General Passwords for Files?

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Guest

My main question is, does anybody know of a way to protect CDs and their
content with a password? Such as photos or documents. And is there a way to
password files in general on windows XP?

Thanks heaps to anybody who cn help
Ice
 
Xx said:
My main question is, does anybody know of a way to protect CDs and
their content with a password? Such as photos or documents. And is
there a way to password files in general on windows XP?

Thanks heaps to anybody who cn help
Ice
Click to expand...

You would need to either zip the files and create a password before
burning or use encryption. I don't know if EFS (Windows encryption)
will work on CD's but I believe TrueCrypt will. Here are some links:

http://www.truecrypt.org/
http://tinyurl.com/6l6xx - MS information about EFS
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/encrypt.htm - encryption info
http://www.beginningtoseethelight.org/efsrecovery/ - more encryption
info

To answer the second part of your post:

XP does not use passwords to protect resources. It uses permissions
instead. Here is information to help you with that:

How to disable Simple Sharing and set permissions on a shared folder in
Windows XP (Pro only)
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307874

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308418

By default in XP Home, you can only make files and folders under My
Documents "private". Otherwise, to see the security tab in WinXP Home,
restart in Safe mode and log on with an account that has administrator
privileges. To get into Safe Mode, repeatedly tap the F8 key as the
computer is starting up. This will get you to the menu where you can
choose Safe Mode.

Note that the file system must be NTFS, not FAT32.

Passwording of folders is not supported unless you zip them. When you do
(right click a folder, then "send to > compressed folder") and then open
the zip file, you will find an option under file>"add a password".
Otherwise, use third-party software. Google "password protect folders".

Malke
 
You don't password protect files in XP, you assign permissions.

You cannot password protect individual folders in XP. You restrict access by assigning permissions to drives, folders and files.

To do this, you must be running NTFS as your file system on the drive in question. If your hard disk/partition is not NTFS you will need to convert it. To do this, open a Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

CONVERT X: /FS:NTFS

Where X: is the drive letter you wish to convert. You may also want to see http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm to ensure that you're getting the optimal conversion.

After this step is completed and you've rebooted the computer, if necessary:

XP PRO: In Windows Explorer, go to Tools, Folder Options, View and uncheck Use Simple File Sharing. Now, when you right click on a drive, folder or file (on an NTFS partition) and select Properties, you'll see a Security tab. Here you can assign or deny permissions based on user name or user group membership.

XP Home: By default, you can only make files and folders under My Documents "private". This is done by right clicking a folder or file and selecting Properties, Sharing. To change the permissions on other folders, you need to boot the computer to Safe Mode and log in on the built in Administrator account. In this mode, you'll see the Security tab in Properties, and you can assign permissions based on user name or group membership.

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove Special Permissions for Files and Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308419

HOW TO: Disable Simplified Sharing and Password-Protect a Shared Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307874
 
Thankyou for all of your ideas. I will view the links and check out that
info. Thanks all
Ice
 
wel there is one way to encrypt files in xp. (not the normal xp encryption
option in the properties) i know this because if you don't have winzip
installed and you open a zip file, it will use windows explorer to open it.
if the file in the zip folder is encrypted, it will open a dialog to let you
type in the password. from there, there are also other encryption options
from what i remember. there should be a help topic about it for acual
encryption and not just premissions encryption. once you install winzip or
WinRAR it will be very hard to find a normal encryption feature in xp that
is native to the os. i know its in there because i found it before. if i
find anything more about the file encryption in xp tht uses passwords
instead of that easy to find option in the properties option that is
nativity supported, i will post it.
 
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