Password Protected Folders

I wanted a folder that requires a password to view its contents so that important documents could be secured and private.

In Ubuntu 8.10, there is a new feature called Encrypted Private Directory which is similar to what I wanted. It creates a new folder called Private under the Home directory. But it’s not very private because the folder is always visible. Accessing the folder is complicated because you have to mount it in the terminal window. If you try to access it through the file browser, you are told “THIS DIRECTORY HAS BEEN UNMOUNTED TO PROTECT YOUR DATA — Run mount.ecryptfs_private to mount again.”

One alternative is Crypt Manager which will encrypt a folder and then require a password to access it. Be sure to read the comments because some people had trouble installing the program and encrypting folders.

I decided to use Crypt Keeper which can be installed from Applications> Add/Remove Programs. After installation, go to Applications> System Tools> Crypt Keeper. A yellow lock will display in your taskbar.

By left clicking the lock icon and choosing New Encrypted Folder you can create a folder that will be password protected. Just be sure to click Forward to move to the next step.

Crypt Keeper does not run at start up. The protected folder is not visible in the file browser until you run Crypt Keeper, select the folder and enter the password.