Error when extracting from a dotnetzip created zip file - "Windows cannot complete the extraction."

Question

I'm using dotnetzip to create a zip file on the fly to be returned via mvc as a stream.

I'm able to add files which are already streams, ie a file created on the fly. I'm also adding files created from base64 strings.

Creating and downloading the zip file is fine, when i open the zip file using windows explorer (windows 7 or 8) i can see all of the entries as expected. Opening the file created from a memorystream opens without issue, but when i try to open the file created from a base64 string, windows explorer returns the error

Windows cannot complete the extraction. The destination file could not be created.

If i try to drag a file from the zip file in windows explorer to another folder, i get the error:

If i open the same zip file or extract using WinRAR and open any of the entries i don't have any issues.

Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe i need to add a content type to the base64 string or stream maybe? Dotnetzip doesn't seem to have a parameter to specify content types...

I've made sure there's no encryption on the zip file or any of it's entries

Answer 1

It appears that you're trying to extract and save a file that has colons in the file name (the name in your screen shot "Attachment 2 - 25-07-2013 15:27:04..png"). That's not going to work. You need to make sure that the file names in your zip file don't contain invalid file name characters.