Site Basic Tutorials and FAQ's
SITE BASICS: Password Protecting Zip Files
By Amy Edwards 2005
Oct 10, 2005, 01:11

Password Protecting Your Zip Files

You may wonder, “Why password protect my zip file”?  This is an idea way to provide download links before a crop. This is especially helpful to those on dial up to obtain the download ahead of time and only have to enter the password given at the crop.

This tutorial will show you how to use WinRar and WinZip to password protect your zip files.

Using WinZip

You can download a copy of WinZip here.  It only has a 21 day trial period though with the option to purchase later.

• Select the folder you plan to zip (or highlight all the files you will be zipping).
   

• Right click and “add to zip file”
   

• Select to “encrypt” the zip file
   

• Change and/or update the file name and the location you want the zip file to be saved to:
   

• Click ok
   

• You will now see this b/c you chose to encrypt the zip file:
   

• Now you can choose to mask the password as you type it (ie: not show it) or you can unmask it and show it – I personally would choose the higher encryption level; this is up to you however.
  
   

• Click “ok” (if you enter mismatched keywords in the masked mode you will be prompted).
   

• File begins zipping.
   

• Test your zip file that it requests a password before uploading.
   

• Upload your file to the FTP or other location and make note of the password you assigned to the file.

Using WINRAR

WinRar is complete free, though you may choose to purchase for more advanced user option; but this is not needed for our scrapbooking files and needs.

• Select the folder you plan to zip (or highlight all the files you will be zipping).
   

• Right click and “add to archive”
   

• Make sure you select “zip”
   

• Change your filename if needed. (be sure to leave the .zip)
   

• Now let’s add the password to your zip file.

  • Click on the advanced tab
     

  • Select “set password”
     

  • Enter in the password of your choice… you can either choose to show the password as you are typing it or not.
     

  • If you enter in a mismatched password; the software WILL prompt you that it doesn’t match J  Try again.
     

• Click ok
   

• File begins zipping.
   

• Test your zip file that it requests a password before uploading.
   

• Upload your file to the FTP or other location and make note of the password you assigned to the file.