{"id":1033,"date":"2010-04-09T13:38:49","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T08:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2019-05-12T03:04:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T03:04:03","slug":"lock-padlock-icon-files-folders-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/lock-padlock-icon-files-folders-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is There a Lock (Padlock) Icon on Some Files and Folders in Windows 7?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ever wondered why there is a lock icon overlay appearing for some of your files and folders, as in the image below:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-padlock-1.png\"><\/p>\n<p>And for some folders:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-padlock-2.png\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I had a reader ask about this recently. Upon <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=lock+overlay+icon+windows+7\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">searching the web<\/a> I found the explanation I needed, from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/oldnewthing\/archive\/2009\/12\/09\/9934348.aspx\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raymond Chen&#8217;s blog<\/a>. The lock (padlock) overlay icon appears for files\/folders which are private, but located under a non-private directory. Per Raymond Chen [MS]:<\/p>\n<p><i>A private item is an item where the only user account with access is you.\u00b9 You create one of these, for example, by going to the sharing wizard and saying Share with: Nobody. To avoid clutter, the overlay is shown only when there is a transition from non-private to private. (Otherwise you&#8217;d have a lock overlay on everything in your Documents folder, for example.)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00b9Even though you are the only user account, there can still be access granted to groups and non-user accounts such as the Administrators group and the SYSTEM account.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Checking the properties of a file with padlock symbol and viewing the Security tab, it looks like this:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-padlock-3.png\"><\/p>\n<h2>Tip: Quickly Make a File or Folder Private in Windows 7<\/h2>\n<p>If you quickly want to make a file or folder private, right-click on a file\/folder, click Share with and choose Nobody. This displays that file or folder with padlock symbol, if they&#8217;re not already contained in a private folder.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-padlock-4.png\"><\/p>\n<p><i>Check out our other articles on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=overlay+site:winhelponline.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Icon Overlays<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever wondered why there is a lock icon overlay appearing for some of your files and folders, as in the image below: And for some folders:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-7"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/green-tick-or-blue-arrows-icon-overlay-displayed-for-files-in-windows-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":0},"title":"Green Tick or Blue Arrows Icon Overlay Displayed for Files and Folders","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're wondering why Explorer shows certain files or folders with some icon sign in the corners, such as a white tick mark in a green box, or chevron in a blue box, or any other symbol such as a white tick in round green background regardless of the file\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"norton - turn off backup overlays","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/norton-disable-backup-overlays.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/norton-disable-backup-overlays.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/norton-disable-backup-overlays.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/norton-disable-backup-overlays.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1386,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/blue-double-arrow-icon-files-folders-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":1},"title":"What is the Two Blue Arrows Icon on Folders in Windows 10 and How to Remove it?","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing Windows 10, you may notice that some of your files and folders show up with a double blue arrows icon at the top. This double blue arrows overlay icon is seen if the files and folders are compressed (NTFS compression), and there is nothing to worry about. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27036,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cant-open-documents-pictures-music-dropbox-uninstall\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":2},"title":"Can&#8217;t Access Documents, Pictures, Music After Uninstalling DropBox","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When you access a user shell folder such as Pictures, Documents, or Music after uninstalling a cloud sync software, the following error may occur: Location is not available C:\\Users\\Ramesh\\Music is unavailable. If the location is on this PC, make sure the device or drive is connected or the disc is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"disable backup in dropbox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/disable-backup-dropbox.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/disable-backup-dropbox.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/disable-backup-dropbox.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/disable-backup-dropbox.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2059,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/winx-menu-does-not-open-power-user\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":3},"title":"Win+X Menu Does Not Open in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Right-clicking Start, or pressing the Win+X key combination opens the power-user menu as in the following image: If this menu doesn't open or nothing happens when you use the Win+X key combination, it could be possible that the IsShortcut registry value has been removed for shortcuts (.lnk) file association. Follow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/winxmenu-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2433,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cascading-menu-jump-lists-issue-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":4},"title":"Cascading Menu and File Explorer Jump Lists Issue in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you implement Cascading Menus in File Folders (Directory) using the SubCommands or ExtendedSubCommands registry keys in Windows 10, an interesting thing happens. The last item in your Cascading menu gets executed when you right-click Pinned File Explorer shortcut in the Taskbar, and click on a folder in the Jump\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/cascade1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/cascade1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/cascade1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2207,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-folder-to-taskbar-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1033,"position":5},"title":"How to Pin a Folder to Taskbar in Windows 10?","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By default, when you drag a folder and drop it in Taskbar, the folder is added to the File Explorer Jump list, and not as a separate item. To Pin a folder as a separate item in the Taskbar, use these steps.Right-click on the folder you want to Pin to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/pin-folder-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/pin-folder-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/pin-folder-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}