace xxxx with the folder or drive name and save the file with the extension .bat, name it protect.bat for instance.

Now add the following line to the second text file and rename it unlock.bat. ren xxxx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} xxxx. Replace xxxx again with the orginal name of the folder.

To lock a folder just click on protect.bat, to unlock it again click unlock.bat

source: tech-buzz


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9 Users Commented In This Post

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Tobey says:

Or you can just restrict access to those folders. But that’s less effective of course.

Luke says:

How about:

cacls FOLDER /R USER

This will prevent USER from ever accessing FOLDER. Alternatively you can do:

cacls FOLDER /G Administrator:F

This will overwrite the default settings and make Administrator the only user allowed to touch it.

Martin says:

This is pretty nice Luke, where did you find the information ?

Luke says:

I think I found this when I was trying to set up private folders on a WinXP Home box. The home edition does not have the permissions tab in the file properties dialog, so the only way you can set file permissions for individual users is via cacls.

Not sure where I found it exactly, but one of the best websites that explain all the windows command line commands is http://www.ss64.com/nt/

They cover all the build in stuff, as well as a lot of the stuff that comes in different Microsoft administrator kits and etc.

Shyborg says:

Hey! LUKE.. How can we undo the process???? i cant even access to my folder. wtf..

Shyborg says:

i used this command line “cacls FOLDER /G Administrator:F” then it locked my whole folder and now how should i Unlock it? I dont have any idea!

Martin says:

not sure but it could be cacls Folder /P User:F

Luke says:

Shyborg, you would have to restore privledges for yourself - for example:

cacls FOLDER /E /G Shyborg:F

The /E switch means that you are editing the privs - not replacing them. If you are a part of a domain you may need to do:

cacls FOLDER /E /G DOMAIN\Shyborg:F

Best way to do this is to look at another folder’s permissions and then replicate them on tour secret folder:

cacls OTHER_FOLDER

See which users have what permisions and just restore them using separate cacls commands. Don’t forget to use /E every time.

Good documentation of cacls is here: http://www.ss64.com/nt/cacls.html

Ranjith says:

Nice stuff, thanx

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