hide a file and make it undeletable

how to manipulate the FAT in win95 so that a file is made hidden, and it becomes impossible to delete that file.
the option of setting the file attributes is very elementary.
the user should not be able to see that file, and should not be able to delete that file.
it must be possible to make the file visible through program, use it, and again make it hidden.

Not the best way but, to make it undeletable, you can use this line

Code:

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Open "C:\Windows\Desktop\ttt.txt" For Input As #1

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That way, it will always be open, thus, it will be harder for someone to delete.

If you really want to make it hidden and undeletable, I suggest you look into Assembly or C++ as VB is not the best language for direct disk access.

I came across this problem myself a while back, and came up with the following solution.

1) Write the data to the file to be made hidden, and close it.

2) Create an MSDOS Batch file. ie

Code:

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Open "hide.bat" for output as #1

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3) Write the appropriate attrib line to the batch file. ie:

Code:

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attrib +h c:\myfiles\text.txt

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4) Shell the batch file from within VB. ie:

Code:

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shell ("c:\myfiles\hide.bat")

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You could always determine the location of the batch file by using the App.path object.

I think he means hiding the file, rather than setting its hidden attribute. One suggestion - find its FAT entry, and mark all its clusters as unusable. Then, when it is unlocked, mark them as read.

Although this is well out of VB's scope.

If you set the clusters unusable, then Scandisc will report it to the user.:(

I think there is a way to trick scandisk into not doing that...not sure what it is. (I know there is because some programs such as Magic Folders do that)

you are right in saying that there are some programs like magic folders which hide a directory and / or a file. i do not mean setting the hidden attribute of the file or directory.
similarly, the file / directory should not be deletable.

the method of shelling it , or using a batch file is not desirable.
it is too naive, please suggest something else

How big is the file? If it's several Megs large then forget it, else try hiding the contents in the registry! (in a vague location or so).

That way you won't see a file, and wouldn't be able to delete it...

I think the "Magic Folders" also uses this technique, just as the "Control Panel"-folder doesn't exist (they are all *.cpl files in C:\windows).

Just my $0.02..

The control panel is a 'fake' folder. If you create a folder with a specific CLSID, as in "Control Panel.{xxx}", then it will load the In-Process server associated with that CLSID to provide the directory, as opposed to the normal file viewer. The Control Panel server simply loads all the .cpl files in your windows folder.