How to restore Windows default Zip file functionality?

I recently lost the default file association for Zip files in Windows Vista (I think it happened when I uninstalled WinAce, but I can't be completely sure). How can I restore this association back to the Windows default?

Brian

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 770

Answers

Try this article from MSDN: How to restore the native Zip file integration in Windows. You only have to do this from an elevated (run as administrator) command prompt:

cmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder

alex

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 16 172

This works in Windows 7, but doesn't seem to restore the icon – Casebash – 2010-04-08T23:34:55.127

4It restored the icon for me in Windows 7, but what was not mentioned for me is that you need to run cmd as Administrator. – Curyous – 2011-03-24T21:50:58.490

That link refers another article (http://windowsxp.mvps.org/zipfldr.htm) which says you may need to do the regsvr32 step from my answer first and use this association if that does not suffice.

– nik – 2009-09-04T07:42:42.620

The first post is the long way to perform this three step process... Here is a simple and easy way to change the file association back to Windows Explorer:

Locate the file
Right click the file
Click properties
Locate the "open with" button and click it
Browse to the windows explorer to "c:\windows\explorer" and highlight the explorer file
Check use as default-apply-ok

Kimchi

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 101

It doesn't get any simpler than this, worked for me! – Sonata – 2015-10-29T17:25:44.930

This works for me in Windows 7:

Remove

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip

cmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder

End Result:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip]
@="CompressedFolder"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\OpenWithList]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\OpenWithProgids]
"CompressedFolder"=hex(0):

fwdtk

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 71

1Worked for me as well in windows 10. Running step 2 by itself did not work. – Kevin Tighe – 2016-02-10T19:25:14.673

Can also confirm that it worked in Windows 10. I previously had PeaZip installed, but uninstalling it didn't restore default .zip file association. This worked like a charm. – LoneWolffe – 2016-05-25T16:10:44.490

I had the same problem and this worked for me:

Click the Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories and right-click Command Prompt, then "Run as Administrator".
Type assoc .zip=CompressedFolder and press Enter.
You may have to restart the computer.

moh

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 31

The best way is to try using the Open With... context menu to set Explorer to be the default file handler.

However, if that does not work you can try the following to force Explorer to handle ZIP file. (Source for this info)

Make a .reg file with the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip]
"PerceivedType"="compressed"
"Content Type"="application/x-zip-compressed"
@="CompressedFolder"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\CompressedFolder]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\UserChoice]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\CompressedFolder\ShellNew]
"Data"=hex:50,4b,05,06,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\
6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\
00,7a,00,69,00,70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,39,00,34,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\OpenWithProgids]
"CompressedFolder"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder]
@="Compressed (zipped) Folder"
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,7a,00,69,00,70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,39,00,35,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\CLSID]
@="{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,7a,00,69,00,\
70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell]
@="none"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find]
"SuppressionPolicy"=dword:00000080

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec]
@="[FindFolder(\"%l\", %I)]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec\application]
@="Folders"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec\topic]
@="AppProperties"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\Open\Command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,00,25,00,49,00,2c,\
00,25,00,4c,00,00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\{b8cdcb65-b1bf-4b42-9428-1dfdb7ee92af}]
@="Compressed (zipped) Folder Menu"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\DropHandler]
@="{ed9d80b9-d157-457b-9192-0e7280313bf0}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\StorageHandler]
@="{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31}"

Then, in an admin command prompt type:

regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

One other suggestion I have seen is to simply go into the Default Programs editor in Control Panel and removing the association you currently have. However, this was for XP and I'm not sure that it will work for Vista. However, you may want to try this before playing around the registry.

Dan Walker

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 8 869

Oh my -- surely there's an easier way. I already tried removing the past associations (or rather, adding some back and then removing them, since there was nothing of value there once I got to looking.) – Brian – 2009-09-04T05:28:05.777

Try binding the Windows Compressed Folders Module directly,

start regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

_{Or, you could just install 7-zip which is free and much more powerful.}

nik

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 50 788

-1

The quickest way is to get any .zip file and right click on it, go down to "Open with" and choose "Choose Default Program" or "other" then on this box, you should see "Windows Explorer" or whatever you used to use listed.

Click the button "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" at the bottom and then double click on the program you want to use.

This should then open up ZIP files in a new default program.

If this method does not work, I can give you the manual instructions for reassigning .zip with Explorer, but this is by far the quickest.

William Hilsum

Posted 2009-09-04T04:56:42.877

Reputation: 111 572

No dice. Already tried to manually associate Zip files with explorer.exe, and the that sort of worked, but it didn't restore the "Extract All" context menu, or the general "treat zip files like folders" functionality. – Brian – 2009-09-04T05:25:21.523