Files copied from ZIP file not copied or moved on Windows PC

Yet another issue has been discovered in Windows which results in a false sense of files copied or moved from a ZIP or archive files. The issue is specific when files with the same name are in the destination folder. It seems the copy command is failing silently without any warning, creating a false positive that files have been copied or moved. The biggest drawback is many will end up deleting the ZIP files, and later find the file missing or still have the old version.

Files copied from ZIP file not copied or moved in Windows

When you copy files to a destination that is either write-protected or has duplicate file names, Windows will prompt you if you want to replace these files. When you select yes, it will give no warning, and the files will appear to be overwritten. However the fact is that they are not overwritten, and the copy or move action has failed. This is reported to be happening in three scenarios:

• When you Copy files from a compressed (.zip) folder to a regular folder.
• Moving from a compressed folder to a regular folder.
• While copying from a compressed folder to a protected folder.

The biggest problem in this scenario is that there is no warning message. The Move command works by deleting the destination files first and then copying the new files. Since the copy is failing, your original files are deleted or moved to the recycle bin. Make sure not to attempt to Cut and Paste items from a compressed (.zip) folder. This may result in unintentionally deleting items that may not be recoverable.

Solution: First, extract the ZIP file into a folder. Then, copy or move it to a new destination to avoid confusion.

If you have faced this issue and want to recover your files, it’s easy. However, this assumes that you haven’t emptied the recycle bin.

• Open Recycle Bin > Find your item and right-click to restore.

In case you cannot find it there, it is possible that you chose to extract it when downloading. Those files are available in your temporary directory.

• In the RUN prompt, type %temp% and hit Enter.
• This will open the temporary directory.
• Search for the zip files you download. If you downloaded the file recently, sort them by modified date, and you will find it faster.
• Copy that file to the desktop or any other drive, and then use it.

I hope this helps.