Encrypting Files on Windows? Try VeraCrypt

if you want to encrypt individual files or folders on windows you're going to need windows 10 pro the home edition simply doesn't let you do it this might be different when windows 11 comes along but for now you will need windows 10 pro so instead i recommend using an application called veracrypt veracrypt ticks all the boxes it's free to use it's open source so it's constantly being patched and tested by the geeks at github and its cross platform so it works on windows mac and linux basically anything except a mobile or tablet the installation and setup process is quite cumbersome but stick with me because it's very easy to use and versatile once you're up and running start by browsing to veracrypt.fr download the latest installer from windows and once downloaded kick off the installation process the first important prompt you'll receive is whether to install the application or just extract it if you extract it you can use veracrypt in portable mode meaning it can be run from a usb stick or external drive without the need to actually be physically installed on the computer this is handy if you want to use veracrypt on several different machines or a machine that you don't own however for this demonstration we'll keep things simple and i'll choose the normal installation process click next followed by install once complete you have the option of viewing the tutorial but i'll close the installer and go straight into the app to make an encrypted folder in which to store our secret files we start by clicking on create volume veracrypt can be used to encrypt the whole partition or drive but for this example we're going to create an encrypted file container so i'll start by clicking next we're then asked whether to create a standard or hidden volume now rather than me wasting your time doing a bad job of explaining what hidden volumes are if it's something you're interested in you can click on the link to find out more information but for now we'll just create a standard volume we're then asked to select a location for our volume and give it a name i'm going to store my volume in the cloud so i'll open up one drive create a folder called veracrypt and shredly i'll name my encrypted folder encrypted folder but i recommend you name yours something far less obvious having created our folder we now need to choose the level of encryption and the default settings here are going to be just fine so we'll move straight along we then need to set the size of our encrypted folder and you should base this on the size of the files you'll be storing within it just bear in mind that once created you can't go back and extend the size of the folder so give yourself plenty of flexibility i'll set mine to 100 meg and then we'll click next we're into the final stretch and we need to set a password obviously you should make this long strong and memorable if veracrypt doesn't think it's long enough you'll receive a warning which you cannot ignore if you wish finally you want to choose the file system for your encrypted volume and i recommend setting this to something that is accessible across all platforms so i usually go for exfat to increase the randomness of the cryptographic algorithm move your mouse cursor rapidly around the window until the bar turns green and then you can finish up the process by clicking format and there we have it we have created our encrypted folder if i navigate to onedrive there you can see my 100 megabyte volume that simply looks like an unrecognizable system file to start adding files to the encrypted folder open up veracrypt choose select file and browse to the location the folder needs to be mounted to a spare drive letter so choose one from the list click on mount and enter your password once mounted you can start adding your files i'll add this photo and once you're done remember to dismount and close the veracrypt application notice that there's no indication of any files being stored in your encrypted folder to anyone else it continues to look like a random unrecognizable system file to demonstrate the flexibility of veracrypt i'll switch over to my mac where i've already installed one drive from the app store if i open up onedrive in finder go to my veracrypt folder there you can see my encrypted volume and i can open the folder on my mac in the same way as i did on windows open up the veracrypt application navigate to the encrypted folder click on mount and provide your password and there we have it there is my encrypted folder and contained within the folder is the photo that i saved on my windows machine so that is how to encrypt files and folders on windows using veracrypt if you found this video useful i'd appreciate you give me a like and hit subscribe for lots more quick tips like this one until next time thank you very much for watching you

Channel: Faculty of Apps

Views: 989

Keywords:

Id: uonpDvvuA0s

Length: 5min 43sec (343 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 05 2021