Cannot unlock password-protected 7Z/ZIP

[jman50]

Solution

• With ZIP files note that macOS 10.15 Catalina's bundled Archive Utility does not support ZIP AES encryption. Check you're opening the encrypted file using Keka. macOS 11.0 Big Sur DOES support ZIP AES encryption.
• With 7Z files note that macOS 10.15 Catalina's and newer bundled Archive Utility supports 7Z extraction, but does not support AES encryption. Check you're opening the encrypted file using Keka.

Keka password dialog:

Archive Utility password dialog:

Original issue

Steps to reproduce on macOS Catalina (~but happened before upgrade~)

1. Compress a file with a password in 7z format using Keka.
2. Double-click the file
3. Using Keka, try to use the password to unlock it

Actual:

1. The password dialog keeps re-appearing over and over, and never extracts the file

2. The dialog box goes away and the file is extracted.

Thank you for looking into this.

[aonez]

Hi! Can you share the password used in that file? Does it contain any symbols?

[aonez]

Is this with the stable release (1.1.21) or the development build?

[jman50]

Even if I just use lower case “test” it doesn’t work. My regular password is more complex, and has numbers, but no symbols.

It appears to protect the file correctly, as I CAN un protect it and unlock it on a PC. I can’t un-password protect it and get the the files to extract using Keka. It sometimes happens on zip files if I choose AES, but less often, but always on 7z.

This is a new bug and never used to happen, as I have used this app for over a year with zero issues.

Thanks so much for the fast response!!

[aonez]

@jman50 can you share a sample file that fails for you?

[jman50]

I am at work right now and do not have any files, but will give them to you later today when I get home.

1. I did a plain *.png that was on my macOS desktop.
2. I did a plain Word doc that had no contents in it - no text, no graphs, no images, etc. It just says "test.docx". It zips correctly as IS openable on Windows. It does not unzip correctly using Keka on a mac. This is a new bug that did not used to happen. It is more consistent on 7z files than on zip, but I have had it happen on zip also. The reason I did "test" was to see if my regular Word doc was too complex, etc. However, even that just has plain text with no images, no graphs, etc.

Not sure if that helps, but maybe it does.

I am super impressed with how fast you are at dealing with this. Thank you so much for looking into this.

Also, I am just using the newest build that came down the pipe with automatic updates on my computer. I don't manually update anything, it just does it on its own in the middle of the night, if I have the computer plugged in.

[aonez]

@jman50 can you share some sample file to reproduce this issue?

[jman50]

Oh wow, I am so impressed by your email, as I forgot to send them.

I have taken a Word document and a .png file and attached them, but I can't email the compressed files that I did with keka. The compressed files can be un-extracted with the password on Windows, but I keep getting the popup for the password showing up over and over again using kaka on the newest macOS. Keka never used to do this.

Thank you so much for contacting me! If you have somewhere where I can upload the .7z files, let me know.

[aonez]

You can compress that 7Z in ZIP and attach it to this ticket or use any free upload service like https://filebin.net.

[jman50]

Thanks for the link to files bin, as gmail blocked these from even being attached, let alone sent.

Here is the URL:

https://filebin.net/b4zaxknryd4qahne

1. I compressed these using Keka on a Mac.
2. The password is "test" for both, all lowercase.
3. They do extract successfully using 7z in Windows 10.
4. I cannot get them to extract on Keka, but they used to do it just fine (as I am sure I've mentioned). I just get the password dialog box re-opening over and over.

Thank you so much for your efforts with me, even if you are not able to reproduce this. I just recently upgraded to Catalina and I kind of wonder if maybe that was it? As a note, my MacBook Pro was purchased almost one year ago exactly.

[gingerbeardman]

ps: filebin.net is now blocked by Chrome and Safari safe browsing lists, maybe use another one

https://workupload.com

[aonez]

I downloaded without any issue @gingerbeardman. @jman50 I’lo test those in a while.

[gingerbeardman]

Ah, maybe my setup then, I use Adguard DNS.

(so ignore me)

[aonez]

@jman50 just tried in a Mojave installation (I don’t have a Catalina at hand right now) and extracted the files without issue.

While I don’t have a Catalina to test (tomorrow), maybe you can try to reset the preferences of Keka:

https://github.com/aonez/Keka/wiki/Uninstall-Keka

[gingerbeardman]

both uncompress for me

[aonez]

Are you on Catalina already? 🤔

[mikecarlson]

I am having the same issue compressing to 7z format with a password. The password is not accepted. I am on Mac OS X Catalina.

[gingerbeardman]

@aonez could this be App Translocation side-effect?

[jman50]

I do not have this file or directory;

~/Library/Containers/com.aone.keka

because I do not even have a Containers folder. Perhaps this is the problem? This app most definitely used to work 100% of the time, and I can't remember when the password issue started, but I think around my upgrade makes sense.

[aonez]

Both files extracted on macOS 10.15.1 Catalina.

@jman50 can you enable the verbose mode, reproduce the issue and let me know what the Console.app says? Specifically you need to enable those:

defaults write com.aone.keka DevLog -bool true
defaults write com.aone.keka DevLogReader -bool true

@mikecarlson is your problem about extraction or compression?

[mikecarlson]

My issue is extraction. 7z compression works fine with no issue. Extraction is problematic if the file is encrypted.

Encrypted zip compression and extraction work fine with no issue.

I did not try any other compression formats.

[jman50]

I'd like to give you a donation for your time, because I feel awful about this. If I right-click the password-protected 7z file, and forcibly open with Keka, I was able to get it to open successfully just now. But - I have been double-clicking these 7z files to open them, and that is what I have always done. In my prior macOS version, it was set to open 7z files with Keka. After upgrading to Catalina, Apple has changed the default program that opens up 7z to theirs - the "Archive Utility", and it appears their app has the problem, not yours. Catalina changed my default program to stop using Keka for 7z files. I don't what, if anything, you can do about it, but perhaps something.

Just now I have repeatedly tried to compress and extract 7z files with Keka, and I have not once run into a problem since realizing this. Let me know if you have a PayPal or something since I am very impressed with your customer service.

Jason

[mikecarlson]

Confirmed, I did not even notice the dialog at the top of the window when opening the encrypted file said “archive utility”. When opened directly with Keka it decompresses fine after the password is entered.

[aonez]

Thanks a lot @jman50 and @mikecarlson, I'm really glad this turned out to be the bundled Archiver Utility.

So even if macOS supports 7Z since Catalina it still does not support AES encryption (the one used in 7Z). This still affects ZIP files compressed using AES.

@jman50 the best donation is the feedback, so consider it done :)

[ShreeshaN]

I still have the same issue.

1. Zip a file with Keka by giving it a password (.7z)
2. Unzip using Mac's (Catalina OS) default Archive utility, it prompts for password
3. You enter the right password but the dialog keeps re-appearing asking to enter the correct password.

But it totally works fine if unzipped with Keka

[aonez]

@ShreeshaN as said in the first and last comments macOS does not support AES encryption. Fill a bug report with Apple if you want them to support it. Otherwise use ZIP without AES, that is supported.

[ukushu]

I still have the same issue.

1. Zip a file with Keka by giving it a password (.7z)
2. Unzip using Mac's (Catalina OS) default Archive utility, it prompts for password
3. You enter the right password but the dialog keeps re-appearing asking to enter the correct password.

But it totally works fine if unzipped with Keka

Just change your default archiver to Keka. This will resolve your problem.

[CharlotteFallices]

......我尝试了重现这个问题:

1. 我在一个新的macOS里下载了Keka并创建了一个文件夹
2. 我将文件夹拖放至Keka
3. Keka使用默认配置压缩了它
4. 我关闭了Keka
5. 我把它们通过USB移动到了我的macOS中
6. 我双击并解压了它(我的默认解压缩工具是Keka)
7. 我设置了加密的压缩
8. 我将它拖移到Keka
9. 然后我解压了它

10. 没有出现任何问题

    这个是我使用的压缩文件和系统日志 上面应该有一些截图,不过它们太大了,你可能需要稍等一会才能看见它们

[aonez]

@CharlotteFallices so it compressed and extracted properly, right?

[JsGvDev]

Thanks for the solution. Whole evening trying passwords and saying to myself, "why is not working ?, I do not remember to change this password"

BTW, If you are using terminal to open and extract 7z files with passwords, you can use this alias in your terminal

alias keka='open -a Keka '

for example: keka myFileWithPassword.7z

It will open keka by default and you won't get any problem with the extraction.

[m0zgen]

Hello, I found this problem in the Big Sur release (macOS Big Sur 11.0 beta)

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create 7-Zip archive with password (I tried different passwords like as '123', 'test', 'Te$t' and etc)
2. Try to unpack file.
3. The password dialog keeps re-appearing over and over, and never extracts file (as if the password doesn't match)

Note: File successfully extracted from command prompt with open -a Keka test-keka.7z

I created archive with password 'test', you will can try extract with this password - https://filebin.net/b4zaxknryd4qahne (test-keka.7z) or you can try download file from direct link - https://filebin.net/b4zaxknryd4qahne/test-keka.7z

P.S. File link expires from 1 week

[aonez]

@m0zgen just updated the main issue to state that Big Sur supports AES encrypted ZIP files but still no support for AES encrypted 7Z files.

Note this is not a new issue, simply they did not added support to AES 7Z in the upcoming Big Sur. Thanks for the feedback!

[hazemfm]

I don't know if this the same issue or not. but came across a .zip file that is password protected with numbers only. when I doubled clicked the file, it automatically extracted the file without asking me for a password. tried unzip command in the terminal, and it asked for a password. tried 7zip in windows and it also asks for a password.

[aonez]

@hazemfm can you share the file? here or at info@keka.io

[tkrakowian]

Solution is to set before unzipping the Keka as a default program to opening .7z files - the problem appears when the default app for .7z is "Archive utility" Right mouse button on .7z file -> Get info -> "Open with:" => set "Keka (default)" Propably before this is use "Archive utility" which message pop-up is the same as Keka pop-up to fill in password.