ZIP files - how to unzip them? How to unpack a damaged, multi-volume and regular archive

An archive is simply a single file that compresses other files to reduce its overall size. If you still sigh when you receive another file in a ZIP, RAR, 7-Zip or any other archive, then this article is for you.

For those who like to watch, I’m posting a video:

The easiest way to extract a ZIP archive

ZIP archives are regular files with a “.zip” extension. In fact, you don’t need any programs to simply unzip files from ZIP; everything is already built into Windows Explorer 7/8/10. Just right-click on the file and select “Extract all...” from the menu.

A dialog box will appear where you will need to specify the path to unpack the files, or leave it as default (current folder). As you can see, in the example I have a “Checklist.zip” file with a zipped Word document.

If you leave the “Show extracted files” checkbox enabled, then at the end of the unzipping procedure, another Explorer window will open with a new folder open. Or you can not unpack the files at all, but go into the archive like a regular folder and open the desired file from there.

How to unpack RAR archive

Unfortunately, Explorer cannot work with RAR files. For them you need to install one of the programs that will be discussed. The free program 7-Zip has long established itself as a simple and free archiver. Can unpack files 7z, zip, rar and others.

Using the program is almost as simple, just right-click on the file and select one of the items from the “7-Zip” submenu:

“Unpack” – to open the extraction dialog
“Extract here” – to simply extract the files to the current directory
“Extract to “Folder Name” - extract files to a folder with the archive name (I recommend)

The simplest are the second and third options, because... do not require any further action. If you select the first option, the following dialog will appear:

Here we can specify our path for the files. If you select the “No paths” option, then all files from the archive will be in one heap, without subfolders. The “Overwrite” parameter is responsible for the mode of overwriting existing files. By default, the program will ask about each such file.

You can extract files not only from the right-click menu. If you double-click on the file, it will open in the 7-Zip program window. To unzip files, simply select them and click the "Extract" button

Alternative free method - Hamster Lite Archiver

I also want to introduce you to one newfangled program Hamster Lite Archiver. It is even simpler, free and has a modern interface. After installing it, new items also appear in the Explorer context menu. To unpack a rar or zip archive, right-click on it and select one of the options:

Extract files… - opens a dialog window
Extract Here – extracts files into the current folder
Extract to “Folder name” - unzip to folder

Despite the fact that the context menu items are in English, the program itself is in Russian. Apparently we haven’t gotten around to translating these points yet, but by the time you read this article the situation may have already improved. The dialogue looks like this:

Universal program WinRAR

The WinRAR program is very widely used for working with RAR archives, I only use it. The program is possible. Look immediately for the Russian version in the list. Installing WinRAR is very easy, just click “Next” all the time. The program is paid, but with a trial period of 40 days. After the trial period ends, WinRAR continues to work, but begins to bother you with a window reminding you about the license every time you start it.

To unpack a RAR file, or any other archive, just right-click on the file and select one of the options:

Extract files... - the unpacking dialog will open
Extract to current folder – contents will appear in the current folder
Extract to “folder name” - unzip the contents into a new folder with the archive name (recommended)

The simplest options are the second and third. If you select the first option, a dialog will appear in which you can specify the specific path where your files will be placed and a few more parameters:

Update Mode:

Extract with file replacement - if the folder already contains the same files as in the archive, then they will be replaced with new ones
Extract with file update is the same, but only older files will be replaced
Update only existing files - only the update will occur, the remaining files will not be extracted.

The “Overwrite mode” items are responsible for the behavior of the program when replacing existing files.

Using this dialog, you can unpack a damaged or incomplete archive. By default, if a file has an error, it will not be unpacked. If you check the “Leave damaged files on disk” checkbox, then the damaged archive will be partially unpacked. If it is a video or music, then it can be opened. But, of course, the completeness of the resulting file will depend on the degree of damage to the archive.

You can also unpack files from the WinRAR program window. To do this, just select the required files and click on any of the buttons: “Extract...” or “Wizard”.

WinRar will also help you organize a backup of your information.

Please note that after installing any of the listed programs, the standard “Extract...” menu item for ZIP archives may disappear from Windows Explorer.

How to unpack a multi-volume archive

Multi-volume archives are created to split one huge archive into several small ones. In this case, there will be numbers at the end of the file names, for example.z01, .z02, .z03 or part1, part2, part 3 or 001, 002, 003, etc. To unpack such a multi-volume archive you will need ALL the parts, otherwise nothing good will come of it. The unpacking process itself is no different from the usual one.

You just need to unzip the first file from the list in the usual way, and the rest will be downloaded automatically.

If, in addition to the numbered parts, there is also a “regular” archive, then it is this file that needs to be unpacked, it is the main one.

Please note that multi-volume ZIP archives created by WinRAR can only be unpacked with the same program! Other programs give an error and even if you crack! And vice versa, WinRAR does not understand multi-volume files created by other programs.

Conclusions:

So, you can extract files from zip, rar, 7z archives using Windows Explorer (ZIP only) or using the free programs 7-Zip and Hamster Lite Archiver, as well as using the paid program WinRAR. Choose a method that is convenient for you and use it for your health!

Imagine how grateful your friends will be if you share this information with them on social networks! By the way, you can also create your own archives using these programs.

An archive is simply one file into which other files have been stuffed to reduce the overall size. If you still sigh when you receive another file in a ZIP, RAR, 7-Zip or any other archive, then this article is for you.

Let's look at several possible options how to unpack the archive:

How to extract a ZIP archive using Windows 7
How to extract data from a RAR file using 7-Zip
How to unpack a damaged or multi-volume archive

At the end of the article you can watch a short video on the topic.

The easiest way to extract a ZIP archive

ZIP archives are regular files with a “.zip” extension. In fact, to simply unzip files from ZIP, you don’t need any programs; everything is already built into Windows 7 Explorer. To unzip files, just right-click on the file and select “Extract all...” from the menu.

If you leave the “Show extracted files” checkbox enabled, then at the end of the unzipping procedure, another Explorer window will open with a new folder open.

You don’t have to unzip the files at all, but go to the archive file like a regular folder and open the desired file from there.

Unfortunately, Explorer cannot work with RAR files. For them you need to install one of the programs that will be discussed.

Using the program is almost as easy as extracting a ZIP using File Explorer. To do this, just right-click on the file and select one of the items from the “7-Zip” submenu:

“Unpack” – to open the unpack dialog
“Extract here” – to simply extract the files to the current directory
“Extract to “Folder Name”” - unzip the files into a folder with the archive name (I recommend)

The simplest are the second and third options, because... do not require any further action. If you select the first option, the following dialog will appear:

Here we can specify our unpacking path. If you select the “No paths” option, then all files from the archive will be in one heap, without subfolders. The “Overwrite” parameter is responsible for the mode of overwriting existing files. By default, the program will ask about each such file.

You can extract files not only from the right-click menu. If you double-click on the file, it will open in the 7-Zip program window. To unzip files simply select them and click the "Extract" button

Alternative free method - Hamster Lite Archiver

I also want to introduce you to one newfangled program, Hamster Lite Archiver. It is even simpler, free and has a modern interface. After installing it, new menu items also appear in the menu.

To unpack a rar or zip archive, right-click on it and select one of the options:

Extract files… - opens a dialog window
Extract Here – extracts files into the current folder
Extract to “Folder name” - unzip to folder

The dialogue looks like this:

To unzip all files, simply click the “Unzip” button and select the folder where to put them.

How to unzip a file using WinRAR

The WinRAR program is widely used for working with RAR archives. The program can be downloaded from the developer's official website. Look immediately in the list for the Russian version of the program (Russian). Installing the program is very easy, just click “Next” all the time. The program is paid with a trial period of 40 days. After the trial period ends, the program continues to work, but begins to bother you with a window reminding you about the license every time you start it.

To unpack RAR, or any other archive, just right-click on the file and select one of the options:

Extract files... - the unpacking dialog will open
Extract to current folder – contents will appear in the current folder
Extract to “folder name” - extracts the contents to a new folder with the archive name (recommended)

Click to enlarge

Update Mode:

Extract with file replacement - if the folder already contains the same files as in the archive, then they will be replaced with new ones
Extract with file update is the same, but only older files will be replaced
Update only existing files - only the update will occur, the remaining files will not be extracted.

The “Overwrite mode” items are responsible for the behavior of the program when replacing existing files.

You can also use this dialog to unpack a damaged archive. By default, if a file has an error, it will not be unpacked. If you check the “Leave damaged files on disk” checkbox, the damaged file will be unpacked. If it is a video or music, then it can be opened. But, of course, the completeness of the resulting file will depend on the degree of damage to the archive.

You can also unpack files from the WinRAR program window. To do this, just select the required files and click on any of the buttons: “Extract...” or “Wizard”.

Click to enlarge

The WinRar program will also help you organize a backup copy of your information.

Please note that after installing any of the listed programs, the standard “Extract…” menu item in Windows 7 Explorer for zip archives may disappear.

How to unpack a multi-volume archive

Multi-volume archives are created to split one huge archive into several small ones. In this case, there will be numbers at the end of the file names, for example.z01, .z02, .z03 or part1, part2, part 3 or 001, 002, 003, etc. To unpack such a multi-volume archive you will need ALL the parts, otherwise nothing good will come of it. The process of unpacking a multi-volume archive is no different from unzipping regular files.

You just need to unzip the first file in the list in the usual way, and the rest will be downloaded automatically.

If, in addition to the numbered parts, there is also a “regular” archive, then this file must be unpacked.

Click to enlarge

Please note that multi-volume ZIP archives created by WinRAR can only be unpacked with the same program!

Other programs give an error and even if you crack! And vice versa, WinRAR does not understand multi-volume files created by other programs.
After unpacking, the unnecessary archive file can be deleted.

Conclusions:

I believe that this article gave a comprehensive answer to the question of how to unpack a zip, rar, 7z or any other archive. This can be done using Windows Explorer (ZIP only) or using the free programs 7-Zip and Hamster Lite Archiver or using the paid program WinRAR. Choose a method that is convenient for you and use it for your health!

Imagine how grateful your friends will be if you share this information with them on social networks! By the way, you can also create your own archives using these programs, but read about this in the following articles.

Good time everyone!

It would seem that archive is a simple file that can be worked with in the same way as with others. But quite a lot of questions have always arisen about them ☺...

At all,archive is a compressed file that can contain any other folders and files: pictures, documents, and even other archives (such a tautology). Before using any file from the archive, it must be extracted from it (although now there are programs that allow, for example, viewing photos from archives without extracting them (we’re talking about ACDSee)) .

To work normally with archives (without so-called crutches ☺), you need a special program - archiver. True, modern versions of Windows already have a built-in function (but calling it a normal archiver is a stretch)...

Below we will look at what and how exactly to do. Also below I have provided a link to an article with the best archivers. I recommend that you choose an archiver 7-Zip- it is free and multifunctional. I’ll show my examples there!

Analogues of WinRAR: free archivers for Windows -

How to unpack RAR, ZIP, etc. archive.

Method No. 1: for ZIP archives

If you are dealing with a ZIP format archive, then you don’t even need to install an additional archiver (in modern Windows 7/8/10 there is already a function for working with the ZIP format. True, although it works crookedly, it is still there ...☺).

In general, by default, Explorer does not show the extension of files, but pay attention to the archive icon in Windows - (and the description of the file - a compressed ZIP folder, in the "Type" column (turn on the table view of files in Explorer)). This compressed ZIP folder, as Windows labels it, is the ZIP archive. To extract it, you need to: right-click on the file, then select from the context menu "Extract all..." (see screenshot below).

Method No. 2: for RAR, 7Z and other formats

As I said above, it is much more convenient to work with specialized programs - archivers. Firstly, they extract and pack files faster (they have better algorithms); secondly, they see and can extract almost all archive formats (not just ZIP); thirdly, they have additional functions, for example, or set a password (so that no one can read your files in the archive).

A simple, free and convenient archiver for Windows. After installation, it is very neatly built into Explorer and allows you to extract all data from any of the most common archives in 1-2 mouse clicks: 7Z, RAR, GZ, ZIP, CAB, ACE, etc.

Now, when you go to the folder with the archives, you will see that visual icons have appeared on them - it has become easy to distinguish them from other files (note the numbers and letters on these icons: 7 is 7Z format, R is RAR format, Z is ZIP format) .

To extract files, just right-click on the archive, then select “7-Zip --> Unpack here” from the context menu. That's all! The archive will begin to be extracted.

Note: There are also other options available in the Explorer context menu: just open the archive, test it, or even send it by mail!

How to archive a folder or file

So... The issue of unpacking, I think, is closed, it remains to resolve the issue of “packing” ☺. In general, most often you need to pack files that you want to send over the network, that take up too much space on your disk (and you rarely use them), or that you want to protect with a password (so that no one can read the data in such an archive). I will consider all these options below.

In the simplest and most common case, to make an archive from a folder or file, right-click on this folder and select from the menu "7-Zip --> Add to archive..." (note: I think you have 7-Zip installed) .

archive format: this determines how much your files will be compressed in it. The best option today is 7Z (compresses more than ZIP or RAR);
compression level: the highest level “Ultra” (if there are a lot of files, it may take a long time to pack).

Actually, when you have set the parameters, all you have to do is click OK and wait for the operation to complete.

Add to archive (you need to set basic settings)

Creating a multi-volume archive (or splitting a large file into parts)

In some cases, it is necessary to compress the file and burn it to a flash drive or CD/DVD disk (for example). When we squeezed it, we saw that it wouldn’t fit on the disk ☺...

In these cases, it is convenient to make a multi-volume archive (i.e., divided into several parts with a certain size). Let me look at the example below.

Let's say we have a folder with documents, we need to compress it and write it to floppy disks (3.5 Floppy is an anachronism, of course, but purely for example ☺). If you compress a folder into an archive, its size is still larger than the size of a floppy disk.

Archive size is about 3MB

In this case, in the parameters when creating an archive, you need to do one thing - indicate which parts to split the volumes into (the size is indicated in bytes). 7-Zip already has all the most popular:

there are sizes of 650 and 700 MB for recording documents on CDs;
4092 MB is the maximum size for the FAT 32 file system;
There are sizes for different types of DVD discs;
including for Floppy 3.5 (which is what I chose ☺).

Please note (see screenshot below): there are three files, the maximum size of each file is no more than the size of a floppy disk. Those. Now you can insert 3 floppy disks one by one and write one file to them.

To extract information from such an archive, you need to open the very first volume (001)! And, by the way, to extract files from such a multi-volume archive, you will need all the volumes (all the pieces into which the archive was split during creation!).

Creating an encrypted archive (with password access)

This is useful when you do not want someone to see your documents (or, for example, photos) without your permission. By the way, I note that such an encrypted archive file with password access is quite difficult to crack, and therefore you can be relatively calm about your data in it.

In 7-Zip, when creating an archive, specify the format 7Z, then check the box next to "Encrypt file names" , specify the encryption method "AES-256", and enter the password (see the screenshot below for an example).

Create an encrypted archive with a password

Actually, after creating such an archive, when you try to open it (in any archiver!), you will see a window asking you to enter a password. If it is entered incorrectly, you will not gain access to your data (keep in mind that if you forget the password, it will most likely be impossible to obtain data from such an archive!).

How to make an archive that can be unpacked without an archiver

Another extremely unpleasant situation: I packed the files into an archive, wrote them to disk, brought them to another PC - but it does not have an archiver that would support the format of your archive... ☺

In this case, to be sure that this archive can be retrieved by everyone who wants, you can create SFX archive(SFX is self-extracting, i.e. no additional programs, even archivers, are needed to unpack it).

To do this, in 7-Zip, when creating an archive, check just one box: "Create SFX archive" .

Then, when the archive is ready, you will see that it resembles a regular program with an EXE extension. That’s right - this archive is a program that, when launched, will extract all the files into the folder that you specify!

After launching the SFX archive, you will be asked to specify a folder, as in the example below. After specifying, click the button "Extract"(i.e. extract). Actually, that's it!

Where to extract files // SFX archive created in 7-Zip

Important!

All three archive options that we have now created (multi-volume, self-extracting, encrypted) can be combined and combined. For example, you can compress files and make the archive self-extracting with password access.

Thus, when someone runs this EXE file, it will ask them to provide a password for further access and extraction of files...

That's all I have. Good luck to all!

Hello to all readers of my blog, in touch with you as always Yuri Vatsenko and today I will have a post for beginners, namely, how to unzip a rar file. It just seems like this is a simple task, but believe me, there are many subtleties and nuances here.

Agree that we constantly come across ordinary archives, in which, as a rule, files are packed so that they weigh little. Such files are very easy to transfer, so if you are interested in how to make an archive or how to unzip such an archive, then read this post, I am sure you will like it.

Well, since you are reading these lines, then this topic is probably very interesting to you, but it is not very surprising, because every person who plans to conduct their activities on the Internet must have basic knowledge.

In my earlier posts, I told you about how you can clear the cache on your computer, but today the topic will be a little different, but still useful. Of course, many bloggers and webmasters will say that this topic is too simple, but I am sure that many people read me, some of whom are complete beginners.

Well, I hope you won’t be picky, so let’s figure out why we need archives and why we need them at all. Look, files that have the extension: Rar And Zip these are archives that have one simple function, namely to reduce the weight of the file.

For example, you need to transfer a file that takes up 2.5 Gigabytes. How to write it to a flash drive when its capacity is only 2 Gigabytes? Very simple, it can be compressed in Rar or Zip format. This is one example, the second is that if you need to send photos to your friend by email and in order not to add them one by one, you can add them to a folder. Then, make this folder an archive and only then, in one file, send everything.

First of all, let's figure out how to make such an archive, although this is done very simply. Let’s take any file, for example, I’ll take the Word document of this post and put it in a special folder, which I’ll call “ blogger».

Go ahead, click on the folder with my file, right-click and select: “ win rar" – « add to archive".

After this, a new window opens and there we just need to confirm by clicking on the “OK” button.

Now, let's figure out how to do the opposite when we have an archive and how to open it correctly. Everything is, in fact, as simple as shelling pears, but you still need to make an effort.
Take our archive, right-click on it with your mouse, then Win rar – extract files – extract to current folder. Look at the picture below and everything will become clear to you.

If there are a lot of files in the archive, then this will take some time, but since I only have one document, everything happens in seconds. As you can see, everything is very simple, understandable and accessible, but what a surprise I was that some of my friends don’t know this. But now they will definitely know, and I am pleased that they will read my post, into which I tried to put my little knowledge.
True, there is another method of unzipping, which I will also tell you. Look, for example, a friend sent you an archive with important documents by mail. As an example, I will show everything on my archive, but everything will be extremely clear to you.
Double-click on this archive to open it and see the following window.

Next, at the top we see a button: extract files, click on it and see the following window.

In this window we can unzip files to any location, to any folder on our computer.

But, I want to tell you right away so that you don’t make a big mistake. If you have a lot of files in your archive, then before you unzip it, you will need to place this archive in the desired folder. Why is that? Look, for example, you (like me now) have an archive on your desktop. Now, if you unzip a file that contains 30-100 photos, what will happen? It’s simple, it won’t be clear what’s on your desktop, so I’m telling you to unzip files only in those folders that are intended for this.
Well, friends, is this knowledge useful? I think they are useful, because all of us moneymakers are busy people and we constantly need to send something, edit, correct, and so on.

In this post, we looked at an interesting topic, how to unzip a rar file on your computer. If you have any thoughts on this matter or I missed something, then please write it in the comments, I will be very pleased. For now, that’s all I have, I hope I could help you in some way, we’ll see you soon.
And don’t forget about the competition, which will be announced at the end of the month, namely on the 30th. There I will write a post about how much I was able to earn, what I managed to do, and so on, and I will also announce the names of the winners of the competition for the best commentators.

Sincerely, Yuri Vatsenko!
.

Files with the .ZIP extension are one of the most common types of archives. Due to this, most operating systems already have standard zip extraction tools. So there is no need to search for and install additional programs. Right-click on the archive and select “Extract All”. Then a special wizard will open in which you will need to specify the location where the files from the contents of the archive will go. If you don't change anything, this location will be the current folder.

There is also an option “Show extracted files”. If you leave a checkbox next to it, then after extraction an explorer window will open with all the extracted contents.
By the way, it is not necessary to extract files from the archive - you can open it like a regular folder and launch the necessary documents directly from there.

Unlike the previous case, RAR will require the installation of third-party programs.
For example, one of such reliable programs as 7-Zip does an excellent job with such archives (and it also supports many other types: 7z, Zip, tar, etc.). You can download this application from the official website and it is completely free.

The program itself is quite simple to manage. To unpack the archive, right-click on it and in the “7-Zip” menu section, click on one of the following items:

Unpack here – extraction will begin immediately, into the same directory as the archive;
Unpack to “folder name” – extraction will begin in a folder created here with the same name as the archive. It is best to use this option.

The last two options are the most optimal and do not force a large number of actions from the user: just click and everything is unpacked. When you select the first option, a window with extraction parameters will appear.
In this window you can specify the appropriate folder into which the unpacking will take place. Here you can immediately select an option such as “No paths”, in which case all files will be extracted in a solid heap, without the folders in which they were located. When you select “Overwrite”, you can activate the ability to edit files in the archive. But with standard settings, the application will make a request when it is launched.

In addition to using the context menu, you can also use the program window. To launch it, double-click on the archive icon. In the window itself, on the top panel, click “Extract”.

Recently, users have taken a liking to this application, which can work with various RAR and ZIP files. It is also free and the experience is quite similar to other applications. When the program is installed on the computer, three additional items will appear in the archive context menu:

Extract Here – files will be extracted to the same folder as the archive;

Extract to “folder name” – extraction will occur in the folder with the specified name.
As you can see, there are slight similarities with 7-Zip. Although the menu items are in English, the program window has a Russian-language design. If you select the first item, the following window will open:
To extract files, click on “Unzip” and select the appropriate folder.

This popular program is often used to extract files from archives with the rar extension. You can download the program directly from the official website of the developers. The main thing is to make sure that you are downloading the Russian version. The program is installed very simply, like most similar applications, so there shouldn’t be any problems here.

WinRAR is a paid program and it has a free trial period of 40 days. When this time is over, the program will continue to work and perform its functions, but now a window will pop up asking you to buy a license.

To unpack archives, you need to perform the same steps as in previous programs.
Right-click on the archive file and select one of the following options:

Extract to current folder – all files will be unpacked to the same place as the archive;

Extract to “folder name” – files will be extracted to the specified folder, which will be automatically created in the same directory.
Those who don’t really like to once again select a bunch of parameters can click on one of the last two options. But if you select the first one, a window with extraction options will open, where you can select the folder to unpack the files and a bunch of other options.

For example, in the “Update Mode” section, there are such parameters.
Extracting with replacing files - when unpacking, new files will replace similar ones with the same name that were already outside the archive.
Extracting and updating files has essentially the same effect, but only those files that are older than those in the archive will be replaced.
Update existing files only - existing files will be updated and all others will not even be extracted. In the “Overwrite mode” section, you can set parameters for the program’s behavior when overwriting files.

In addition, using this window you can unpack damaged archives. After all, if you use standard settings, the program will generate an error and unpacking will not be possible. But if you check the box next to “Leave damaged files on disk,” then even damaged files will be pulled out of the archive.

For example, in the case of music or video, they can be opened. Although this still depends on the extent of their damage in the archive.

You can also extract documents from archives through the main program window. Select everything you need and click on the “Extract” or “Wizard” button.

In some cases, the WinRAR application can also be used to backup important information.

Just keep in mind this small feature: after installing the above applications, the standard function for extracting archives with a ZIP extension may simply disappear from the context menu.

Extracting files from multi-volume archives

Such archives are used when packing very large volumes of information. For example, this is convenient when recording to disk, when everything in one archive simply does not fit on one disk. The files of a multi-volume archive have a serial number in their name. Depending on the program, it can take different forms: part1, z02, 003, 004 and then right up to the very last file. To unpack such archives, you must have all the parts at once, and they must be located in one folder.