It is easy to hide files on USB or external hard drive. In this article, I am showing you how to hide files on USB and external hard drive with free software. When you don’t mind spending little money, you can use premium software Lock My Folders which can lock and hide your folders or files from your computer or external drives. Don’t want to spend money, continue reading this article.
It is a must to use software to hide files in external devices. You can hide files by using the windows hide option. You can not see that file in your system. But you can see the same file in another system, in which the view folder and files option set to “view hidden files”.
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How to Hide files on USB with WinMend
Video Tutorial: Hide & Unhide files on USB with WinMend
Learn how to hide important files on your USB with this video tutorial. If you prefer image steps rather than video, no problem. Just skip the video and follow the tutorial after the video.
- Connect your USB or external hard drive to the computer.
- Download WinMend folder hidden software. You will get an exe file.
- Run the file. Select language.
- Click “next” in the next window.
- Check “I accept the agreement” in the “License Agreement” window. Click “Next”. You will see the below figure.

- Click on “Browse” and select your USB or external drive(It is a must to install the software in USB).
- Click “Ok”. Click “Next”. Click “Next”. Click “Next”.
- Click “Install”.
- Click “Finish”. If you have selected the “Launch WinMend” option, it will launch the software. Otherwise, click on the WinMend icon created on the desktop. If you don’t have the desktop icon, you can launch software from your USB.
- Open USB. You must see a folder with the name “Folder Hidden”.
- Open the “Folder Hidden” folder.
- Click on the “FolderHidden.exe” file. It will ask you to enter the password.

Enter the password and confirm the password. Click “Ok”. You will see below screenshot.

Click on “Hide Folder” in the right menu. You will see a window to browse for computer folders.

- Select your USB.
- Select your folder inside USB.
- Click “Ok”. Now you will see a folder name and it’s status as “Hidden” shows that in the below screenshot. You can close this window.

Just open your USB and check. You don’t find your folder. It is hidden now. Even if you place this pen drive in any other system, you don’t see that folder.
If you want to unhide follow the below procedure. You can do this procedure from any computer. Because software is inside USB.
Procedure to Un-Hide files on USB with WinMend
- Insert the pen drive to any computer.
- Open your pen drive.
- Open “Folder Hidden” folder.
- Open “FolderHidden.exe”. It will ask you to enter the password.

- Enter the password which is created in the above procedure.
- Click “Ok”. You will see below screen.

- Check the rectangular box left to the folder.
- Click “UnHide” on the right menu. Now you can see folder status changing to “Visible”. Close the window. You can use your folder now.
you should not forget the password. If you forgot the password, you will have to pay to WinMend to recover the password.
Conclusion:
Always free software has some flaws. When you are serious about the security of your files, I recommend you to use Lock My Folders software. It uses military-grade encryption to password protect your folders and files. You can lock or hide any file from your Windows PC or USB. No one can uninstall this software without your password.
Thanks for reading my article about how to hide files on USB. If you like it, do me a favor by sharing it with your friends. If you know any other method, do share in the comment section and follow WhatVwant on Facebook and Twitter for more tips. Subscribe to whatVwant channel on YouTube for regular updates.
( reviews)
The latest version as of today, July 31, 2018, the program lists the wrong version of 2.30.instead of the correct 2.4.0.
One very important and useful feature is missing from this utility and that is that it lacks to add a menu feature in Windows Explorer so you can hide/unhide your files and folders much faster and easier.
madam, my folder should not be copied, deleted from USB but, at the same time it should be accessed. is it possible? is there any software to serve my purpose?
There is no security if i uninstall or delete the program. It does not ask any password to uninstall or delete the program. It just directly gets uninstall. Pl. guide.
No need to install software. You can run software from USB it self in any computer. Since it is a free software you can not expect more options. If you need more, you can go for securestix USB folder lock software. It is a premium software.
i have jst tried it!! but this thing doen’t accept unhide my folder!! what to do?
When you hide folder with this software, you can see un hide option in right side after opening software. If your folder already hidden, may be because of virus of some other reason, you need to follow procedure given in below article.
https://www.whatvwant.com/remove-hidden-attribute-to-unhide-folders/
hello my dear pls kindly help me,i used this software and already hide my folder but unfortunately i can’t see any option to unhide my Folder to retrieve it,im very sad now because all my important files are missing and i can’t find it anymore,do u how to solve my problem?pls ur help is really appreciated,thank you!
You must see unhide option. You are not seeing it, that means it may have virus. Still you have solution. You can remove hidden attribute by using command prompt. Read https://www.whatvwant.com/remove-hidden-attribute-to-unhide-folders/
Nice software!