ZIP File Support - Restore

How to Restore the Built-in ZIP File Support in Vista​

   Information

This will show you how to restore the built-in ZIP file support in Vista by restoring the ZIP file association.

   Note

You may have used a program like WinZip, WinRar, or some other Zip program and Vista will now not go back to it's default Zip handler in explorer after you uninstalled the other program.

   Tip

If when you try to open a ZIP folder and it does not open in a Windows Explorer window, then turn on Compressed Folders. See related link below for how.

   Warning

This must be done while logged on to a administrator account.

Here's How:

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1. Click on the download button below and save the zipfix_vista.reg file to your desktop.​

NOTE: This also contains the reg file to turn on Compressed Folders.​

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2. Right click on the downloaded zipfix_vista.reg file and click on Merge.​

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3. Click on the Run button in the Security Warning pop-up. (See screenshot below)​

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4. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.​

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5. When done, you can delete the downloaded zipfix_vista.reg file if you like.​

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6. Restart the computer to apply changes.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn Compressed Folders On or Off in Vista
• Restore Default Vista File Extension Type Associations
• How To Zip (Compress) a File or Folder in Windows
• How to Enable or Disable Zip Extracted Show Files Window

 

[Brink]

Hello Gus, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I only have the "Extract All" option as well. This is normal. To extract a specific file or files, you would open the ZIP file, select the file(s) you want to extract, drag them from the ZIP file, and drop them where you want them to be copied to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[guswin7]

Hello Gus, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I only have the "Extract All" option as well. This is normal. To extract a specific file or files, you would open the ZIP file, select the file(s) you want to extract, drag them from the ZIP file, and drop them where you want them to be copied to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

strange. all my PCs have the Extract..." feature if i drag a zip file with right click.
see attachments with pic1 being just a right click, and pic2 being a drag and right click. These were from my laptop which works ok. My main PC did this since new, now it's stopped. Only thing that's change is i installed winzip (without shell extensions) but this is now uninstalled.

EDIT: just realised i'm in wrong forum as i'm win7! sorry about that

 

[Brink]

This is what I have when you right click on a file in a opened ZIP folder in Windows 7.

 

[guswin7]

This is what I have when you right click on a file in a opened ZIP folder in Windows 7.

View attachment 25333

sorry i'm meaning when right clicking on the zip file itself, not a file inside a zip.

so right clicking and drag a zip file, then let go right click. what do you see?

 

[Brink]

Ah, ok.

I have these, but the "Extract" option from right-click drag and drop does the same thing as "Extract All".

Right click hold on ZIP - Drag - Drop:


Right click on ZIP:

 

[guswin7]

Ah, ok.

I have these, but the "Extract" option from right-click drag and drop does the same thing as "Extract All".

Right click hold on ZIP - Drag - Drop:
View attachment 25335

Right click on ZIP:
View attachment 25334

yes, and that is what i'm after. It's just quicker really to drag and drop to a location to unzip to. rather than click extract all and then browse to a location. It's sound stupid i guess. but it is quicker, believe me :-)

any ideas why mine is missing?

cheers

 

[Brink]

I must admit that I'm not sure why it's no longer there.

Where are you dragging and dropping the ZIP file to?

 

[richat]

i really need help trying to get zip files to work
not that good with the PC lingo
thanks
richat

 

[townsbg]

Have you tried this tutorial? What are you trying to do and what error are you experiencing? It's kind of hard for us to help you troubleshoot a problem without knowing what's going on.

 

[MusiCelt]

I just downloaded zipfix_vista, ran it, and then nothing followed...no dialog box in which to click "continue," "yes" and "OK." Any suggestions, please? Thank you.

Since that didn't work, I just downloaded PowerArchiver.exe, and when I tried to run it, got this dialog box: "Installer Error: Unable to initialize installer GUI." Crikey, this is becoming a real hassle, just to extract some zipped files. How can I fix this?
(I'd like to just dump Vista and buy Windows 7 or 8, but my laptop can't take them.)

 

[Brink]

Hello MusiCelt, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You may have just clicked on "Cancel" or pressed Enter to "Cancel" by mistake when you ran the .reg file.

 

[jmruppel]

Re: ZIP file in Vista

Hi Altkon,

Welcome to the forum.

It appears that you are having more than just a Zip problem. If you have a Vista installation DVD and not a Recovery (clone) DVD, then I would recommend that you do a Repair Install. It'll only take around 25 minutes. This will allow you to repair your Vista installation without losing your files, settings, and programs.

How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista

Shawn

hi Shawn:

I'm having the exact same problem, and I believe your solution would be a fix for me as well; however, when I click on the download button, it opens up a new internet page that is blank. So, I'm not able to open the file that I'm supposed to save to the desktop. I'm not sure what the problem is... I've tried clicking the download link in both Chrome and Firefox, and both of them do the same thing-- bring me to a blank web page. Please help!

 

[Brink]

Hello Jm, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It's actually a link to a tutorial instead. Here it is again below to see if you may be able to go to it.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

 

[jmruppel]

repair built-in zip file support in Vista

Hi Shawn:

I think I quoted the wrong reply before, which was confusing. So, what I'm trying to do is get to the zipfix_vista.reg file in order to "merge" into my current registry. I'm basically trying to follow steps 1-6 listed at the top of this page: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/65254-zip-file-support-restore.html. However, in step #1, when I click on that download button, it just brings me to a blank web page (the address is http://www.vistax64.com/attachments...590-zip-file-support-restore-zipfix_vista.reg, but the page contains no content), so I'm unable to get the zipfix_vista.reg file that has been successful for others. Does this link only work with certain browsers?

Thank you!

 

[xtiansimon]

I can't say why, but the download button (above) for the *.reg file didn't work for me. It opens a new tab. I was able to download this file using other means, but the merge didn't work and resulted in a "Registry Editor" Error, "The specified file is not a registry script".

I arrived at this page from a forum post [1] where another featured link and its *.reg files did download. Maybe there's an error in the file?

 

[Brink]

Hello Simon, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Hmm, not sure what happened, but it should be working now. Please try again.

Sorry about that.

 

[ilikefree]

Try right clicking the file and click save link as