WinRAR: Repair a defective archive - how it works
With the WinRAR software, you can not only unpack archives, but also repair them if they are defective. The corresponding function can be reached quickly via the program interface. You can read exactly how to proceed in this manual.
Repair broken archives in WinRAR
If a RAR archive is defective, it may no longer be possible to unpack all of the files it contains without errors. This can have several causes, such as a damaged data medium or an error when downloading from the Internet. However, the repair is the same in all cases:
- Open WinRar and navigate to the directory in which the damaged archive is stored.
- Mark the archive (you can also mark several) and select the "Repair" option in the menu bar.
- Now enter the target directory for the repaired archive and determine whether WinRAR should treat the damaged archive as a RAR or ZIP file. Here you should choose the original file format. However, you can try the other option on a second try.
- WinRAR now analyzes the file and creates a new archive file in the specified directory, which should be unpacked without errors.
Unfortunately, WinRAR cannot always successfully repair damaged archives. If possible, you should then obtain the file again, i.e. download it from another page. You can find out what you can do if WinRAR does not unpack in our next practical tip.