How to unzip a file in simple ways. Unpacking a multi-volume RAR archive in Windows Two ways 1 as an archive

When you stubbornly struggle with the dominance of the files you need, but are very large and numerous with the same type of data, the WinRAR archiver will become your reliable assistant. It gives us a unique opportunity to create multi-volume data archives in various formats of your choice: you want ZIP, but many people prefer the RAR format.
Multi-volume archives, as a rule, consist of many files; it is possible to create an archive of 999 files. Each of them will become a separate archive volume. Such archives are designed to store significant amounts of information on removable media, and it is very convenient to transmit them by e-mail.

By default, the WinRAR archiver (here I wrote about another archiver) assigns each archive volume its own name in the format: name.partNNN.rar, where NNN is the three-digit number of the archive volume, which takes values ​​from 001 to 999.

For those users who are accustomed to the previous numbering scheme for archive volumes, but the archiver still has the ability to use it via the vn key.

In this case, the first volume of the created multi-volume archive will receive the usual .rar extension, and the remaining volumes will have a combined extension: .r01, then .r02, etc.

Once completed, multi-volume archives can no longer be adjusted or changed in any way. But no one is stopping you from unpacking the archive, making the necessary changes to the archive files, and then creating a new multi-volume archive.

By the way, or for “know-it-alls”, a note

The Win-RAR archiver, starting from version 3.4, stores its number in the description for each RAR archive volume.

If you click on the volume icon with the mouse button, and then select the “Show information” option, the volume number is visible at the top of the dialog box.

In principle, it can be quite useful, especially when confusion arises with the original names of files from the archive. Because of this, sometimes you have to restore volume names manually.

RAR archive volumes can be contiguous, and when this is necessary or there is no confidence that the user will be able to use the Win-RAR archiver to extract the archive, a self-extracting archive (SFX archive) is created.

Of course, in this case, the first volume of such a multi-volume archive will already have the .exe extension.

Creating multi-volume RAR archives

Launch the Win-RAR archiver by double-clicking on the icon or line in the Start menu.

When the program is launched, you need to open the folder containing the files to be archived. The contents of the folder will be visible in the main archiver window


Now you can select the files and folders you need for subsequent compression.

It is very convenient to use hot keys: “Ctrl” - to select files in different places in the list, or the “Shift” key - to select an entire part of the list of files and folders.

When the directory with files has been carefully selected in advance, and there is no need to select files for a multi-volume archive, you can simply select all files and folders using the “Select all” option


Next, click the “Add” button in the main menu of the Win-RAR program and proceed to specifying the archiving parameters


First, enter the name of the archive in the required field. Then we determine the compression algorithm - RAR or ZIP, specify the degree of compression of the archive and the need to delete archived files.

In general, there is nothing complicated here. Everything is extremely simple and clear. Perhaps you just need to clarify the meaning of the archiving method options


Choosing methods with good or maximum compression will provide higher file compression, but they will be slightly slower and will require more free memory.

All other archiving modes are faster, however, archived files will take up more disk space. Decide for yourself what is more important to you.

In addition, here you can also set the size of volumes in the multi-volume archive we create. This is what the Volume Size dialog box is for.


If it is important for you to take care of protecting the archive, you can do this on the “Advanced” tab.

Click the “Set a password” button and enter it twice in the corresponding tab windows, now all archive files will be encrypted.


When all the options are selected and defined, confidently click on “OK”, starting the compression process and creating a multi-volume archive. That's all.

It's not at all difficult to create archives with such a convenient tool as WinRAR.

Features of extracting multi-volume archives

Extracting a multi-volume archive always starts from the first volume, therefore, the entire archive saved on the hard drive must be placed in one folder.

The WinRAR archiver also creates ZIP archives. The volumes of such an archive have a corresponding extension: the first volume of the archive is zip, and all subsequent volumes are .z01, .z02, then .z03, etc.

By the way, to extract a ZIP archive using the Win-RAR archiver, you must have simultaneous access to all volumes of the ZIP archive.

That is why it is impossible to extract a multi-volume ZIP archive on removable storage media. If it is really necessary, then a multi-volume ZIP archive must be manually copied to removable media, and then, before extraction, reassembled in one folder on the computer’s hard drive.

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.

1. I can’t download the file - “Chinese characters” are displayed!

In general, a similar situation arises when you try to open a file for which the corresponding program is not installed on the system, for example, you open a PDF file, and the system does not have a program installed on the system to view this format.

This situation also occurs if the system directly tries to open an archive file without unpacking, or when an archiver program, for example, WinRar, is not installed on the computer, or when the archiver is installed but is not called automatically.

To avoid such an unpleasant situation, try to download all files as follows:

Tear off or unzip the file already after saving to disk.

In this case, the file will be downloaded, and not opened by the system (with subsequent “Chinese characters”)!

2. How to unpack an archive file in .rar or .zip format?

To unpack an archive file in .rar (or .zip) format, you need an archiver program, for example, WinRar, which can be easily downloaded on the program’s official website.

Follow the link provided (will open in a new window), find the Russian language on the page that opens and click on the link that corresponds to your system (32 or 64 bit) - a window will open that will prompt you to either save the installation program to your computer, or immediately run the WinRar installation program - select the option you need (usually the installation starts immediately).

After installing WinRar, you can unpack the necessary archives!

If, when you start the program, a window appears asking you to pay for the program, just ignore it and close the window, or you can pay, but this is optional :)

After launching WinRar, go to where the desired archive is located, select it with the mouse and click “Extract”, then indicate where you want to extract the files from the archive and click “OK”.

3. How to unpack an archive consisting of several parts?

If the archive consists of several parts, then you need to launch the WinRar program and go to the place where all parts of the archive are located (they should be located in one place, next to each other).

Then select the first archive with the mouse, press the key on the keyboard Shift and, without releasing it, click on the last archive. As a result, all parts of the archive will be highlighted. A similar effect can be achieved by holding down the Ctrl key, but in this case you will need to click on each part of the archive (with the Shift key it is much faster).

After selecting all parts of the archive, click the "Extract" button, indicate where you want to extract the files from the archive and click the "OK" button.

Then go to the folder with the unpacked files and use them!

4. When unpacking, an error appears - “Unexpected end of archive”!

A similar error is issued if, when downloading an archive file, a failure occurred or the connection was lost and the archive was not downloaded in its entirety.

In this case, the archive must either be downloaded or downloaded again.

Try to download files not through Internet Explorer, but through downloading programs or through Opera - it has the ability to resume downloading files in the event of any sudden failure, while in Internet Explorer there is no such option - you have to download the entire file again, which in most cases is very inconvenient!

And sometimes, due to constant interruptions, the file simply cannot be downloaded!

Also try to download one file at a time - the likelihood of failure is lower.

5. PDF document cannot be opened!

To view PDF documents, you need to install the appropriate program, for example, Adobe Reader.

This is the English version of Adobe Reader, but if you want to have menu items in Russian, then search the Internet for this program in Russian - you can easily find it using Yandex or Google. Look for Adobe Reader version 7 or higher!

After installing Adobe Reader, all PDF files will open!

6. Video is not displayed on the page!

If a video located on a web page does not play (sometimes there is just a black square instead of a video), this means that you need to install a flash player!

After installing Flash Player, the video will be displayed on the page!

7. The downloaded video does not play!

In this case, you do not have the appropriate video codecs installed that allow you to display a variety of video formats. One of the main codecs is DivX, which can be downloaded.

After installing DivX, the downloaded video should play!

If this does not help, download and install these codecs.

In addition, the Internet is full of multifunctional video codecs, which, once installed, will play video of any format! You can easily find similar programs through any search engine.

Using the program WinRAR. Let's now look at two more features of this program - archiving a file in parts, and creating a self-extracting archive.

Archiving a file in parts

If the file is large and it is impossible to transfer it due to size limitations of mail or a file hosting service, then you can split it into parts, more precisely, into several archives, and transfer these archives.

In the WinRAR program you can do archiving in parts. Let's do this now.

To archive files you will need WinRAR archiver installed. If you don’t have it, you can download the archiver from the link at the beginning of the article.

In the window My computer , or in the program Total Commander, right-click on the file that you want to archive in parts, and select the item in the context menu WinRAR - Add to archive . If you have an English version of the archiver, then you need to select Add to archive .

A window appears Archive name and parameters , in which you open the tab Are common, if it is not already open by default. In the English version of the archiver this tab is called General .

At the bottom, find the window under the item. In the English version the inscription will be Split to volumes, bytes .

In this window, enter the size of the parts into which your file will be divided.

For example, if you have a file of 6GB in size, and you need to split it into archives of 600 MB each, that is, into 10 archives, then enter the number 629145600 in the box, since 600 MB is equal to exactly this number of bytes: 1 MB is equal to 1024 KB, and 1KB is equal to 1024 bytes.

Now press the button OK. That's all, the file is archived and will be placed in several archives. The names of these archives will be the same as the name of the source file, with the addition of a dot ending: .part1, .part2, .part3 and so on.

You can safely transfer these archives, or keep them for yourself.

Combining them into one file is also very simple. Place all these archives in one folder, and unzip any of them. You don't need to unzip them all, just one is enough. All the parts will then come together, and you will have a complete file.

Self-extracting archive

You've probably seen some archives that you could double-click on to automatically unarchive them? There is no need to right-click and look for unzipping items. You don’t even need to have the program itself - an archiver for unpacking. Everything is inside such an archive.

The self-extracting archive has the extension exe. To extract such an archive, you double-click on it with the left mouse button, and in the window that appears, select the location where this archive will be unpacked.

If the destination folder is left as default, the archive will be unpacked into the same folder where it is located, which is very convenient.

Now let's figure out how to create such an archive. Everything is very simple. In folder My computer , or in the program Total Commander, right-click on the file or folder that you want to archive, and then select WinRAR - Add to archive .

Naturally, you must have WinRAR installed. Next, put a tick next to the item Create SFX archive , and press OK .

The abbreviation SFX stands for self-extracting, and is translated from English as self-extracting .

Upon completion of archiving, you receive this archive in the same folder where the original file or folder is located.

Self-extracting archive in parts

You can also archive the file in parts so that the first archive is self-extracting. This can be easily done by combining the method of archiving a file in parts with the method of creating a self-extracting archive.

Right-click on the file and select WinRAR - Add to archive , and in the window at point Divide into volumes of size (in bytes) specify the size of the archives. And on the right side, put a tick in front of the item Create SFX archive . Next click OK .

The self-extracting archive will be ready in parts.

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Greetings!
Archiving files does not lose its popularity and remains a highly sought-after feature. In this regard, quite often users have to deal with both the most common types of archives ZIP, RAR, 7Z, and the much rarer GZ, ACE, ARJ, etc.

In this article we will look at several simple and popular methods, using which you can quickly unpack the archive you are interested in.

How to unpack a ZIP archive using standard Windows tools

The Windows operating system has built-in basic functionality for working with ZIP archives. Thanks to this, you can extract the ZIP archive without installing any third-party software.

To unpack a ZIP archive, you need to right-click on it and select the item in the context menu that appears Extract everything...

As a result, a system window will be displayed in which you can optionally specify the path to unpack the files, and if you leave everything as is, the archive will be unpacked into the folder where the archive itself is located.

Also by checking the box Show extracted files, upon completion, a file manager window will open in which these same files will be displayed.

It should be noted that to open a file located in an archive, it is not necessary to unpack the archive itself; you just need to go into it through Explorer and run the required file.

Unpacking (extracting) files from an archive using 7-ZIP

In addition to ZIP archives, there are others, for example, the very popular format RAR. To work with RAR and other types of archives, we will need to install the appropriate software.

Among the free and popular solutions, the 7-ZIP program can be especially noted. This archiver supports unpacking many different archive formats: RAR, 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RPM, UDF, WIM , XAR and Z.

As you can see, the list is very extensive.

This archiver can be downloaded from the official website.

Unpacking the desired archive is as simple here as in the case of using the standard feature that the Windows operating system offers when working with ZIP archives.

By right-clicking on the archive, a context menu will be displayed, in which go to the 7-ZIP submenu and select the appropriate item:

Unpack

Unpack here

Unzip to “Folder Name”

In the column Unpack to the unpacking path is specified.

Option Paths is responsible for the structure of the unpacked archive, and if, for example, you select the option Without paths, then the archive files will be unpacked into one folder, even if they were initially located in their own subfolders in the archive.

Option Overwriting

Extracting the necessary files from the archive is available not only through the context menu, but also through the interface of the archiver itself. Having opened the required archive in 7-ZIP, select the necessary files, and then click on the button Extract.

Unpacking (extracting) files from an archive using WinRar

Another very well-known and widely used archiver is WinRar.

This archiver has an equally extensive list of supported archive types: RAR, ZIP, ZIPX, CAB, ARJ, LZH, ACE, TAR, JAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZIP2, XZ, Z and 7-Zip.

You can read about where to download it and how to install it in the article.

The general principle of working with the program is similar to the 7-ZIP archiver described above.

To unpack the desired archive, just right-click on the archive and select one of the options in the context menu that appears:

Extract files…– an unpacking dialog will open with path selection and other options.

Extract to current folder– unpack the archive into the current folder.

Extract to “Folder Name”– unpacking the archive into a folder that will bear the name of the archive.

When you select the second or third item, the archive will be unpacked, and if you select the first item, a dialog box will be displayed in which you can set additional parameters.

Option Update Mode sets the file unpacking mode:

Unpack and replace files– if the folder where the unpacking takes place already contains the same files as in the archive, then they will be replaced with them.

Unpack and update files– similar to the point above, only files that have an older creation/modification date will be replaced.

Only update existing files– only those already in the unpacking folder will be updated with files from the archive, the rest will not be unpacked at all.

Option Overwrite mode is responsible for overwriting or saving existing files, if any arise during the process of unpacking the archive.

Of the significant options, one cannot fail to note the item Do not delete files extracted with errors . This option is useful if the downloaded or otherwise obtained archive is damaged.

This option can save the situation when working with broken archives because... during normal unpacking, WinRar will give an error and will not even try to extract anything.

Naturally, the final result will depend on the degree of damage to the unpacked archive.

Extracting the necessary files from the archive is available not only through the context menu, but also through the interface of the archiver itself. Having opened the required archive in WinRar, select the necessary files, and then click on the button Extract...

If you are used to working with archives through the program interface, then you may want to use the Windows context menu.

Please note: when installing a 7-ZIP or WinRar archiver, most likely the context menu item Extract..., responsible for working with ZIP archives, will disappear from Windows Explorer.
This is due to the fact that the archiver undertakes work with both this type of archive and others.

Unpacking a multi-volume (split) archive

The creation of a multi-volume archive is resorted to in order to split one very large file into several acceptable and equal-sized parts, for example, for subsequent placement on the Internet.

A typical multi-volume archive consists of several files identical in name, which, however, differ in extension, for example: doc.z01, doc.z02, doc.z03 or doc.part1, doc.part2, doc.part3 or doc.001, doc.002, doc.003, etc.

To unpack a multi-volume archive, all parts will be required, otherwise unpacking will not be successful. A multi-volume archive does not have any other differences.

To unpack such an archive, you must specify the first file to the archiver: .z01, .part1, .001, etc.

However, it also happens that the main file in a multi-volume archive is a file with a “classic” extension. Then point it to the archiver, and the remaining parts will be pulled up automatically.

Brief summary

In this material, I tried to most fully answer the question of how to easily and quickly unpack both the most popular types of archives ZIP, RAR, 7Z, as well as rare ones.

If we talk about working with ZIP archives, you can use the feature built into the Windows operating system. And for working with other types of archives, popular archivers were given and described in detail - WInRar and 7-Zip

If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.