Windows 11 zipped folders / files immediately crashes File Explorer

Hi!

I've found a way to fix this error, no matter what's causing it.

First of all - uninstall any software that handles ZIP-files.

The goal is to make Windows (10 or 11) responsible for extracting.

Then open an elevated command shell/terminal. (As Administrator)

Then type:

regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll

and then again (without /u):

regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

In most cases this should work without a reboot - but sometimes you need to reboot for this to work.
I've tested it on several computers with the same problem - and explorer.exe stopped crashing after this.

You might get an error message in some cases:

In that case, then open an elevated Powershell (Administrator) and type: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

It will take a while, but when it's finished, type sfc /scannow and make sure that your OS is healthy.
Then retry unregistering and registering zipfldr.dll

I had the same problem but resolved it by following steps.

Open your CMD and type

ipconfig /flushdns

hit enter

Thank you for the solution, it worked for this issue on my PC (Windows 11).

Please note: Open CMD as administrator.

After trying dnsflush trick, it was unfortunately not a long fix.

Then I follow this : Maybe there is a broken shell extension? Download shellexview from nirsoft and disable extensions that weren't created by microsoft. Then restart explorer and test for problem. If the problem is fixed enable extensions one by one until you find the culprit.

I then find the culprit was PDF24 for me. Uninstall and reinstalled et voila !!!

Hope this can help to solve your problem, fixing this was not long at all with shellxview.

Finally solved it and would like to describe my approach!

1. I used the above mentioned DNS Flush without an effect.
2. I used SFC /scannow which resulted in a lot of repairs in my Windows 11 environment.
3. I found that Microsoft has changed the context menu handler for compressed files " zipfldr.dll " .

As a result the PDF24 Shell extension was causing this crash.

Using shellexview I disabled the PDF Shell Extension provided by PDF24.

Result:

I am able to zip and unzip again, or right click to files with the extension .zip.

As I am paying for acrobat this is my standard pdf program.

To use PDF24 tools I can right click and select the desired pdf operation.

So all elements involved are working fine now.

After trying dnsflush trick, it was unfortunately not a long fix.

Then I follow this : Maybe there is a broken shell extension? Download shellexview from nirsoft and disable extensions that weren't created by microsoft. Then restart explorer and test for problem. If the problem is fixed enable extensions one by one until you find the culprit.

I then find the culprit was PDF24 for me. Uninstall and reinstalled et voila !!!

Hope this can help to solve your problem, fixing this was not long at all with shellxview.

Hey, that was a solution for me! PDF24 uninstalled and it is working again! Many thanks!

Removing PDF24 solved the problem!!