make folder private?

[chal7ds]

Hey All,

A little while ago, I was trying to figure out how to lock a folder on my PC for privacy, so that only I could view it.

I found xp's feature under the folder's properties>sharing>make private

the only problem is, for some reason, my 'make private' option box is 'greyed out', as if it's disabled for some reason.

Does anyone know why? How do I activate this feature so I can make my folder private?

(i have windows, xp, sp2)

[sr71000]

is it in a folder that was made private.....cus maybe it's already set up as private.

[ShuckyD]

when you make a folder private, does it then ask for a password to open it or how does it work?

[chal7ds]

possibly..but that makes me think of something...

how is this feature going to stop another person who's not me, who gets on my computer and double clicks my folders? Cause if I double-click my folders, i can get in no problem, so someone else will too...it's not like it pops up a password box or something...

i don't get this...

[ShuckyD]

ive never used it, but would be interested if it actually asks for a password to access certain folders. I just dont see the point, much like you if it doesnt ask for a password.

[icantwinn]

only way to make a folder private is to have a password set on your user account which means anyone that has the password toy our account can see it otherwise they cant. i try'd the same thing about a week ago and the way i solved my problem was activating the guest account and password protecting mine

[meese]

Read this about private folders: http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q307286

how is this feature going to stop another person who's not me, who gets on my computer and double clicks my folders? Cause if I double-click my folders, i can get in no problem, so someone else will too...it's not like it pops up a password box or something...

Do you use XP Home or Pro?

Is your computer setup for automatic logon or are you asked for a username and password?

[chal7ds]

I got Pro, but I'm set up for automatic login...how do i change it so that i'm asked for a password?

[icantwinn]

start/control panel/user accounts/change account then select the account you want to change then click create password

[meese]

If you have XP Pro and are using an NTFS partition, than you can modify the permissions of any file or folder regardless of where it is located on the hard drive. Turn off simple file sharing if it is on.

[shrek1]

start/control panel/user accounts/change account then select the account you want to change then click create password

good

[chal7ds]

ok..i changed my user account so that it has a password when i start up the computer, but this still sucks, because sometimes i leave my computer to go out with friends or just chill at the bar, and my roommates get on the computer when it's left on (and i don't wanna shut down everytime because i'm not gone that long) and what's to stop my roommates from accessing my private folder when my station is left on?

[silvest]

just log out of your account.
they can use ur comp by logging in as a 'guest'

[icantwinn]

have it set up to where when your screen saver comes on and then when it goes off have it set to resume to welcome screen which would make it to where they would have to have ur password to access your account. just activate the guest account so that they can use that. to do this go to start/control panel/user account then click change account select the guest account and then enable it

and to turn on rusume to welcome screen right click on ur desktop/properties/screen saver then check the box next to the wait time that says on resume password protect...and just the time it takes to go to it for whatever length of time fits you i use 5 mins personally but thats ur own little thing you gotta set

[vass0922]

you'd have to re-enable the guest account btw.

You could also create a seperate account for your roommates

[chal7ds]

that's cool...

but, it still kinda annoys me a lil' bit that windows doesn't have a password protected folder feature yet...arrghh..