Yosemite won't uncompress .zip files when I double-click on them

[Applet]

I am trying in vain to open zip file downloaded from internet. they are subtitles, eg <link removed>

l get a .zip file, I noticed they all were defaulting to open with TextEdit. When I control click or double click they fail to open,

So the question is does anyone know how to get Yosemite to open a .zip given this situation?

 

[vansmith]

I've removed the link, given that it looks a little suspect (and thus, I don't want to direct people there).

 

[cradom]

Right-click, "Open with...", Archive Utility.

 

[Applet]

cradom, l dont have that option, ie, "Archive Utility" , l do have "utilities" only after l select "other..." do l have to download an app to open?

 

[cradom]

You might have to look for it. It's in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications
Try this: Do a 'Get Info' on the file, Open With... and select Other. Look for and select Archive Utility.
Click the button that says 'Change all'.

 

[Applet]

cradom, thanks for suggestion, unfortunately Archive Utility is seen but not selectable. please see attachement. is there something l have to do to make it selectable?
thanks again

 

[Slydude]

You're in the right place. Where the word "Enable" appears click the drop down menu and change the setting to "All Applications". You should now be able to select Archive Utility.

 

[michelangelo]

Maybe "The Unarchiver.app", which can be found for free at the App Store, will do. I have had an equivalent experience of being unable to unzip zipped files with the standard OS tools, and The Unarchiver did it.

 

[Applet]

Slydude, l managed to select Archive Utility now, thanks but it wont open:


what can l do to make this work?
michelangelo, thanks for suggestion, l will do it this way if Archive utility don't work, l rather not download unnecessary sofeware if the system can do it already.

 

[Slydude]

That message seems to indicate that the Archive Utility is damaged in some way. I'm not sure what might have caused that.

I should have mentioned something in my previous post. I wonder if the .zip archive itself isn't damaged or incomplete. I haven't had to unzip such archives in a while but normally the Archive Utility handles things quite well. Before the Archive Utility was included in OS X I used StuffIt Expander for this. It handles .zip files and several other types of compressed files.

 

[Rod]

There are a lot of free apps on the app store to unzip files iZip Zipeg ect but Slydude is correct it sounds like the Archive Utility is damaged. If you had any other zipped files you could test it on that would prove it one way or another. If damaged you could try using Disk Utility to check your HD and repair if necessary.

 

[Applet]

Rod, Slydude, Archive utility must be damaged, since every zip file has same failure to open. is it essential or only for zip files? ehat are the steps to repair?

 

[cradom]

You can try downloading and running the latest combo updater from Apple.
I don't see how it could be damaged considering where it is. You might try running Onyx, it 'might' be a permission problem.
Worth a shot. For that matter, I'd boot into Recovery mode and check/repair the drive.

 

[Rod]

IIn fact you can try Repairing Permissions using Applications > Utilities> Disk Utility without even needing to boot from the recovery partition. Sometimes it works miracles other times it seems to do nothing but worth a shot.
Using another app to try to unzip the files in question would also be a way of checking if it is the Archive Utility at fault. Any free one should do, I'd suggest one but my internet provider has other ideas, I'l be lucky if I can post this reply.

 

[harryb2448]

One would wonder why Apple would do away with Repair Permissions under El Capitan. It is okay to say Permissions are looked after during normal running System Integrity Processes, but folks will still to it as it had been part of OS X since Puma.

 

[Rod]

Just another element of control removed from our grasp much like SIP itself. It strikes me that Apple is trying to automate a lot of processes that we once had to perform ourselves. This is a mixed blessing in a way. Automated background downloads of updates may avoid such things as apps not being updated prior to upgrades (like the iPhoto issue) but removing the option to repair permissions assumes that the OS will be able to cope with new printers, port allocations etc without any input from the user other than the much more complicated option of using the command line via Terminal, a more challenging and potentially damaging process.
This rootless concept may even lead to a form of Jailbreaking for OSX.

 

[chscag]

Just use OnyX to repair permissions. It still works great and there is a new version for El Capitan.

 

[Rod]

OnyX will work too as well as sorting out other issues but our OP is running Yosemite so he does need the version for that.
Either way I hope it works. Of course I had a hidden agenda re Disk Utility.

 

[vansmith]

The removal of the permissions "fix" was a great idea (and I may be in the minority here) - it serves a small purpose to fix that which has a receipt in /var/db/receipts which is basically just fixing a few tiny things for apps you install (and not even all of them).

The Unarchiver will serve as a substitute in the meantime.

 

[chas_m]

I'm completely with Van on this. In fact Disk Utility didn't remove repairing permissions at all -- it still does it, it just now handles it automatically. It's not like 99.9 percent of users knew what permissions were, how they related to anything, or what to do beyond press a button. I'll be very happy to see the back of those endless posts about ARD permissions not repaired, finally.

The mistake here is that Apple should have made that function automatic years and years ago. Users shouldn't have to even ever think about this stuff.