Create a Ghost Folder in XP & Vista

Posted on June 5th, 2007 by Jason

There are endless ways to secure data stored on your PC but here is a really simple little trick that hides a folder and its contents by making it completely invisible. It works best on sub folders (i.e. folders within a folder). To make a folder vanish you need to do two things, give it a name using a non-printing/displaying character then replace the standard folder icon with a blank one.

Start by opening Windows Explorer or My Computer, right click on the folder icon you want to hide and select rename. Press the Numlock key and press Alt + 0160 then OK and the name box should disappear. Next, right-click on the folder icon and select Properties, then the Customize tab then the Change Icon button at the bottom. You will find the blank icons about one click to the right on the bottom scroll bar; they are the gaps between the normal icons. Select one then click OK. Your folder should now have disappeared so take care you dont forget it where it is. A ghost image or flicking hyphen will appear when you hover your mouse over where the icon used to be and you can rename or delete it by right-clicking on it.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Windows Vista, Windows XP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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18 Responses to “Create a Ghost Folder in XP & Vista”

  1. vijay on 07 Jun 2007 at 2:06 pm #

    i wud suggest hide it in system folders i.e go to folder options,go to view tab, untick the option “hide protected operating system files”, then OK,after that choose any system file in “C:\” drive store ur folders in it and the repeat the above procedure tick the option again ….
    note that u dont delete any of the system files then u may not be able to load ur os properly

  2. Amol Tarte on 09 Jun 2007 at 3:26 am #

    Though this trick hides the folder, its very simple to find it out again.
    Open Windows Explorer and type ALT + 0160, it will automatically take you to that folder.

  3. Robert on 12 Jun 2007 at 4:27 am #

    I think it would be more effective if you put the folder on a seperate disk/partition and just mounted the disk/partition when needed. This is a good way to keep computer illiterates from accessing your files, but any more experienced user can find it fairly easy by, for example, doing a sort on names and seeing an empty space where there should be a folder.

    Best way for keeping people out of your files is using permissions. Haven’t found that on a Windows box yet though.

  4. Kajla on 15 Jun 2007 at 3:33 am #

    It’s good trick. Bravo.

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  6. vasudevan on 06 Jul 2007 at 6:08 am #

    i tried.but its not working..please..give ideas.

  7. onwWhoKnows on 07 Jul 2007 at 5:18 am #

    simple, use a program that’s meant for hiding folders.
    Universal Shield is the best and does an amazing job.

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  16. tab_da_man on 19 Jan 2009 at 3:55 pm #

    only people stupid enough to try this would be unable to find the files.

  17. caillou on 26 Feb 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    i saw a video on youtube telling you how to put custom songs on guitar hero 3. It said to download a ghost folder

  18. elie on 23 Sep 2009 at 8:28 am #

    10x it is Amazing like magic

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