Do I need to buy the winzip again?

[hz363]

      Hello all:

      I am posting an non-HP question.

      Maybe 2-3 months ago, I bought a winzip V21. Recently, I clean-installed my w10, the winzip was cleaned.

      What's the way to recover the winzip?  Do I need to buy it again???      -- Zhao

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

You should have gotten a license key to use, and you can go to winzip, download the software and use the key you purchased to activate the software.

http://www.winzip.com/win/en/landing/prodpagewz.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1.0...

I use this free file utility which to me is as good as winzip is...

http://www.7-zip.org/

[Huffer]

When you bought Winzip they usually send you an email with an install Code. Do you still have that? 

[Ken1943]

Just for your information, there is a freeware program called  7zip  that works very well.  Not sure how it works with Winzip

files, but worth a test.

[mdklassen]

> Do I need to buy it again?

I have never found a need to use WinZip, because Windows 10 has a built-in program to "unzip" those '.zip' files.

In Windows, click with the second (usually the right-hand) mouse-button on any '.zip' file, and choose "Extract All" to create a new folder with the contents within the source file.

Yes, the '7-zip' software creates/opens the same '.zip' files.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

The built in unzip utility found on Vista>W10 will not unzip exe driver files to their respective folder.

The utility will only unzip zip files, or send files to a zip folder.

WinZip and 7-Zip will extract exe files to a folder so the user can explore the folder.

I use 7-Zip all the time to explore driver files to see if the setup information files contain support for specific hardware ID's.

That way, I don't risk any issues by running an exe file on my PC.

I used to use WinZip, but why pay for something when the freeware is just as good.

[mdklassen]

>  The built-in utility found on Vista/W7/W8/W10 will not unzip exe driver files to their respective folder.

> The utility will only unzip zip files ...

Yes, that "unzipper" only processes one type of files.

Please try the built-in "unzipper". 

It creates a new folder, or allows you to specify an existing folder, as the "target" for the operation.

The same as for any other folder, just use the Windows "File Explorer" to browse the contents of the folder.

I don't know what you mean about "respective" folder.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Download any HP driver file you want.  Use an ethernet or wireless driver file for example.

You cannot extract that file into its respective driver folder using the built in Windows unzip utility.

Download and install 7-zip from the link I posted above.  You can uninstall it later if you want.

After you install 7-Zip, right click on the HP driver exe file you downloaded.

Select 7-Zip from the menu.

Have 7-Zip extract to: and let it extract the file into its folder name (sp#####).

After 7-zip does its thing, you can now explore the contents of the exe file's respective sp##### folder.

[hz363]

      Hello All:

      I posted the winzip question this morning. In 2-hour I got so many replies.

      Now I know I don't need winzip at all. I can use "windows explorer" or "7zip"

      Thanks a great deal!                                  -- Zhao

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.