If you want to keep certain files and folders out of people’s sight, it’s possible to hide those items on your Windows 11 PC. You have both built-in and third-party methods to do that, and I’ll show you both.
Use File Explorer’s “Hidden” Option
An easy way to hide files and folders without using third-party tools is by using File Explorer. You can utilize this file manager’s “Hidden” option that hides the selected items from the view. However, note that this method isn’t foolproof. If someone enables the viewing of hidden items, they can see your hidden files and folders.
That said, to use this method, launch File Explorer (press Windows+E) and find the file or folder to hide. Right-click the file or folder and select “Properties.”
On the Properties window, open the “General” tab if you aren’t already there. In the Attributes section, enable the “Hidden” option. Then, select “Apply” followed by “OK.”
Your chosen item is now hidden. If you’ve hidden a folder, all the files and subfolders in that folder are also hidden.
To view or unhide your hidden file or folder, make File Explorer show hidden items. To do that, open File Explorer, click the three dots at the top, and choose “Options.” Access the “View” tab, turn on the “Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives” option, and choose “Apply” followed by “OK.”
You’ll now see your hidden items. To unhide an item so it’s always visible, right-click the item and choose “Properties.” Disable the “Hidden” option and select “Apply” followed by “OK.”
Utilize Command Prompt
If you like running commands, use a command in Command Prompt to hide your files and folders. To do that, open Windows Search (press Windows+S), type Command Prompt, and select “Run as Administrator.” Choose “Yes” in the User Account Control prompt.
In Command Prompt, type the following command. Replace “PATH” with the full path to the folder where the file or folder you want to hide is located. Then, press Enter.
cd PATH
To hide a file, type the following command. Replace “FileName.ext” with the name and the extension of the file. Then, press Enter.
attrib +h "FileName.ext"
To hide a folder, type the following command. Replace “FolderName” with the name of the folder to hide. Then, press Enter.
attrib +h "FolderName"
The “h” parameter in this command applies the Hidden attribute to the specified file or folder, making that item invisible.
In the future, to unhide a file, use the following command. Make sure to replace “FileName.ext” with the name and the extension of the file to unhide.
attrib -h "FileName.ext"
To unhide a folder, run the following command replacing “FolderName” with the name of the folder to unhide.
attrib -h "FolderName"
This command removes the Hidden attribute from the specified file or folder, making that item visible.
Password Protect Your Files or Folders
Another way to keep your items out of people’s reach is by password-protecting them. When you do this, your items are still visible, but people have to enter the correct password before they can access those items. You do this by making a password-protected archive from your files and folders.
Windows 11 doesn’t offer a built-in option to add password protection to archives, so you’ll have to use a third-party option. Free apps like 7-Zip and WinRAR help you do the task. I’ll show you how to use the former one.
Launch the 7-Zip site and download and install the app on your PC. Restart your Windows 11 system after installing the app. Then, launch File Explorer (press Windows+E) and find the file or folder to password-protect.
Right-click that file or folder and select Show More Options > 7-Zip > Add to Archive.
On the Add to Archive window, select the “Enter Password” field and type the password you want to use. Choose the “Reenter Password” field and re-type the same password. Optionally, configure other options.
Then, at the bottom, click “OK” to start creating a password-protected archive.
When the archive is created, double-click it to check if it’s password-protected. You can now delete the original files or folders so people can’t access them. Right-click those original files or folders and then click the trash can icon. You can press and hold the Shift key to select multiple files for deletion to save yourself a bit of time.
Choose “Yes” in the prompt so the items are deleted and not just moved to the Recycle Bin.
Note that 7-Zip doesn’t allow you to add files after you’ve created an encrypted archive. Therefore, make sure to add all the files you want to protect in one go. One way to do this is to bring all your files in one folder and then add them to an archive.
Using a Free Third-Party App to Hide Files
You also have the option to use free third-party apps to hide files and folders on your system. One of these is Wise Folder Hider, which allows you to hide items even in its free version (it has a paid version as well).
To use it, access the Wise Folder Hider site and download and install the app on your PC. Launch the app and create the login password that you’ll use to unhide items. Then, to hide a file, click “Hide File.” To hide a folder, click “Hide Folder.”
Navigate to the directory where the file or the folder you want to hide is located, then select that item.
Your chosen file or folder is now hidden. You won’t see it in File Explorer anymore.
To unhide a hidden file or folder, launch the Wise Folder Hider app. Next to the item you want to unhide, click the “Operation” drop-down menu and choose “Unhide.”
Without any prompts, the app will immediately make the selected items visible.
And that’s how you protect your files and folders from prying eyes on your Windows 11 PC. You also have the option to hide specific folders from the Windows Search results if you’d like to do that.
