If you have a typical home computer, there’s always the chance of crucial Files or Folders getting accidentally altered or deleted by children or anyone other family member. One way to avoid the possibility of this happening would be to hide Files and Folders on Windows 10 using methods as described below.
Disable Files as well as Folders within Windows 10
The most straightforward method for you to Hide Files as well as Folders within Windows 10 is to access File Properties and designate the selected File as “Hidden” within the attribute section in File Properties.
This simple method to hide Folders and Files within Windows 10 should be good enough to be suitable for Family Computers where the intention is to stop children or any other members of the family from accidentally altering or deleting important folders and files.
Another way to hide Files or Folders on Windows 10 is to make your computer recognize your crucial Files/Folders like System Files, which it automatically conceals.
The other method involves the use of a command prompts to hide or unhide files, making it hard for people with basic computer knowledge to get access to your files.
Hide a single file or folder in Windows 10
Follow these steps to hide each of the Files or Folders within Windows 10
1. Right-click on the File or Folder you want to conceal and select Properties in the menu that opens.
2. In the File Properties window go until the “Attributes” section. Then, select the checkbox next to hidden. Then click Apply (See below for an example).
3. On the “Confirm Attribute Changes” pop-up, choose if you would like to “Apply Changes to this Folder Only” instead of “Apply Changes to the Folder, Subfolders and Files” and then click OK (See below for an example).
The choice you make will determine whether the chosen Folder as well as the Folder and all its subfolders and files will be hidden after you click OK.
Disable Multi Files and folders in Windows 10
Follow the steps listed below for how to Hide Multiple Files and Folders in Windows 10.
1. Just right click upon the Windows Start button and then select the File Explorer option in the menu that opens.
2. In the File Explorer Window choose the Folders or Files you wish to hide. Click the View Tab within the File Explorer top menu bar and then select Hide selected items (see the image below)
3. On the “Confirm Attribute Changes” pop-up Choose whether you wish to “Apply Changes only to one specific Folder” as well as “Apply Changes to the selected Folder subfolders and files” before clicking OK (See below for an example).
Unhide Files as well Folders within Windows 10
If Files as well as Folders become hidden, the files and folders do not show up on File Explorer. However, it is possible to Unhide Files as well as Folders which you previously kept on your computer inaccessible using the instructions listed below.
1. Select the Windows Start button and then click on the File Explorer option in the menu that opens.
2. In the File Explorer Window select the View tab and then click the option “Hidden Items” in the Show/hide toolbox (See the image below).
By selecting the Hidden Items option will reveal the hidden files/folders located in that area. The hidden folders will be shown with icons that are partially transparent, so you are able to clearly differentiate Hidden Files from regular ones (See the image above).
Truely hide folders and files within Windows 10 Using Command Prompt
The methods used to Hide Files as well as Folders on Windows 10 as described above are only appropriate to use on Home and Family Computers, where no one is trying to track your files.
To fully Hide Files and Folders in Windows 10, you can utilize a variety of Third Party Tools as available on the market, or use an alternative in Windows 10.
The solution is to configure your Windows 10 computer to treat the files/folders you wish to hide to be System Files. Once you have done this, Windows Operating System will automatically block these files, like it does with others System Files.
1. Right-click on Windows Start button, then select the Command Prompt Admin option in the menu that pops up.
2. In the command prompt window you can type attrib +h + S followed by the File Path and hit the Enter key on your computer.
In the above image, a File named as “Family” is located on the desktop and its File Path can be written as C:\users\funaccount\desktop\family.
Hence, in the command prompt window, we are typing the attribute command as attrib +h +s c:\users\funaccount\desktop\family. These letter “h” as well as “s” within the attribute command tell your computer to consider the selected File/Folder in a hidden state and to treat it as an System File.
3. Type the Attribute command according to the requirements in your instance (depending where your file is located) and then press Enter Key. Enter Key on the keyboard on your computer.
When the command is executed, the File or Folder mentioned by the “Attrib” Command will be considered the System File by your computer and will be hidden.
It is important to Be sure to write down the path of the hidden files. You will need this to de-hide the file.
Unhide Folders and Files on Windows 10 Using Command Prompt
It is possible to make Hidden Files visible again by changing the “+” sign with “+” within”attrib”, the “attrib” command and then running it on your computer.
1. Right-click on Windows Start button, and then select the Command Prompt Admin option in the menu that pops up.
2. In the command prompt window, type attrib -s -h C:\Users\funaccount\Desktop\Family and hit the Enter Key on the keyboard of your computer.
After the command has been completed, you will be able to discover the hidden files/folders appearing in your computer.
