[ZachR]

Alright, have you ever wanted to make a invisible folder, that can only be accessed if you know where to find it! Well then your in the right place! This is a fairly simple task, just have to make sure you don't loose the folder(You'll know what I mean in a minute).

Ok, so just go to the good 'ol Windows Desktop.

Create a new folder.


For the folder name, we are going to use an ALT code. Since Windows does not allow you to make folders or any file of that matter with just a space as the name, we are going to use the ALT code for a space! And yes, this works!

When you are typing the folder's new name, type this in(Make sure your NUM-Lock is on!) ALT 255(On the Number Pad).
Make sure to be holding the ALT key with typing the number on the number pad!! Release the ALT key, and you should see this:



If you see this, then all should be A-Ok! If you don't, then retry it, this should work, all the times I have done it, it worked!

Now, Once the folder name is set to basically nothing , We need to get rid of that ugly little icon!!

To do so, right click on the newly created folder, and click Properties.
You should see a tab that says 'Customize', Click on that!



Now at the bottom you should see a button that says 'Change Icon', Click that!

A Window should pop-up with a lot of different icons (Make sure you are looking for icons in this file: '%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll').

Scroll to the right a bit (About 9 clicks on the scroll bar right arrow). You should see like 4 blank spaces. These would be the icons that we will be using!

Choose a blank one, they are all basically the same.



Now, Click OK, Then Apply and OK on the other window.

You should now see something like this:



BAM! You know have a invisible folder! Put what ever you please in there! (To open it just select it, and press Enter).

Just be sure not to loose it.

NOTE:
If you are in CMD (Command Prompt), you have to type the FULL PATH to change directory to that folder!

[RodgerB]

It's cool, I knew it before the tutorial, but there are a many ways of finding them if you know they are there.

Right-Click the desktop, in Vista it is Sort By > Name and your icons are sorted. The odd one will be the 'hidden' folder. This also works in previous versions of Windows.

Ctrl + A will also reveal them. But good job documenting it, it's always handy to know.

[ZachR]

RodgerB, on 20 Jun, 2008 - 01:50 AM, said:

It's cool, I knew it before the tutorial, but there are a many ways of finding them if you know they are there.

Right-Click the desktop, in Vista it is Sort By > Name and your icons are sorted. The odd one will be the 'hidden' folder. This also works in previous versions of Windows.

Ctrl + A will also reveal them. But good job documenting it, it's always handy to know.

Yeah thats the only bad thing about this.

Lol, hide it in your system32 folder. I don't think any one would bother looking there.

Thanks by the way.

[gbertoli3]

That is cool but I don't think that it will work on laptops. Because I tried on my laptop and it wouldn't let me, although I do have Windows Vista so maybe that's the problem.

But it is still cool!

[ZachR]

It works on my laptop running vista. Also, You have to make sure you are typing the ALT code number using the number pad. You may have to use the Function(fn) key. Not sure though.

[jacobjordan]

And you can make it double secure by setting the folder's attributes to hidden. Cool trick

By the way, all the Alt+255 is doing is setting the folder's name to the ascii char code 255, which can't be displayed like a normal char, but looks like a y with 2 dots over it.

This post has been edited by jacobjordan: 05 July 2008 - 10:19 AM

[ZachR]

jacobjordan, on 5 Jul, 2008 - 10:14 AM, said:

And you can make it double secure by setting the folder's attributes to hidden. Cool trick

By the way, all the Alt+255 is doing is setting the folder's name to the ascii char code 255, which can't be displayed like a normal char, but looks like a y with 2 dots over it.

Yep, Windows Explorer doesn't know what to put there, so it uses a space. xD

[danny_kay1710]

If you replace the code 255 with 0160 (yes you need the zero) it also works and never displays anything but a space even in unicode apps as far as i know.

[sastre06]

Whoah,

[no2pencil]

The real way to hide a file or folder on your system is to hook the Windows API, & scan for that file or folder name. Then you filter that message out, so even in explorer.exe, (or any other file/folder view) it isn't shown.

But this works for a five minute fix.

[firebolt]

{Fixed}

This post has been edited by firebolt: 21 April 2009 - 02:06 AM

[Pwn]

I did this on XP, with a blue background. It is evident where the folder is, but if somebody doesn't know then they won't try to open it. I just couldn't get it to match the desktop color.

[firebolt]

Well, in Vista, its invisible fully. Until you log on again, it displays a black box where the folder is.

[cabinet]

How would anyone move to that directory when a user is in cmd prompt. Their is no name and how would DOS respond.

[Robin19]

The name of the folder is " " which can be typed by holding Alt and pressing 2-5-5. Windows recognizes it as a character. So all you have to do is do the same thing in the command prompt and DOS should also understand the character. It will also display the " ".

Note:Those are not spaces I wrote. Those are the actual character codes.