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My friend wants to send me an encrypted zip file that he created using

$ zip -e file.zip file2.zip

Will I be able to open that with the native Windows XP pk zip implementation?

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Please complete your Question. With what exactly do you want to open it? – Darokthar Feb 25 '11 at 10:21
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Linux/Mac OS X

At first, you need the password to open it.

Try

unzip file.zip

It'll prompt password from you. Of course, you have to install unzip first, if it doesn't exist, if you want to extract that file using command line tools.

Windows

If Windows Explorer can't open your encrypted ZIP file, you can install for example 7Zip. Windows do have support, but not for all encryption variations commonly used for password protecting ZIP file. 7Zip includes support for many other formats too, and rather good command line tools, in addition to good Explorer integration. For executing from command line, use

7z.exe e file.zip

If you don't have your 7Zip installation on your path, use (for example)

"c:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" e file.zip

It'll prompt your password, and then extract files to your current folder. Run 7z.exe without parameters to see all switches and commands.

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actually, i meant on windows xp. sorry for the confusion. see edit above. – Jon Feb 25 '11 at 10:32
I updated my answer too. – Olli Feb 25 '11 at 10:39
many thanks. :) – Jon Feb 25 '11 at 10:41
@Jon: remember to accept helpful answers to your questions (this and another questions), see for example meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/5234/… for instructions. – Olli Feb 25 '11 at 10:46
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up vote 1 down vote

Yes you will be able to:

enter image description here

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Beware that Windows Explorer only supports the ZIP 2.0 encryption algorithm, which is so weak that it's not worth using. – grawity Feb 25 '11 at 13:03
Glad you pointed that out @grawity – wez Feb 25 '11 at 22:27
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