Why am I not able to open or extract .zip files? How can I fix this?

Question

Many times since I have gotten ubuntu on my Samsung Chromebook (That itself being a grueling process) I have tried to extract files. But, every time, no matter what .zip file I am trying to extract, I get this message "Could not open archive, MIME-type unsupported or file did not exist" . I would be glad to provide any other needed info. Just tell me what you need!

Solution

Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the Terminal. Type this to install unzip.

sudo apt-get install unzip

Then type this to use unzip in the Terminal to extract the zip file.

unzip [archive.zip] -d [destination_folder]

Replacing [destination_folder] with the folder you want it to be extracted to. Also replacing [archive.zip] with the location and name of the archive.

Comments

[Amanda]

When you say "tried to extract files" what have you tried? What happens if you run "unzip file.zip" from the terminal?

[Danatela]

Open Synaptic and write "zip" inside search field. Be sure that you have installed zip and unzip packages.

[Paul Tanzini]

Are you sure you're using the "Extract Here" option from the right click menu instead of using Archive Manager?