Zip and Unzip File in Powershell 4

Question

I am using Windows Server 2012 R2 (64 bit). I have powershell version 4 available in it. I am trying to zip and unzip files. When I try Write-Zip command, it throws me following

Answer 1

You can use custom powershell object New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application and copy the file with flags to unzip.

$filePath = "foo.zip"
$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$zipFile = $shell.NameSpace($filePath)
$destinationFolder = $shell.NameSpace("C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules")

$copyFlags = 0x00
$copyFlags += 0x04 # Hide progress dialogs
$copyFlags += 0x10 # Overwrite existing files

$destinationFolder.CopyHere($zipFile.Items(), $copyFlags)

Credit source https://github.com/hashicorp/best-practices/blob/master/packer/scripts/windows/install_windows_updates.ps1#L12-L22

This does not work with windows 'core' edition. If possible, upgrade to powershell 5 and use Expand Archive since it is much simpler.