Word – How to prevent 7-Zip encrypted zip file passwords from being stored on the hard-drive

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I've encrypted a folder with 7-Zip 9.20, specifying 256-bit AES and a password, and the .zip file was created. But then, when I clicked on the zipped file, to my surprise, PeaZip 5.1.1, which was the registered program to open zip files, opened the file without prompting me for the password.

This means 7-Zip is storing my AES password somewhere on disk, and what is even worse, in a place where other programs can find it. This is inherently insecure. How can I disable this behavior?

Thanks.

Here is a picture of how I encrypted the file with 7-Zip:

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And here is a picture of the dialog box (with an option for entering the keyfile) I get when I try to open any file in the .zip archive (a similar window is displayed when opening .7z files):

enter image description here

Best Answer

7-zip does not store passwords on your computer, it does not have that feature.

Your issue is actually a limitation of the ZIP format when creating encrypted ZIP files. The data is encrypted, but not the file names. You can prove this by trying to extract the contents of the ZIP file. It will fail unless you specify the correct password.

If you want file names to be encrypted as well, I highly recommend 7-zip's 7z format, you'll see the option Encrypt file names becomes available.

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