Creating a Self-Extracting Archive

Use the Make .Exe File entry in the Actions menu to convert the open archive to a self-extracting archive. Self-extracting archives have an extension of .EXE, and can be run as commands. When a self-extracting archive is run, the files in the archive are automatically extracted. This is convenient, because the end user does not need an unzip program (like WinZip®) to extract files from these self-extracting archives.

When working with a Zip file, this operation normally runs WinZip Self-Extractor Personal Edition, but you can also configure WinZip to use another program. When working with an LZH file, this operation runs the external LHA program with the s option. When working with an ARJ file, this operation runs the external ARJ program with the y option. For details on configuring WinZip to work with external programs, see the sections titled System Requirements and Installing Optional External Programs.

Notes

• If you are using WinZip Self-Extractor Personal Edition or WinZip Self-Extractor, you should be aware of certain restrictions. You cannot create self-extracting Zip files using either of these products if the original Zip file
  • contains any files encrypted using AES encryption, or
  • contains any files that were compressed using the enhanced deflate compression method, or
  • uses the 64-bit Zip file format extensions. These extensions are used if there are more than 65,535 files in the Zip file or if the Zip file itself or any file contained in the Zip file exceeds 4GB in size.

• If the first file in a self-extracting LZH file is named "!" (i.e. an exclamation mark is the only character in the filename) this file will be displayed when the self-extracting executable is run. To ensure that this file is the first file in the archive, first create a new LZH file, then add the "!" file (do not add other files in this step), and finally add the remaining files.