Fix: Windows Cannot Complete the Extraction
When your hard disk stops to work due mechanical or electronic problem, you will need to change hard disk. We are recommending you to purchase compatible hard disk with your notebook. After you install hard disk in your notebook, you will need to do clean installation of Windows operating system and all applications you need for daily work. If you do not install application to open proper files, you could not open that files. One of the data you will use are compressed data. By default, you can open compressed files using Windows Explorer or File Explorer which are integrated in Windows. Also, you can open compressed data by using third party software including WinRAR, WinZIP, 7-Zip or others. What you will use depends from your decision.
One of the issue end users are having is opening compressed data with Windows Explorer or File Explorer. They got error that Windows Explorer or File Explorer can not open .zip file. There are few reasons for this problem including corrupted or invalid .zip file, registry problem, Antivirus blocks running .zip files and others.
There are few methods which can help you to solve your issues.
Method 1: Try to open another .zip file
If you are trying to open compressed file and you get error, please try to open another .zip file. Why should you do that? If there is a problem with Windows Explorer, problem will be still there. But sometimes, your .zip file can be corrupted or invalid and because of that you can not open that file using Windows Explorer or File Explorer, or third-party software.
Method 2: Move .zip file to another location
If your .zip file is in a protected area, you should try to move .zip file into one of your user profile subfolders, like Downloads, Documents, Pictures or another folder. After that try to open .zip file with Windows Explorer or File Explorer.
Method 3: Disable McAfee WebAdvisor
If you are using McAfee WebAdvisor on your computer, you need to uninstall it through Program and Features applet. Why should you do that? McAfee WebAdvisor can block opening compression data on your computer. At first you will need to uninstall it, if problem is still there, you can install software again. Few users solved problem with .zip files by disabling or uninstalling McAfee WebAdvisor. Before uninstallation procedure you need to close all Internet browsers.
- Hold Windows logo and press R
- Type appwiz.cpl and press Enter
- Program and Features will open, where you need to select McAfee WebAdvisor
- Click Uninstall/Change to remove McAfee WebAdvisor. Please wait until the current program is finished uninstalling.
- New windows will open when you need to click No thanks, just uninstall it.
If you are not using McAfee WebAdvisor, you need to disable Antivirus Real time protection. How you will do it? Please check technical documentation from vendor. Terminology is the same, you need to find antivirus on right side of Windows taskbar. Right click to antivirus and choose Disable Real time protection.
Method 4: Install 7-zip
As we said you in beginning of this article you can open .zip files with Windows Explorer, File Explorer or third party software. There is different type of software, from shareware and freeware applications. If you do not have a budget for buying software, there is always alternative which is free. We are recommending you to use software named 7-zip which is free and which provides compression of your data. 7-zip is open source software which you do not need to register or pay. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization.
Some of the 7-zip features are:
- High compression ration in 7z format
- AES 256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
- Powerful File Manager and command line interface
- Available in 87 languages
- Supported by Windows XP, 2000, XP, VISTA, 7, 8, 10 and Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2012
First step before using 7-zip is to download software from official website which is available on this LINK, where you can also learn more information about 7-zip. When you open website, you will need to select proper 7-zip file. The latest version available on 7-zip website is 7-Zip 16.04 (2016-10-04). If you are using Windows 7 32-bit, you will need to download .exe file for 32-bit – x86. If you are using Windows 7 64-bit, you will need to download .exe file for 64-bit – x64. Please note that you can install 32-bit application on x64 operating system, but you can not do it vice versa. In next text, we will show you how to download and install 7-zip on your computer.
- Open Internet browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, IE or other)
- Open website https://www.7-zip.org/
- Download proper .exe file. As we said in previous text, if you are using 32bit operating system you will need to download 32-bit x86 .exe file, if you are using 64-bit operating system, you will need to download 64-bit x64 .exe file, by clicking on Download link
- Double click on 7-zip setup file and click Install
- After Windows, finished installation click Close
- Click on Start menu and type 7-zip
- Press Enter to run software
- Right click to compressed file and click Properties
- Under Open with click Change…
- Click More apps and then click Look for another app on this PC
- Navigate to following location C:\Program Files\7-Zip
- Choose 7zFM and then click Open
- Click Apply and then OK
