How To Make Hidden And Unsearchable Folders in Windows XP and Vista

In one of our previous posts we showed you how to create an ultra hidden folder in Windows within a couple of minutes, using the ALT+0160 technique. However, there were generally two downsides to this trick. First was that you can only hide the folder on the desktop, the reason behind it was that users can easily change the background color of the desktop in order to merge with the folders surrounding, but it was almost impossible to hide a folder in any directory or folder.

Secondly, the hidden folder was still search-able and any one who was looking for that folder could easily type the folder name in Windows Search box and steal any confidential stuff from within it. Certainly no one wants this to ever happen. Luckily, there is another more powerful technique that not only works within the directory or folders, but its also un-searchable. If you want to provide maximum security to your confidential files and folders, read on…

Create Hidden and Unsearchable Folder in Windows

Step #1. Go to Start->Run or use WindowsKey+R keys combination,

Step #2. Open Command Prompt by typing cmd

Step #3. Inside the window go to that folder that you wish to hide. In our case for instance, we’ll be hiding a folder name Private that is residing in Drive E, inside another folder named DCIM. The final path would be, E:DCIM

Notice the commands we have used to reach the destination of that folder,

Step #4. Once you are there, type in the following command in DOS,

attrib +s +h MyFolder

where attrib stands for ‘attribute’, +h means ‘hide folder‘ while +s means ‘unsearchable‘

For example, we’ll replace MyFolder with Private, since our folder name is Private, and hit Enter. Reference screen-shot above,

Now if you go to that path where the target folder was residing, you no longer will see that folder. Try searching this as well and surprising it won’t appear in the search results. Your friends or clients won’t even know the folder ever existed!

You can easily make this folder visible and searchable again, simply repeat the process up till Step #3, then use the following command to unhide the folder,

attrib -s -h MyFolder

where -h means ‘Unhide folder‘ while -s means ‘Make the folder searchable‘. Notice we have used minus (-) sign instead of plus (+) to un-hide the folder,

Tip: If the folder that you want to hide contains a space, simply enclose the folder name in double quotes, as shown below.

Have you tried any of these methods? Which method do you prefer the most and why?