Padlock icon in Windows Explorer

By Mitch Tulloch / September 16, 2011

Occasionally when using Windows Explorer in Windows 7 you may see a padlock icon overlaid on top of an icon for a document or other file. What does this mean?

The padlock icon means the file is a private item in a non-private directory. This means that only one user account is currently allowed to access this item—you. Note that groups such as Administrators or the built-in SYSTEM identity may still be able to access the item. If you use the Sharing Wizard in Windows 7 and share a file with Nobody, the file will be a private item.

Mitch Tulloch is a seven-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and widely recognized expert on Windows administration, deployment and virtualization. For more tips by Mitch you can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.

About The Author

Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is Senior Editor of both WServerNews and FitITproNews and is a widely recognized expert on Windows Server and cloud technologies. He has written more than a thousand articles and has authored or been series editor for over 50 books for Microsoft Press and other publishers. Mitch has also been a twelve-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award in the technical category of Cloud and Datacenter Management. He currently runs an IT content development business in Winnipeg, Canada.