Cryoganix
11-30-2012, 09:18 AM
I've seen a few people wanting to see how this is done over the past couple of days, so I decided to write this guide on it.
I'm sure most of you have an image handy and have an archive manager, but just in case you don't, you can go ahead and google WinZIP, WinRAR (the one I'll be using), or 7zip. Without further ado, here's the tutorial.
Step 1:
Get a file that you want to hide. This can be a file with sensitive information, a normal file to be used in an intricate puzzle, or any other kind of file.
In this demonstration, I'll be using a text file called "Top Secret Info" with data that I don't want anyone else to see.
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Step 2:
Retrieve any kind of image that you want. Again, the image doesn't matter, nor does the size matter. You'll be using this image to hide the file, so it could be a completely unassuming picture of a dollhouse, or it could be a taunting image saying "Find the hidden file, if you CAN!".
I'll be using a picture of myself that I've oh-so lovingly provided.
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Step 3:
Right-click the file(s) that you want to hide (yes, you can do this with multiple files too!) and click on "Add to archive...".
It doesn't matter what you name the file, so long as it ends with .rar, .zip, .7z, or some other type of archive.
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Step 4:
Once you've come up with a name (I named my archive "Hidden.rar"), you should now have three files: the secret file, the image, and the archive.
At this point, if you so choose, you can delete the secret file (NOT the archive) in order to further protect the file's privacy.
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Step 5:
Open up the good ol' Command Prompt. For those of you who have never opened a Command Prompt before, this is done by either going to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt, or by opening Run and typing "cmd" in the box and pressing Enter (or if you're using a newer version of Windows, type "cmd" into the program search bar and press Enter).
In this example, I'll be using it from the Accessories folder.
NOTE: You may have to open Command Prompt as an administrator for these next steps to work!
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Step 6:
Firstly, you'll want to use the "cd" command (which stands for Change Directory) to access your Desktop.
If you're not running Command Prompt as an administrator, this is usually "cd Desktop".
If you ARE running Command Prompt as an administrator, you will have to type out the full path, such as "cd C:\Users\[your_username]\Desktop", where [your_username] is your actual username on the computer.
After that, you'll want to execute the following command:
copy /b [picture] + [archive] [new picture]
Where [picture] is the picture you chose initially, [archive] is the archive file you created, and [new picture] is what you want the name of the new image to be.
IMPORTANT! Be sure that you put the picture BEFORE the archive! If you don't, the image won't show!
For example, for me, the code would look similar to this, where "Cool.jpg" is the new file I'm making:
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Step 7:
Your new image file will be created, and will look exactly identical to the image you used to create it.
If you get stuck and lose track of which file is which, just look at their properties. The file with the bigger size will be the one with the hidden file.
NOTE: The more files or the bigger the files that you hide, the bigger the difference in size will be between the two image files. In this example, the file I was hiding was very small, so the difference between the two is very small, but still there!
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See? It looks exactly like the old picture!
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However, when you right click it and choose "Open with" and choose your archive manager (WinRAR in this case), it will open up the archive as if it were a RAR file, with the contents intact!
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Have any questions, comments, suggestions, updates, corrections, or insults? Feel free to post them below!
I'm sure most of you have an image handy and have an archive manager, but just in case you don't, you can go ahead and google WinZIP, WinRAR (the one I'll be using), or 7zip. Without further ado, here's the tutorial.
Step 1:
Get a file that you want to hide. This can be a file with sensitive information, a normal file to be used in an intricate puzzle, or any other kind of file.
In this demonstration, I'll be using a text file called "Top Secret Info" with data that I don't want anyone else to see.
6119
Step 2:
Retrieve any kind of image that you want. Again, the image doesn't matter, nor does the size matter. You'll be using this image to hide the file, so it could be a completely unassuming picture of a dollhouse, or it could be a taunting image saying "Find the hidden file, if you CAN!".
I'll be using a picture of myself that I've oh-so lovingly provided.
6120
Step 3:
Right-click the file(s) that you want to hide (yes, you can do this with multiple files too!) and click on "Add to archive...".
It doesn't matter what you name the file, so long as it ends with .rar, .zip, .7z, or some other type of archive.
6121
Step 4:
Once you've come up with a name (I named my archive "Hidden.rar"), you should now have three files: the secret file, the image, and the archive.
At this point, if you so choose, you can delete the secret file (NOT the archive) in order to further protect the file's privacy.
6122
Step 5:
Open up the good ol' Command Prompt. For those of you who have never opened a Command Prompt before, this is done by either going to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt, or by opening Run and typing "cmd" in the box and pressing Enter (or if you're using a newer version of Windows, type "cmd" into the program search bar and press Enter).
In this example, I'll be using it from the Accessories folder.
NOTE: You may have to open Command Prompt as an administrator for these next steps to work!
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Step 6:
Firstly, you'll want to use the "cd" command (which stands for Change Directory) to access your Desktop.
If you're not running Command Prompt as an administrator, this is usually "cd Desktop".
If you ARE running Command Prompt as an administrator, you will have to type out the full path, such as "cd C:\Users\[your_username]\Desktop", where [your_username] is your actual username on the computer.
After that, you'll want to execute the following command:
copy /b [picture] + [archive] [new picture]
Where [picture] is the picture you chose initially, [archive] is the archive file you created, and [new picture] is what you want the name of the new image to be.
IMPORTANT! Be sure that you put the picture BEFORE the archive! If you don't, the image won't show!
For example, for me, the code would look similar to this, where "Cool.jpg" is the new file I'm making:
6124
Step 7:
Your new image file will be created, and will look exactly identical to the image you used to create it.
If you get stuck and lose track of which file is which, just look at their properties. The file with the bigger size will be the one with the hidden file.
NOTE: The more files or the bigger the files that you hide, the bigger the difference in size will be between the two image files. In this example, the file I was hiding was very small, so the difference between the two is very small, but still there!
6125
See? It looks exactly like the old picture!
6126
However, when you right click it and choose "Open with" and choose your archive manager (WinRAR in this case), it will open up the archive as if it were a RAR file, with the contents intact!
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Have any questions, comments, suggestions, updates, corrections, or insults? Feel free to post them below!