Cannot unlock password-protected 7Z/ZIP

[jman50]

Solution

• With ZIP files note that macOS 10.15 Catalina's bundled Archive Utility does not support ZIP AES encryption. Check you're opening the encrypted file using Keka. macOS 11.0 Big Sur DOES support ZIP AES encryption.
• With 7Z files note that macOS 10.15 Catalina's and newer bundled Archive Utility supports 7Z extraction, but does not support AES encryption. Check you're opening the encrypted file using Keka.

Keka password dialog:

Archive Utility password dialog:

Original issue

Steps to reproduce on macOS Catalina (but happened before upgrade)

1. Compress a file with a password in 7z format using Keka.
2. Double-click the file
3. Using Keka, try to use the password to unlock it

Actual:

1. The password dialog keeps re-appearing over and over, and never extracts the file

2. The dialog box goes away and the file is extracted.

Thank you for looking into this.

[aonez]

Hi! Can you share the password used in that file? Does it contain any symbols?

[aonez]

Is this with the stable release (1.1.21) or the development build?

[jman50]

Even if I just use lower case “test” it doesn’t work. My regular password is more complex, and has numbers, but no symbols. It appears to protect the file correctly, as I CAN un protect it and unlock it on a PC. I can’t un-password protect it and get the the files to extract using Keka. It sometimes happens on zip files if I choose AES, but less often, but always on 7z. This is a new bug and never used to happen, as I have used this app for over a year with zero issues. Thanks so much for the fast response!!

[aonez]

@jman50 can you share a sample file that fails for you?

[jman50]

I am at work right now and do not have any files, but will give them to you later today when I get home. 1. I did a plain *.png that was on my macOS desktop. 2. I did a plain Word doc that had no contents in it - no text, no graphs, no images, etc. It just says "test.docx". It zips correctly as IS openable on Windows. It does not unzip correctly using Keka on a mac. This is a new bug that did not used to happen. It is more consistent on 7z files than on zip, but I have had it happen on zip also. The reason I did "test" was to see if my regular Word doc was too complex, etc. However, even that just has plain text with no images, no graphs, etc. Not sure if that helps, but maybe it does. I am super impressed with how fast you are at dealing with this. Thank you so much for looking into this. Also, I am just using the newest build that came down the pipe with automatic updates on my computer. I don't manually update anything, it just does it on its own in the middle of the night, if I have the computer plugged in.

[aonez]

@jman50 can you share some sample file to reproduce this issue?

[jman50]

Oh wow, I am so impressed by your email, as I forgot to send them. I have taken a Word document and a .png file and attached them, but I can't email the compressed files that I did with keka. The compressed files can be un-extracted with the password on Windows, but I keep getting the popup for the password showing up over and over again using kaka on the newest macOS. Keka never used to do this. Thank you so much for contacting me! If you have somewhere where I can upload the .7z files, let me know.