How To Hide Your Files In XP hide doc and folders

[harriko 0]

In this tutorial i will show ou how to hide your documents or folders, but you have to remember where it is! ok lets go!

pick a file you want to hide from windows XP, to help you i will hide a file "hidden.doc" in "C:"

open command prompt:
START>RUN>CMD

you might find yourself in your user directory. in the command prompt go into the directory of where your file is going to be hidden.

as my "hidden.doc" is in "C:" i will use "cd.." command to "change directory before" till i get into my C: drive

once your there use the attributes command on the file you are hiding. this is what you put into the command prompt.

attrib +r +a +s +h hidden.doc

replace the hidden.doc with your own file.

hope you find this useful!

[ChronicLoser 0]

...okay, say my file is hidden. Then how do i access it again? And when you say "hidden", is it the same thing as when you right-click>Properties then check the hidden box? Or is this a different type of file hiding? loloops, nevermind. I just tried it, and I have no idea where hidden.doc ran off to, lol. Alright, so how do i access the hidden file?

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0]

lol.. CHronicLoser.. stop before you kill me.. roflmao.

 

Anyways, you can use that attrib command over entire directory contents.. So if anyone's ever trying to find out where the hidden files ran off to - if you have any idea about it's containing directory - go in there and do a:

 

attrib -GetRidOfAllOfThem *.*

 

naah am just kidding.. doing a attrib -h *.* would suffice

 

Btw, your files never really get hidden this way - they just fail to show up on a diectory listing with the dir command or in the explorer file view because of their +h or +s attributes. But if you have the Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders in your Windows Explorer turned to ON, all such files become visible immediately. The same can be achieved by using dir /a command in console.

 

Incidentally since we are taking about dos based attributes, I'd like to mention one little option that can be used with the "dir" command. It goes like:

 

dir /o:n /p

 

Cryptic ?? /o: X - means the ORDER in which you want to files to be displayed. X here can be replaced with anything from

n - for name based alphabetical listing

t - listing where files are grouped according to their type

d - to group files according to date of creation

s - to group them by their sizes

 

The last /p option tells dir to display the files PAGE-BY-PAGE so they don't just scroll off the screen without you being able to see the list completely.

 

If you don't want to specify these options over and over again, everytime you do a dir, then you can include this syntax in your autoexec.bat file.

 

SET DIRCMD = /o:n /p

 

As you can see, this will set an environmental variable that the dir command reads while listing files.

 

All the best

[Ryan1405241476 0]

the best means of hidding a file in XP is keeping it in My Documents, so which other users, unless an administrator, cannot access. The owner screen name's documents can't even be accesses by other admins, along with I think the administrator account, but thats disabled unless you are in safe mode or no other accouts exist, at least in XP home.

[ChronicLoser 0]

lol.. CHronicLoser.. stop before you kill me.. roflmao.

 

Anyways, you can use that attrib command over entire directory contents.. So if anyone's ever trying to find out where the hidden files ran off to - if you have any idea about it's containing directory - go in there and do a:

 

attrib -GetRidOfAllOfThem *.*

 

naah am just kidding.. doing a attrib -h *.* would suffice

 

Btw, your files never really get hidden this way - they just fail to show up on a diectory listing with the dir command or in the explorer file view because of their +h or +s attributes.  But if you have the Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders in your Windows Explorer turned to ON, all such files become visible immediately. The same can be achieved by using dir /a command in console.

 

Incidentally since we are taking about dos based attributes, I'd like to mention one little option that can be used with the "dir" command. It goes like:

 

dir /o:n /p

 

Cryptic ?? /o: X - means the ORDER in which you want to files to be displayed. X here can be replaced with anything from

n - for name based alphabetical listing

t - listing where files are grouped according to their type

d - to group files according to date of creation

s - to group them by their sizes

 

The last /p option tells dir to display the files PAGE-BY-PAGE so they don't just scroll off the screen without you being able to see the list completely.

 

If you don't want to specify these options over and over again, everytime you do a dir, then you can include this syntax in your autoexec.bat file.

 

SET DIRCMD = /o:n /p

 

As you can see, this will set an environmental variable that the dir command reads while listing files.

 

All the best

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hmm...i dunno. I always keep my "hidden" option on...yet I couldn't see it after typing in "attrib +r +a +s +h hidden.doc". Nevertheless "attrib -r -a -s -h hidden.doc" revealed the file back to me. I dunno. I'm somewhat ignorant when it comes to dos. Oh well.

 

Oops, i just realized that I'm not using Windows XP... >_<

[abhishek 0]

Why use command promt while windows allows you to hide files by just entering into the file properties box and checking the hidden attrib.And to restoring can also be done without using command prompt.

[abhiram 0]

Hey, I wrote a tutorial on the same topic not too long ago. There are 2 methods in mine. One of them is this one. Sorry, I didn't know this topic was done before. Here's the post:

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/85769-topic/?findpost=1064316348

m^e: That's a neat idea, but what do you do about it in winxp? I mean, autoexec.bat is 0 bytes long in mine . I don't think winxp uses autoexec.bat.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Hmm, I'll have to play around with that tonight. Not that I have a use for it, but why not? lol

[Abhay 0]

attrib +r +a +s +h hidden.doc

We can easily set three attributes out of the above four attributes by simply right clicking on any folder or file. They are simply

 

+r :Read Only

+a : Archive

+h : hidden

 

and the fourth one "+s " is for system file attribute.

Any file or folder made hidden with this attribute can be made visible by opening

explorer>tools>folder options>view

and then by unchecking on the check box 'Hide Protected Operating System Files' and by showing hidden files simultaneously.

[joe.k 0]

ooooooh... nice i havent tried it yet but i preffer no to.it more easier to hide them from properties page :Pguess what the hell i am gona use this option for anyway :Pand i am kinda a newbie in CMD command

[seec77 0]

This hack seems very dirty and quick to me. This is like renaming a file so as to confuse about its contents. The best method for these kinds of things is built into the Windows user management, as someone else already mentioned. Otherwise, just encrypt your files using a program for that purpose (and there are lots of free ones to do so).

[niran 0]

Hey!! If we set the attribute 's' to a particular file or folder, then it becomes a a System file/folder.

so if you do attrib +s +h file.doc the file will be hidden + system...

 

and you can still view the file without changing the attributes by unchecking the option " Hide Protected Operating System Files (System)" in Tools>folder Options>

 

and If you want to change back the attribute , you just need to run the command attrib -s -h file.doc

Edited January 1, 2007 by Niru (see edit history)

[quinciest 0]

i think that it can used for remove virus i mean a virusbecause sometime virus hide it selfwhy you don't use softwarefind it in google.com

[agriogata 0]

very nice thanks alot is very convenient if your PC is shared :rolleyes:is very fast tooothanks alot is useful!!!

[Ronel 0]

this ain't new...even though the dos way is quite nice!

Here is THE simple way!

1. Right-click on the file/folder you want to be hidden(shh!)
2. Click Properties.
3. At the Properties dialog, you will see a entry "Attributes:"(see picture)
4. You will see there a checkbox hidden....click it!
5. Click OK or Apply.

Easy!