How to extract compressed (zipped) files in Windows 7?

Question

I have been fighting with Windows 7 compressed folders on two new Windows 7 OS. I have downloaded a file from a site and checked the contents with XP SP3 extract, XP XP3 WinZip and initially Win2k3SP2 extract. Each machine shows the contents correctly. Unfortunately, neither of them considers the compressed folder to be invalid regardless of whether I use extract all or Windows Explorer. Any ideas would be helpful. Getting ready to upgrade to XP SP3 on both these machines. I hope that this is not Vista revisited.

Answer 1

1. Click on the "Start" button, click on "All Programs" and then go into "Accessories."
2. Right-click on the "Command Prompt" program and select "Run as administrator."
3. Type "cd directory_path_to_zip" where "directory_path_to_zip" is the fully qualified path to the corrupted zip file, such as "C:\Windows\" if your ZIP file is located in the Windows directory on your computer.
4. Press the "Enter" key and then type "c:\windows\system32\wzzip -yf corrupt_zip.zip" where "corrupt_zip.zip" is the name of the ZIP file you want to try and recover.
5. Press the "Enter" key and Windows attempts to fix the corrupt ZIP file. If this process is successful, a new ZIP file is created in the directory alongside the corrupt zip file with the same name as the corrupt zip file, only with the suffix "FIXED" on the end
6. In case .zip archive cannot be restored by this tip and WinRAR too make use of http://www.zip.openfiletool.com/ ZIP Open File Tool

Answer 2

Regardless of the version installed, Windows 7 allows you to extract from common ZIP archives. If you can't do it, then there must be a problem with the module that handles the archives (but I doubt that it is the case with fresh installations). However, to overcome this issue, simply use WinRAR. It's fast and supports ZIP, RAR, RAR5, etc.

It comes with 30-day trial, but even after it expires, you can still use it in its full mode (the only thing - it displays a nag screen).

Download WinRAR: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Install WinRAR, locate your archive, right click it and choose Extract to, pick a folder and it's up.