Windows – 7z file manager crashed and left temp files behind

7-zipcrashdisk-cleanuptemporary-fileswindows

So I did a drag&drop extraction from 7z (windows), which creates temporary files (this was on purpose, as I was extracting to a network share.)

Unfortunately, 7z crashed during this process and 7GB of temporary files were left behind on my disk. I tried deleting %TEMP% via Disk Cleanup and manually, but the files were not there.

Anyone knows how to locate 7z temporary files?

Edit: This is a work PC, so I cannot install 3rd-party software.

Best Answer

Using the run command: (WIN+R) type "%TEMP%" and hit enter.

This will bring up all the temp files stored on your PC through the user account you are on.

7-zip tells you the temp location it uses (extract from 7-zip.org/faq.html):

7-Zip doesn't know folder path of drop target. Only Windows Explorer knows exact drop target. And Windows Explorer needs files (drag source) as decompressed files on disk. So 7-Zip extracts files from archive to temp folder and then 7-Zip notifies Windows Explorer about paths of these temp files. Then Windows Explorer copies these files to drop target folder.

To avoid temp file usage, you can use Extract command of 7-Zip or drag-and-drop from 7-Zip to 7-Zip.

Related Solutions

Windows – Automatically deleting ‘C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temp’

Take a look here:

In brief (see the above links for more information):

Create a batch file, say it's saved as c:\dev\on-shutdown.bat
Open the Group Policy Editor - Start / Run, gpedit.msc
Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)
Double-click Shutdown in the details pane
In the Shutdown Properties, click Add and type the above script path in Script Name

I found a representative image in this post:

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Hope that helps.

Windows – Recursively process zip archives to extract files while discarding specific format of files

Modifying the answer found here, this piece of PowerShell script should do what you want. Just save it as a file with the Extension ".ps1". When calling it, just call it as ./filename.ps1 and it will extract the files to separate folders, delete the zip files and remove all files with .pdf extension. I have not tested if it works properly with recursive paths, but it should, please test it.

Edit: If you don't want your zip files to be deleted, remove or comment out (#) the line rmdir -Path $_.FullName -Force

Requirements: PowerShell, 7-zip and for you to set the 7-zip path in the file.

param([string]$folderPath="D:\Blah\files")

Get-ChildItem $folderPath -recurse | %{ 

    if($_.Name -match "^*.`.zip$")
    {
        $parent="$(Split-Path $_.FullName -Parent)";    
        write-host "Extracting $($_.FullName) to $parent"

        $arguments=@("e", "`"$($_.FullName)`"", "-o`"$($parent)\$($_.BaseName)`"");
        $ex = start-process -FilePath "`"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe`"" -ArgumentList $arguments -wait -PassThru;

        if( $ex.ExitCode -eq 0)
        {
            write-host "Extraction successful, deleting $($_.FullName)"
            rmdir -Path $_.FullName -Force
            $arguments1="$($parent)\$($_.BaseName)\*.pdf"
            rmdir -Recurse -Path $arguments1
        }
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Automatically deleting ‘C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temp’

Windows – Recursively process zip archives to extract files while discarding specific format of files

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