Windows 11 zipped folders / files immediately crashes File Explorer

Anonymous
2022-01-24T04:24:45+00:00

My Dell laptop was previously Windows 10, now 11. When I right click any zipped folder, it immediately crashes Windows Explorer, but then everything comes back. I can't unzip any zipped file at all - doesn't seem to matter what size it is.

I was trying to use the built-in unzipper utility in Windows, and when that didn't work I tried a couple 3rd party apps, including WinZip. Nothing works; they all crash, and they crash on ANY zipped file I have.

And by the way if I try to ZIP any set of files - even just 3 little word files, it does the same thing. The screen flashes, all my icons go away for a second. Then things come back, but nothing will zip or unzip.

thanks if you have any ideas!

Christine

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

120 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-24T23:02:14+00:00

    If anyone is still having this problem, I solved it by removing the registry key associated with .zip file context menu.

    Win+R

    regedit <enter>

    navigate to, and remove HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.zip

    close regedit

    If you want pretty icon etc again then go to default apps and assign one.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-09-09T09:26:57+00:00

    Hello, same problem here ...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-17T19:21:22+00:00

    I've been having the same issue... I did find that if you can save your zip folder to your desktop you can unzip from there, but if you try to do it anywhere else it will crash... I tried to have my downloads save to my desktop, but wasn't able to figure that out... So if I download a zip folder from the internet, I can usually quickly cut and paste from the downloads folder onto my desktop. It won't always work, sometimes you aren't quick enough, but this is the best workaround I've found, as zip folders aren't going away any time soon. MICROSOFT, PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE. It is very cumbersome having to reopen all of my folders when the windows explorer crashes when this happens, and I'd like to not have to do workaround for the next few years.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-10-10T02:40:21+00:00

    Worked for me!

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-10-18T19:47:35+00:00

    I encountered a similar issue (sometime it appears when I right click and choose "Show other options...") and I have CS4 Collection.

    But I resolved it by enabling a specific Windows OS feature.

    3 steps :

    1. Go in Files Folder options (Options de l'Explorateur de fichiers),
    2. Select Display (Affichage) tab
    3. Check " Open folders windows in a different process "

    Normally it allows Windows to have :

    • A process for general File Explorer
    • A process for opened folder

    I though it could prevent a total explorer crash at right click (only the window folder one), but it was better : the explorer crash didn't happened anymore.

    Maybe it could help somebody else.

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments