How to Password Protect USB Drives in Windows 7/10/11 (2 Ways)

Why Password Protect USB Drive in Windows 7/10/11?

Nowadays, USB drive as one of the most common storage devices is very popular among users, and many people are used to storing lots of data and important files on USB drives. This article summarizes the 2 most important reasons why you should password-protect USB drives in Windows 7/10/11.

• Prevent data leakage: This is the most important reason for encrypting USB. Data encryption can solve potential complications from data leakage, for example, it can prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands due to loss or theft because your data is still protected by a password.
• Encryption process has become easy: With advances in technology, encryption is easier than ever. So encrypting a USB drive takes only a little time and is not particularly complicated.

How to Password Protect USB Drive in Windows 7/10/11

Next, the article will introduce 2 easy methods to password-protect USB drives in Windows 7, including Windows' built-in tool BitLocker as well as professional third-party software. You can choose any of the methods to help you according to your own needs. Please read on for detailed information.

Password Protect USB Drive via BitLocker in Windows 7/10/11

The first method is to use the Windows encryption tool BitLocker, which is built into your Windows. It encrypts your entire USB drive and locks it with the password you give it. To access the encrypted drive, you should provide the correct password. Then, you can follow the graphic tutorial below to password-protect a USB drive in Windows 7.

By the way, for Windows 7 users, BitLocker can only be enabled on Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate. This tool also supports Windows 10/11 Professional and Enterprise editions, so you can password protect USB drive in Windows 10.

Step 1. Click the Start button on the taskbar and then go to Control Panel > System and Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption. Click on Manage BitLocker and the window will show you to turn on BitLocker to the specific drive.

Step 2. Select the USB drive you need to encrypt, then click Turn on BitLocker.

Step 3. The BitLocker will start and will ask you how you want to unlock the drive. Choose the Use a password to unlock the drive option and type your password.

Step 4. Select a method to recover your password and press Next to start the encryption. You are allowed to save it to a file or print it.

Notes:

• If you save the recovery key as a file make sure that it is not on the same drive that you’re encrypting.  
• If you lose the recovery key, you probably will lose access to your data forever. So please make sure that you keep the recovery key safe.

Step 5. You’ll see the page below, read the information carefully, and click Start Encrypting.

Step 6. When the encryption process is finished you will see a message that the encryption is complete.

Password Protect Files on USB Drive via AOMEI Backupper in Windows 7/10/11

If you are not using Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate, you may not be able to encrypt your USB drive with BitLocker. Don't worry, you can choose the professional yet easy-to-use third-party software AOMEI Backupper Professional to achieve the goal. It supports all versions of Windows 7/8/10/11.

Besides, after BitLocker encrypted your USB drive, every time you want to access the files or data in the USB, you need to enter the password, which is a little bit troublesome for some users, especially those who only want to encrypt a specific file and not the whole USB drive.

AOMEI Backupper can easily solve this trouble because this software can directly backup the file and encrypt it in the USB. In this way, you only need to enter the password when you restore the encrypted file instead of entering it every time you open the USB. And it allows you to perform scheduled backup of your files with fixed intervals (Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Event trigger/USB plug-in).

Then you can follow the graphic tutorial below to password files on a USB drive via AOMEI Backupper. This software also supports backing up the entire USB drive or the partitions on the USB.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper, install it, and open it. Then click Backup > File Backup.

Step 2. Click Add File or Add Folder to select the files or folders you want to backup.

Step 3. Choose the USB drive as your destination.

Step 4. To password-protect the specific file on the USB drive, just click Options at the bottom, and click General > Enable encryption for backups. Then, you can type the password > confirm the password > click OK.

Step 5. Confirm all your operations and click Start Backup to password-protect the files on the USB drive in Windows 7/8/10/11.

★ How to backup files to AOMEI Cloud

There is a growing trend to backup files to cloud storage. Compared to a USB drive, cloud is a safer place to keep your important files because it is less subject to getting lost or infected. You can backup files to AOMEI Cloud if you have an AOMEI account. You'll get 1TB of free storage for 15 days after you sign up for an AOMEI account.

Summary

To password-protect USB drives in Windows 7/8/10/11, this article provides 2 useful methods. If you use Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate, you can use BitLocker to encrypt the entire USB drive.

If you are using other versions of Windows 7 or other Windows systems (Windows 11/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista), you can choose the professional third-party software AOMEI Backupper Professional.

It can back up the file directly and then encrypt it in the USB drive, so you don't need to enter the password every time you open the USB drive, just enter it when you recover a specific encrypted file.

Besides, it is also a professional recovery software that can help you restore any backups easily. If you want to restore your system to a computer with different hardware, its Universal Restore feature can also help you achieve the goal.

If you are a Windows Server user, you can pick AOMEI Backupper Server. Download this software to explore more features.