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If I hadn’t selected it, you would think that it wasn’t there at all. So if you’re ready to take the extra mile to make your files and folders private, then let’s get into it. I’ve tested this method on a lot of Windows operating systems and they’ve all worked for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 10. So whatever version you have, this is how to create an invisible folder on Windows.
Step 1: Create a New Folder
This is pretty self explanatory. But if you already have a folder that you want to hide, then you can use that instead. To create a New Folder, just simply right click on your desktop and click on New Folder. Easy as that.
Once you have your selected folder, we can start making it invisible.
Step 2: Hide the Folder Icon
For this step, you’ll need to follow the instructions carefully. Not following the instructions will result in a folder with a black icon rather than being invisible. Having a folder with a black icon is a dead giveaway that there are things hidden there – and you wouldn’t want someone checking the folder now, would you?
1. Right Click on the Folder you want to hide.
2. Select Properties. The properties Window should appear.
3. On the top tabs, click on Customize. This is where we will see the options to change the icon.
4. If you check the current folder icon, it’s a generic folder icon. Click on Change Icon so we can make it invisible.
5. The icon selection window should pop up.
6. Here you can select almost any icon if you want to. However, you might experience that there is just one icon or an error might pop up. If that happens, paste in the text box %SystemRoot%/System32/SHELL32.dll
7. Once all of the default icons have shown up on the window, it’s time to look for the invisible icon. You need to select this invisible icon in particular (all the other icons make the folder have a black square icon).
8. Click on OK to change the icon, then Click on OK on the properties to save your changes.
9. You might not see the changes straight away, so just simply right click then click Refresh on your Desktop. Alternatively, you can simply hit F5 as a shortcut to refresh your screen.
10. The folder should now have an invisible icon.
However, we’re still not done yet!
Step 3: Change the Folder Name
You might notice that it still has a folder name. Though it looks cool that the icon is gone, if you’re seriously trying to hide this folder completely, we’re not finished yet. Changing the file name is a piece of cake.
1. Right-click on the folder.
2. Click on Rename
3. Then paste a hidden character (you can’t just use spacebar):
If you have a keyboard with a Num Pad, just do the keyboard combination Alt+0160 or Alt+255. Hold the Alt button and start typing the numbers one at a time. Either of the two codes should work.
If your keyboard doesn’t have a Num Pad, then Copy the blank in between the quote marks – " ". Just Simply paste the blank character into the folder and that would be it.
4. Done!
If everything went well, you should have something like this:
It’s completely invisible.
Final Words
It’s awesome that you can make invisible folders with just three easy steps but there are caveats. If you press CTRL+A on the Desktop, it will select all files and folders, including the invisible one. Another issue is that if you open the File Explorer and go to Desktop, you’ll still see the blank icon.
If you want to really secure the files in the invisible folder, you might want to also change the properties to hidden. Have fun hiding your folders!
