Is the Visual Studio template file just a regular .zip file or is it something else?

Question

I'm trying to tweak a project template file exported by Visual Studio's "Export Template" wizard. At first glance this looks like just a garden-variety zip file, but it's not:

1. I can't edit files. If I try to change or delete or replace a file in the zip archive, I get The Compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted.
2. If I uncompress and recompress the zip file, Visual Studio no longer recognizes it as a template.

Is this something specific to my setup, or is there something non-standard about the zip format used by Visual Studio templates?

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Edit I tried again and actually #2 above isn't true - I can un-zip, edit, and re-zip and VS sees the template. Still stumped as to why I couldn't manipulate the original archive directly, but I'm moving on.

Answer 1

Visual Studio templates use the standard ZIP`ing format. I've succesfully compressed and uncompressed these files many times in the past.

What ZIP tool are you using?

Answer 2

Solution is here to find: Exported Project Template from VS2008 but it is corrupted? In short: don't zip the directory, go into the directory, select all files and zip them into an archive.

Answer 3

I have used Winzip in the past to unzip a template, make changes, then rezip and VS read it and recognized the changes. This was VS2005 and VS2008