How to hide files and folders on Windows 10

No matter what kind of content you keep on your computer, you’ll always find reasons to hide certain files and folders. Perhaps you have important documents and videos that you want to keep under wraps, or you simply want to prevent users from accidentally deleting certain files if you’re sharing your PC with other people.

For whatever the reason it might be, on Windows 10, you can quickly hide a file or folder in two different ways, including using File Explorer or using the attrib command using Command Prompt.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the easy steps to hide a file and folder on your computer. In addition, you’ll learn the steps to access those hidden items as needed.

How to hide files and folders using File Explorer

The easiest way to keep content hidden is using File Explorer.

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the file or folder you want to hide.

Right-click the item and click on Properties.

Click Apply.

Click OK.

Click OK again to complete the task.

Once you’ve completed the steps, the hidden items will not be visible anymore, because by default Windows 10 doesn’t show hidden files.

If you want to access your hidden items you’ll have to type the complete path to the hidden folder or file you want to open and press Enter. For example: C:\Users\admin\Desktop\Files\Secret Files\Great Secret.txt.

Or you can open File Explorer, click on the View tab and make sure to check the Hidden items option. Then you can browse your hidden items as you would normally do with other content.

At any time, you can make the files and folders visible again by using the same steps mentioned above, but this time on step 4 make sure to clear the Hidden option.

How to hide files and folders using Command Prompt

Alternatively, you can also use Command Prompt to hide files and folders on your computer.

1. Open Start.
2. Do a search for Command Prompt and click the result.

Type the following command to navigate to the items you want to hide and press Enter:

In the command replace the path after cd with the path to your file or folder.

Type the following command to hide a folder or file and press Enter:

attrib +h «Secret Files»

In the command replace «Secret Files» with the name of your folder or file. Quotation marks are only necessary when there are spaces in the name.

If you’re trying to hide a folder with files and subfolders, which you also want to keep hidden, then you’ll need to use these steps as well.

While in Command Prompt type the following command to navigate inside the hidden folder and press Enter:

cd «Secret Files»

In the command replace «Secret Files» with the name of your hidden folder.

Type the following command to hide all files and folders inside the hidden folder and press Enter:

After completing the steps, the items with the hidden attribute will no longer be visible.

Making hidden files and folders visible again

If you change your mind, you can use the following steps to remove the hidden attribute for files and folders.

1. Open Start.
2. Do a search for Command Prompt and click the result.

Type the following command to navigate to the hidden items location and press Enter:

In the command replace the path after cd with the path to your file or folder.

Type the following command to make the items visible again and press Enter:

attrib -h «Secret Files»

In the command replace «Secret Files» with the name of your folder or file. Quotation marks are only necessary when there are spaces in the name.

In the case you also set the hidden attribute for files and subfolders inside of a folder, then do the following to remove the attribute.

While in Command Prompt type the following command to navigate inside the hidden folder and press Enter:

cd «Secret Files»

In the command replace «Secret Files» with the name of your hidden folder.

Type the following command to remove the hidden attribute from all files and folders inside the folder and press Enter:

Which method do you prefer to hide files and folders on Windows 10? Tell us in the comments below.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers on Windows 10, you can visit the following resources:

Halo: MCC’s live service elements make it better, not worse

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is more popular than ever, but some fans don’t agree with the live service approach 343 Industries has taken with it. Here’s why those elements are, at the end of the day, great for the game and for Halo overall.

Microsoft’s Surface Duo is not ‘failing up’

Microsoft announced this week that it was expanding Surface Duo availability to nine new commercial markets. While Surface Duo is undoubtedly a work in progress, this is not a sign of a disaster. It’s also doesn’t mean that Surface Duo is selling a ton either. Instead, the reason for the expansion is a lot more straightforward.

Here’s what you can do if Windows 10 update KB5001330 is causing issues

In this guide, we’ll show you the steps to get rid of the update KB5001330 to fix profile, gaming, and BSoD problems with the Windows 10 October 2020 Update and May 2020 Update.

These are the best PC sticks when you’re on the move

Instant computer — just add a screen. That’s the general idea behind the ultra-portable PC, but it can be hard to know which one you want. Relax, we have you covered!

How to remove the Folders from This PC in Windows 10

Microsoft renamed My Computer to Computer and then to This PC in Windows 8.1. It followed the same in Windows 10. Along with this name change, Microsoft introduced the display of 6 folders namely Documents, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, Music, and Desktop in This PC in both Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.

Those who did not want to display these folders found a way to hide these folders from This PC in Windows 8.1. This procedure will not work in Windows 10, as things are a bit different.

Remove the Folders from This PC in Windows 10

Even though you know how to show or hide folders from This PC in Windows 8.1, the same way is not possible in Windows 10 as Microsoft has changed Registry Keys a bit in Windows 10. But, do not worry. In this tutorial, I will let you know how to remove the six personal folders from This PC in Windows 10.

TIP: To do this with a click, use our Ultimate Windows Tweaker. You will see the setting in Customization > This PC > Customize inbuilt folders.

In Windows 10 Microsoft is maintaining a string ThisPCPolicy with a value of Show or Hide based on which folder is shown or hidden in This PC. If you set the ThisPCPolicy value to show, then that particular folder is shown in This PC, and if you set that value to Hide, then that folder is hidden from “This PC” in Windows 10.

Follow These Steps to show or hide folders from This PC in Windows 10

Press WIN+R key and open the RUN Dialog box and type “regedit” and hit enter. It opens the Registry Editor.

Next, we need to go to the following keys one after the other and need to change the value of ThisPCPolicy to Hide to hide that particular folder from “This PC” window in Windows 10.

Documents Folder:

Pictures Folder:

Videos Folder:

Downloads Folder:

Music Folder:

Desktop Folder:

As an example, let me show it for Pictures Folders and hide it from “This PC” window.

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the key specified and change the value of ThisPCPolicy to Hide.

Now, close the Registry Editor and open the “This PC” folder. You could see that Pictures folder from “This PC” window has been removed.

To get back the Pictures folder back, go the respective key and change the value of ThisPCPolicy to Show and you could see the Pictures folder again.

In this way, you need to change the value of ThisPCPolicy to Hide for all the six keys to hide them from the This PC window.

Note: All the keys mentioned above have the ThisPCPolicy string except for this key which is related to the Desktop folder-

For this, you need to create the string ThisPCPolicy for the desktop key and change its value to Hide.

PS: You can also remove the 3D Objects folder from This PC in Windows 10.

Date: December 23, 2019 Tags: Customize, Folder

Related Posts

Windows cannot access Shared Folder or Drive in Windows 10

How to create a Folder Tree in Windows 10?

How to enable Wallpaper Slideshow in Windows 10

[email protected]

Sridhar is a Software Engineer who loves to stay updated with developments in the world of technology. He is fond of writing everything related to Internet, Computers and Mobile and Desktop Operating Systems.