How to extract ZIP files in Windows

This how‑to describes methods for extracting .zip files in Windows.

Windows Explorer may not be able to extract .zip archives containing files with unsupported characters or file paths that exceed the Windows maximum path length. This results from Windows file system limitations and does not usually indicate archive corruption.

Use the following methods to extract files from affected archives:

• 7-Zip, a free, open-source tool for managing compressed files and is the recommended option for extracting files.
• PowerShell.

Use 7-Zip (recommended)

To extract files using 7-Zip,

1. Download and install 7-Zip from the official website
2. Right-click the .zip file.
3. Select 7-Zip 
4. Select “Extract Here” or “Extract to <folder name>” 

Use PowerShell

You can use PowerShell to extract .zip files.

To extract .zip files with PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell (press Win + X, then select “Windows PowerShell”).
2. Navigate to the folder containing your .zip files (e.g. PowerShell cd):

cd 'C:\Path\To\Your\Downloads'

1. Extract the archive using the following command (replace file and folder names as needed):

Expand-Archive -Path "artifacts.zip" -DestinationPath ".\artifacts_extracted"
Expand-Archive -Path "logs.zip" -DestinationPath ".\logs_extracted"