[SOLVED] Windows 11 cannot extract zip files

[HCHTech]

I'm seeing this at a client's in the last few days. When you right-click on a zip file in Windows Explorer and choose extract, you just get an empty folder. If you just double-click on the zip file to see the contents, you cannot open one of the files from there either. Searching gave me the answer to either use a separate utility like 7-Zip, or to restart the explorer process. Restarting Explorer.exe did in fact make it work, so I presume this is a bug of some sort. As a workaround, I've put a batch file on everyone's desktop to do the restart, but this isn't really an acceptable long term solution. I suspect the "fix" will only last until the computer is rebooted, but I haven't tested that.

Has anyone run into this and found a permanent fix to keep the built-in zip extraction working? Or maybe know which update is the problem?

 

[britechguy]

I have not, and because I deal with ZIP files as often as I do, I think it's a relatively rare "burp" and that the workaround tends to stick for quite a long while until any recurrence.

If you're running into this being a frequent occurrence on a given machine, then I'd first try the classic DISM/SFC pair to see if that results in a permanent remedy and, if not, a repair install of the Windows 11 version in use using the ISO file that matches it. If you don't want to bother with DISM/SFC then go straight for repair.

 

[GTP]

I fixed it permanently by telling clients to install 7-Zip. It's a simple install and use utility.
No complaints so far..

 

[Sky-Knight]

The only problem with 7-Zip is it doesn't support the modern Windows 11 UI, so you wind up doing extra clicks to get into the correct context menu. NanaZip solves this, but it's not a healthy project, and not nearly active enough for me to be comfortable.

@HCHTech I find this happens when the unit needs a reboot. Some update process is hung up in the background and it mucks things up. I've also seen Chrome cause it! In any event, weird stupid crap like this is exactly what the reboot button is for.

 

[frase]

I think you need to pay for Winrar [not for reals]. I have never seen that issue before, have you taken the archive onto a usb and extracted there to test?

 

[britechguy]

The only problem with 7-Zip is it doesn't support the modern Windows 11 UI, so you wind up doing extra clicks to get into the correct context menu.

Eh, no problem. I still use 7-Zip a lot, too. I don't know of anyone who can't adjust to it for "the basics" in mere minutes.

 

[Mick]

PeaZip is my go-to. Opens anything (so far...)

 

[britechguy]

@Mick, Thanks for that one. It never hurts to have another FOSS arrow in the tech quiver.

 

[HCHTech]

Digging this thread back up to post a solution. Setting the element in the View/Options dialog to "Launch folder windows in a separate process" makes everything work again. It's got to be a bug of some sort, but glad to have a solution anyway. I'm thinking of pushing this out to my monitoring clients since it's a simple registry change you can do with a powershell script:

# Define the registry path and the value name
$regPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced"
$valueName = "SeparateProcess"

# Set the value to 1 to enable launching folders in a separate process
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $valueName -Value 1

# Notify the user
Write-Host "Launch folder windows in a separate process is now enabled."

# Restart Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force
Start-Process explorer

 

[britechguy]

@HCHTech

First and foremost, thanks very much.

Editorial Comment: Reading this script simply reinforces my visceral dislike of PowerShell. Compared to either the REG Add command in command prompt or just plain old REG file, the syntax is just a nightmare.

Who came up with this stuff? It's so unnecessarily "wordy" making it so much more difficult to comprehend.

 

[Metanis]

@HCHTech

First and foremost, thanks very much.

Editorial Comment: Reading this script simply reinforces my visceral dislike of PowerShell. Compared to either the REG Add command in command prompt or just plain old REG file, the syntax is just a nightmare.

Who came up with this stuff? It's so unnecessarily "wordy" making it so much more difficult to comprehend.

They made it that way to suck up to the Linux people. Because no self-respecting scripting language should be human readable right?

 

[Sky-Knight]

They made it that way to suck up to the Linux people. Because no self-respecting scripting language should be human readable right?

No one likes Powershell, it's overly verbose and cumbersome for every possible task.

 

[britechguy]

BTW, every shell and scripting language I have ever seen under *nix is remarkably terse.

 

[trevm999]

I like PowerShell. It's an interesting blend of FP and OOP.

The other side of being verbose would be having to already have knowledge of every function being used in order to understand what is going on. For example:

(defmethod emit* :recur
  [{:keys [frame exprs env]}]
  (let [temps (vec (take (count exprs) (repeatedly gensym)))
        params (:params frame)]
    (dotimes [i (count exprs)]
      (emitln "var " (temps i) " = " (exprs i) ";"))
    (dotimes [i (count exprs)]
      (emitln (munge (params i)) " = " (temps i) ";"))
    (emitln "continue;")))

 

[DRPCNZ]

For me it is very seldom that I have have to use anything other than File Explorer to unzip files. I figure Zip extraction is built in it works why bother installing another piece of software to do the same job. Windows 10 & 11 both if stuff seems to be a bit wierd then a reboot is always a god thing to get done first, bit of the old Off and back on

 

[HCHTech]

No one likes Powershell, it's overly verbose and cumbersome for every possible task.

I chose Powershell because it is the best option supported in our RMM. As a non-programmer, it seems easier to look at a PS script and mostly understand what it's doing. Languages that aren't as verbose are mostly greek to me. So steeling from @britechguy , it's "tool to task", IMO.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I chose Powershell because it is the best option supported in our RMM. As a non-programmer, it seems easier to look at a PS script and mostly understand what it's doing. Languages that aren't as verbose are mostly greek to me. So steeling from @britechguy , it's "tool to task", IMO.

You chose Powershell because you're working with Microsoft things, and Microsoft things are controlled by Powershell.

Your RMM had nothing to do with it, it just made the same call you did. Microsoft things, are managed by Powershell!

Any of us in this space... will know Powerhell, or we will die by it ignorant too.

 

[britechguy]

I know PowerShell as little as I need to.

The vast majority of what I do can be done either with Command Prompt or PowerShell.

But unlike most languages I've dealt with over decades, it gives me no desire to "know it better" for the sheer knowledge because it's so freakin' verbose and hard to follow.

I got out of programming as my day-to-day profession just before the craze for object-oriented programming took off. PowerShell has to be one of the worst object-oriented languages out there, in my opinion. For me, it masks rather than illuminates, and it doesn't mask in a way that makes it easier for the person using it.