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    • PA 21.00.18 testing via context menu causes extraction of files

      D

      When the function for testing archives is invoked via the shell context menu (PowerArchiver > Test) then all the files in the archive get extracted to the current folder.

      The test dialog reports as many errors as there are files in the archive but it fails to give any hint as to which files are supposed to be erroneous or what the nature of the problem might be. Comparing the extracted files to the originals shows no differences at all.

      The .7z in question was produced with maximised compression settings in 7zip (taking forever but resulting in smaller archives than .7z produced by PowerArchiver with maximised settings). Therefore I wanted to see whether PowerArchiver can at least test .7z that it produced itself. Hence I had PowerArchiver convert a .pa with the same contents to .7z. There weren’t any errors reported but the resulting .7z contained fewer than half of the files contained in the .pa (137 of 366), so I scratched that test.

      Performance is abysmal when testing via the context menu (e.g. almost 2 minutes for testing a .7z that 7zip tests in 4 seconds), but that is most likely due to the fact that the extracted files are written to disk. Testing the same .7z in the PowerArchiver GUI takes only 8 seconds but causes the mysterious appearance of a UAC dialog, as reported elsewhere.

      The testing function is vital because PowerArchiver has a history of producing archives that it cannot unpack without errors or that do not conform to the respective file format standards (e.g. ZIP) so that other programs report them as erroneous.

      The point of creating archives is that the files in them will most likely have to be extracted at some point. If the extraction cannot be guaranteed to produce correct results then the whole program is absolutely pointless. Actually, worse than pointless - it causes data loss and hence damage.

      Tech Support
    • Start PowerArchiver 2023 Starter when my computer starts

      Brian Gregory

      In PowerArchiver 2023 22.00.06 configuration, the option labelled “Start PowerArchiver 2023 Starter when my computer starts” seems to be redundant.

      I am only allowed to change this option when PA Starter is disabled, and then it seems to be ignored.

      When I enable PA Starter this option is forced to the enabled state.

      I think it’d be good to remove “Start PowerArchiver 2023 Starter when my computer starts” completely. I’ve always found it confusing having both options.

      Added later: However i don’t particularly want to use queue but I do like having the PAStarter icon in my tray area.

      Tech Support
    • Testing .pa archives

      PA_Fan

      W10 Pro 22H2 - 64 -bit

      PA 22.00.06 (PA 2023)

      It has been the case with previous versions of PowerArchiver, but I had hoped that the latest might behave differently. Not so, I’m afraid.

      I have, for various obscure reasons, created a few .pa archives, mainly in the hope that they will save me some more space. From time to time, I use the “Test” option to check that important archives are OK and uncorrupted.

      With every .pa archive I’ve tested, the process runs through OK but then reports that there are errors. This is always the number of files in the archive e.g. if 11 files, then 11 errors reported.

      In the .pa, I can:-

      preview the files (usually PDF) extract some or all files and look at or use them convert the .pa to a .zip or .zipx archive, which then works fine and tests without errors

      Is it the case that the Test routine isn’t designed for .pa archives, or is there another reason? Although the .pa seems to function properly, despite the test reporting errors, I would like to be sure that every .pa is OK and not “broken”.

      Some of the .pas are quite old and produced with earlier PA versions (they are truly “archives”). If I extract all the files in the old .pa, create a new, fresh .pa and add back the files to that, then test the new, no errors (at least in the .pa I’ve tried this on) are reported. This would suggest a mismatch between old .pas and newer versions of PA itself.

      Tech Support
    • PA 21.00.18 Action / Test behaves oddly for me on .PA files

      Brian Gregory

      PA 21.00.18 running on Windows 7 64 bit.
      I made a big .PA file and thought I’d check it was made correctly with Menu / Actions / Test.
      Discovered:
      a) PA always issues a UAC prompt to do this!
      b) PA always says there are many errors in PA files.

      Tech Support
    • Small UI / Theme bug in 2023

      Z

      Clipboard02.jpg

      See the, supposedly, blank space where the green box is? It’s like that in Modern Light theme too. I can toggle it, but it’s missing text or shouldn’t be there I guess?

      Thanks :)

      Tech Support
    • PowerArchiver and PACL for macOS

      spwolf

      Dear @Alpha-Testers and all of our users,

      time has come for testing of PowerArchiver and PACL for macOS.
      Please let us know here if you have Mac and can test latest builds.

      Features implemented:
      PowerArchiver 2020 - tabbing, opening, extracting, adding, testing, favorite folders, support for multiple languages, opening via Finder, explorer mode, installer.
      PACL 10 - support for most formats and features in Windows version.

      Upcoming: Tools such as archive converter, batch zip, multi-extract.

      To start testing, please sign up here in this thread, and we will send you latest build.

      thank you!

      Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h54m56s_008_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h55m05s_009_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h55m14s_010_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h55m30s_011_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h55m39s_012_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h55m49s_013_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h56m00s_014_.png Ashampoo_Snap_Wednesday, November 20, 2019_12h54m43s_007_.png

      76e97ab9-8d75-4175-9ce8-446500031f38-image.png

      Tech Support
    • Functions in Windows 11 context menu no longer work after last Windows Update

      T

      For some reason, the PowerArchiver functions in the Windows 11 context menu no longer work after the last Windows Update. Only the functions in the classic context menu function as they should.

      I’ve tried uninstalling PowerArchiver and using RevoUninstaller to remove all bits and pieces that were left behind and did a clean install of PowerArchiver, it didn’t fix the issue. Other items in the Windows 11 context menu work.

      Tech Support

    Bug - Compression method 99

    Tech Support
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    • C
      csohns last edited by

      When adding a file to a zip archive from Action-Add, when Method ‘Deflate’ is selected, it’s saved into the archive as ‘compression method’ 99 (unknown) instead of 08 (deflate). This causes issues with Windows Explore native Zip reader, it can’t extract the file.

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      • C
        csohns last edited by

        Same goes for right-clicking on a file, selecting ‘Compress with Options’ (we encrypt with AES128, if that matters). The file is also method 99

        This is the debug info `zipinfo’ gives me when I parse the archive’s header.

        The central-directory extra field contains:

        • A subfield with ID 0x9901 (unknown) and 7 data bytes:
          02 00 41 45 01 08 00.
        spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • spwolf
          spwolf conexware last edited by

          can you please confirm what version of PA and what version of Windows? Also, what did you use to check compression method?

          I quickly checked and it seems fine… shows as deflate and opens up in Windows Explorer.

          Thanks!

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          • spwolf
            spwolf conexware @csohns last edited by

            @csohns:

            Same goes for right-clicking on a file, selecting ‘Compress with Options’ (we encrypt with AES128, if that matters). The file is also method 99

            This is the debug info `zipinfo’ gives me when I parse the archive’s header.

            The central-directory extra field contains:

            • A subfield with ID 0x9901 (unknown) and 7 data bytes:
              02 00 41 45 01 08 00.

            Now I see your 2nd post… so basically reason this does not work is that Windows does not support AES encryption… the library that they use is very old and company went out of business, thus their zip support is limited.

            Just to make sure something new did not happen, I checked with WinZip, SecureZIP and few other ZIP programs and Windows will not read any of them… I was using latest 8.1 release.

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            • C
              csohns @spwolf last edited by

              My apologies, I’m new to this whole “reporting a bug” thing.

              PA 15.01.05
              Windows 7 SP1, full updates.

              This issue has been reproduced on 2 separate systems, both are the same OS and PA version.

              I can reproduce this by using any of the AES encryption ciphers, it doesn’t happen with the old 2.04g cipher and non-encrypted files.

              This is an example file. Explorer isn’t able to open the first AES file.
              http://hackthegibson.net/tmp/test%20file.zip

              On the broken AES file (exact duplicate of the other AES file), also notice the ‘packed’ size is different and the ‘CRC’ is blank in PA.

              Everything works properly when I drag-drop the file into the archive, Windows 7 can read AES128.

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              • C
                csohns @csohns last edited by

                I’ve pasted the full output of `zipinfo’ to http://pastebin.com/Vsvbmq9w

                Look at file #3:
                test file encrypted aes128.txt
                compression method: unknown (99)
                32-bit CRC value (hex): 00000000

                While the functioning AES128 file, #4, reads as:
                test file encrypted aes128 - WORKS.txt
                compression method: deflated
                32-bit CRC value (hex): 20e267dd

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                • spwolf
                  spwolf conexware last edited by

                  can you cab that file and send it to us via email? support@conexware.com
                  I cant download it from that site for some reason.

                  Are you sure that zip crypto is not being used in the case where it works? You can check method in PowerArchiver, right click on any of the list view columns and click on Method.

                  Thanks a lot!

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                  • C
                    csohns @spwolf last edited by

                    All the files show as “DFLT-X”

                    As requested, the cab file has been emailed.

                    spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • spwolf
                      spwolf conexware @csohns last edited by

                      @csohns:

                      All the files show as “DFLT-X”

                      As requested, the cab file has been emailed.

                      thanks - I will check it out and let you know.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • spwolf
                        spwolf conexware last edited by

                        Chris - how did you create one that works, via drag and drop? There seems to be a problem there, since that file is encrypted using zip crypto method (from 2.04g spec).

                        Keep in mind that there is a central and local directory in zip archive. Now our compression guys are already out, but I would not be surprised if this is done for compatibility reasons, so you would not try to enter password for unknown encryption dozen times.

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                        • spwolf
                          spwolf conexware last edited by

                          i have written bug report for drag & drop - zip crypto creation… this should be corrected in next upcoming release, which should be quite soon. I will update this thread once we have that ready… thanks a lot for the report.

                          I am also setting up Win7 test computer to see if it actually supports aes, unfortunately i dont think thats the case - it was likely just confusion due to the bug in drag and drop.

                          thank you!!!

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                          • C
                            csohns @spwolf last edited by

                            Correct, it worked when I used drag & drop. Thanks for finding the issue!

                            spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • spwolf
                              spwolf conexware @csohns last edited by

                              @csohns:

                              Correct, it worked when I used drag & drop. Thanks for finding the issue!

                              sorry about that Chris but big thanks for the report.

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                              • spwolf
                                spwolf conexware last edited by

                                Here is the updated PA 2015 15.02.1 which fixes the bug with zipcrypto instead of AES when using drag and drop:
                                http://www.powerarchiver.com/test/release15/powarc150201.exe

                                thank you for the report!

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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