Member Avatar for derekn

I would like to know how to password protect files under my profile with Win XP on another hard drive. Currently can only do it on the C drive where windows is installed.

Thanks,
Derek

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by nanosani

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Brief specialist note tied to the replies from , , and :

There are two different protections being discussed: access control (NTFS permissions) and encryption. NTFS permissions are fine for keeping other user accounts on the same Windows install out of a folder, but they do not protect the data if the drive is removed and attached to another machine or if an administrator takes ownership. For protection that “travels with” the disk, encryption is required.

On a machine running Windows XP Professional (not XP Home), the built-in Encrypting File System (EFS) is the simplest per-account encryption option. EFS ties encrypted files to the user’s certificate, so copying the files to another PC will not make them readable without the private key. After enabling EFS on a file or folder, immediately export and securely store the EFS certificate/private key (use the Certificates tool or the export wizard to create a password-protected .pfx). Losing that key equals permanent loss of the encrypted data, so a verified backup of the key is essential.

If EFS is not available or cross-platform portability is required, use an AES-based encrypted archive or an encrypted container (stronger than legacy zip passwords). Keep at least one tested backup of both the encrypted data and any keys/passwords, and avoid relying on a single copy. For multi-drive setups like mentioned, encrypt just the folders with sensitive files to reduce management overhead. In domain environments, recovery agents can be configured centrally; in home setups, the safest recovery is a securely stored export of the user’s encryption key.

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Member Avatar for webbo

i have also thought of doing this at work and at home as my computer at home has 4 hard drives, i havent found a way of doing it through windows xp yet, but i will try to search for a third party program, if i have any luck i'll let you know. but try searching yourself, you my have better luck then me
cheers
:cheesy:

Member Avatar for Thong_Ispector

Depending on what types of files you are trying to protect you can just zip them and use a password for the zip.

You can even make them executeable with a password if you want.

Member Avatar for nanosani

If you have an ntfs partition then you can easily change its permissions to your favour.

Member Avatar for webbo

didn't think of that i have NTFS set up whats the procedure?

Member Avatar for nanosani

Just Right click the folder you want to protect from other users ... go to properties and then security tab --> here you'll have a list of users and their capabilities (whether they can read , write or they have full read/write permissions) ..

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