Zip and Unzip File in Powershell 4 - powershell

Question

I am using Windows Server 2012 R2 (64 bit). I have powershell version 4 available in it. I am trying to zip and unzip files. When I try Write-Zip command, it throws me following error:
Write-Zip : The term 'Write-Zip' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable
program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
What should I do to fix it? Do I need to install zip/winrar in the server? Or is there any other command do zip/unzip files?

Answer 1

Write-Zip seems to be part of http://pscx.codeplex.com/ that require a separate installation before you can use it.
However, if you just want to create a Zip archive from a folder, you could just run
$source = "c:\temp\source"
$archive = "c:\temp\archive.zip"
Add-Type -assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem"
[io.compression.zipfile]::CreateFromDirectory($source, $archive)
This utilizes the CreateFromDirectory method from the .NET Framework class ZipFile. It creates a zip archive from the files located inside the $source folder and creates an archive as defined in the $archive variable. Note, ZipFile class was introduced in .NET Framework 4.5

Answer 2

You can use custom powershell object New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application and copy the file with flags to unzip.
$filePath = "foo.zip"
$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$zipFile = $shell.NameSpace($filePath)
$destinationFolder = $shell.NameSpace("C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules")
$copyFlags = 0x00
$copyFlags += 0x04 # Hide progress dialogs
$copyFlags += 0x10 # Overwrite existing files
$destinationFolder.CopyHere($zipFile.Items(), $copyFlags)
Credit source https://github.com/hashicorp/best-practices/blob/master/packer/scripts/windows/install_windows_updates.ps1#L12-L22
This does not work with windows 'core' edition. If possible, upgrade to powershell 5 and use Expand Archive since it is much simpler.

Answer 3

Should work under PS4. SeeAdd-Zip and New-Zipfunctions
[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[ValidateScript({Test-Path -Path $_ })]
[string]$sourceDirectory,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[ValidateScript({-not(Test-Path -Path $_ -PathType Leaf)})]
[string]$destinationFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[int]$noOlderThanHours
)
function New-Zip
{
param([string]$zipfilename)
set-content $zipfilename ("PK" + [char]5 + [char]6 + ("$([char]0)" * 18))
(dir $zipfilename).IsReadOnly = $false
}
function Add-Zip
{
param([string]$zipfilename)
if(-not (test-path($zipfilename)))
{
set-content $zipfilename ("PK" + [char]5 + [char]6 + ("$([char]0)" * 18))
(dir $zipfilename).IsReadOnly = $false
}
$shellApplication = new-object -com shell.application
$zipPackage = $shellApplication.NameSpace($zipfilename)
foreach($file in $input)
{
$zipPackage.CopyHere($file.FullName)
Start-sleep -milliseconds 500
}
}
$oldest = (Get-Date) - (New-TimeSpan -Hours $noOlderThanHours)
$filesToZip = dir $sourceDirectory -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.lastwritetime -gt $oldest}
Write-Host Going to zip following files
$filesToZip | foreach {Write-Host $_.FullName}
$filesToZip| Add-Zip $destinationFile

Answer 4

If you can upgrade to PowerShell V5 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50395), it has them natively. https://richardspowershellblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/powershell-5-zip-and-unzip/
For PowerShell version 4, you may be able to use this search http://www.powershellgallery.com/items?q=zip&x=0&y=0. This also looks to do what you are looking for: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive/1.0.1.0
To install the modules, you need to type:
install-module -name <module name>
powershellgallery.com is a free to upload site. Please check and understand module before running it.
Hope this helps.
Thanks, Tim.

Answer 5

Write-Zip installation could have been performed incorrectly. An incorrect manual edit of the environment parameter PSModulePath may cause it:
Bad (original) value:
PSModulePath = %SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\;C:\Program Files (x86)\PowerShell Community Extensions\Pscx3\;C:\Program Files\Intel\
Good value (which fixed the problem):
PSModulePath = C:\Program Files (x86)\PowerShell Community Extensions\Pscx3\;%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\;C:\Program Files\Intel\