How to quickly open rar archives or why do you need an archiver?
We continue the series of articles on the topic of how to open files that cannot be opened. In the previous article we looked at how you can open pdf files.
This article will talk about how to open a rar file in a couple of minutes
Files of this type are archives, or rather packed or compressed archives.
Why is this necessary? This is needed mainly to reduce the file size or, what is less common, is to collect several files into one using an archive.
Here is an example, look, in the first picture, the file “400 topics in English.doc”, not packed with an archiver, has a size of 2.7 megabytes:
But now we will pack the same file with an archiver and see how its size changes:
As you can see, the file size has decreased by 5 times!
This is a very good way to save space by creating a zipped archive
I’ll also add that you can reduce the size of the created archive even more, you just need to specify a high compression ratio in the initial settings.
But it's worth pointing out that not all file types compress so well.
Which files are good and which are not very compressible by creating an archive you can determine experimentally over time.
Okay, we discussed the method of obtaining an archive, but how are they created?
They are created very simply using a program called WinRAR
The program is small and convenient. So, where can you download the Russian version of winrar for free? You can do this by typing “download winrar” into a search engine; it’s better to try to download either from the official website or from a well-known and trusted one.
Scroll down until you find the installation language Russian, which one to choose, 32 or 64 bits, you can see about this in this article.
And if briefly about 32 or 64 bits, then you need to look at it on your computer like this:
Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on the desktop, information about your computer will appear, and it will be written there how many 32 or 64 bits your operating system has.
Click and a download window will appear:
Specify, for example, the desktop. We've all downloaded the installation file, now we run it to install the program itself:
Opening an archive without necessarily unpacking it is indeed a very convenient thing! This saves time because you don’t have to wait until, for example, a large rar file is unzipped and its contents finally become available. Also, at the same time, you can fully work with files! But how to do that?
First, you need to have the latest version of Winrar on your machine. Download it from our soft portal mydiv.net and install it on your PC. After this, you can start opening the archives. It's done like this.
The fastest and easiest way to open winrar files
To look inside the archive, simply double click on it left book mouse and all its contents will instantly appear in the automatically launched window Winrar.
But this method does not always work, as in the Winrar program, when you double-click on a rar file, the function may initially be assigned not to open, but to auto-unpack the archive. To get out of this situation there is another guaranteed working method ( see below).
Open winrar files through the Winrar program itself
Run the utility installed on your PC Winrar from a shortcut on the desktop (desktop) or from the menu "Start" (see the bottom screenshot carefully).
Next, in the program, call the options one by one: "File" --> "Open archive", select the location of the rar file on the disk/external media or drive, select it on the left. book mouse and press function "Open".
All its contents will immediately appear in front of you in the application window.
View/run/play files in an open archive
To launch, view, play any file or open a folder stored in an open archive, simply double-click on it. class mouse or right-click on the object and select the appropriate function.
Extracting files from an open archive
To copy any objects from an open archive, you can simply drag them out! Move the mouse cursor over the desired file, hold down its left button, and without releasing it, move it to the side, thus moving the object to the desired location (desktop or open folder).
That's all the work with open winrar files. You can see for yourself that there is nothing super complicated!
After a clean installation of Windows 10, it becomes necessary to open Rar format files. Since files with the Rar extension are archives, similar to the Zip and 7zp formats, it is recommended to use the best archivers for Windows 10 to work with them. Before choosing an archiver for a computer running the Windows 10 operating system, you need to pay attention to the list of supported formats by the archiver.
The first program you should take a closer look at is WinRAR. This article will tell you how to open a Rar file on Windows 10 in different ways using the WinRAR program. The WinRAR program is designed to work with Rar format files.
By downloading the program from the official website, the user receives a trial version. After the trial period expires, you will need to purchase a license.
- Go to the official website of the program: www.win-rar.com.
- In the window that opens, click the button Download WinRAR to download the version of the program for 32-bit systems or select the option under the button Click here to download the 64-bit version of the program.
- Run the downloaded installation file and click the button Install.
- After installation is complete, go through the process of setting up the program by selecting the desired Association with files and pressing the button OK.
The current settings can be changed in the program itself by pressing a key combination Ctrl+S and going to the tab Integration. Embedding in the shell simplifies working with archives, supplementing their context menus with convenient commands, which we will consider below. Therefore, it’s really not worth turning off integration options.
By default, after installing the WinRAR program, integration with the Windows shell occurs during the setup process. Namely, the user has the opportunity to embed WinRAR into the OS shell (Explorer) and add icons to the context menu. By enabling these options during the setup process, the user can open Rar files or other archives directly from Explorer.
- Open Windows 10 Explorer and navigate to the location with the Rar archive.
- Just double-click on it with the left mouse button or select the item in the context menu Open in WinRAR.
You can also find buttons in the context menu Extract files… A WinRAR program window will open in which you need to specify the path and extraction parameters. If the specified path does not exist, it will be created. 
When selecting an item in the context menu Extract to current folder files will be copied from the archive to the location of the archive itself. Be careful because when placing the desired archive on the desktop, after using the current feature, the user ends up with many different files on the desktop.
conclusions
In this article, we looked at how to open a Rar file on Windows 10 using the WinRAR program. The current program works without problems on previous versions of the Windows operating system. Remember that there are many different analogues for working with archives. We also recommend that you read the article on how to enable display of file extensions in Windows 10.
Archives created by the WinRAR program have long been widely used among users, but they cannot be opened with built-in Windows tools. Specialized applications will be required for this purpose.
Below is a guide with a detailed description of the steps on how to open a RAR archive file on a computer with Windows 7. It should be noted that the instructions below will effectively help you cope with this task in other modifications of Windows.
What is this file?
It has the extension “.rar” and in Windows 7 Explorer it has a book packaging icon.
It stores files and directories in a packed state, compressed using a utility called “WinRar”. As a result, archived materials take up less disk space, and the likelihood of files in the archive being damaged by malware is significantly reduced.
WinRAR application
This utility will ideally provide ease of working with the format in question, since it is with its use that they are created.
The main drawback of the utility is the lack of free versions; there is only a demo modification, for which you will still need to pay after 40 days of use (otherwise the application is blocked).
This is where the disadvantages end. The functionality of this archiver will please even the most demanding user.
The main advantages of the utility include the following:
- It has the functionality to fix damaged archive files;
- Has the ability to create packed files of significant size (up to 8 Gb);
- A convenient procedure for effectively protecting archives, for example, dividing it into parts and setting an access code.
To install the application, open the page www.rarlab.com, where its official version is available. Next, after installing it on your computer, open the “.rar” file by simply double-clicking on it.
This will open a utility window in which all packaged materials will be available for viewing and editing. There is an “Extract” button in the toolbar; after clicking on it, the archived directories and files will be extracted.
If the user prefers a free unpacking method, then below is an effective program that will also allow you to quickly cope with the task.
"7-Zip"
This application unpacks not only “RAR”, but also a huge number of archives with other extensions, for example, ZIP, XAR, ARJ, UDF, TAR, CHM, NSIS, CPIO, GZ, RPM, CAB, LZH, TB2, DMG, MSI, HFS, LZMA, 7z, ISO, DEB, WIM and Z. It is recommended to install the utility from the official resource www.7-zip.org.
Main advantages:
- Externally, it is as close as possible to WinRAR (it has an intuitive interface;
- It has the ability to create archives with its own extension “.7z”, which in some respects is superior to “.zip”;
- High speed;
- Fully Russified.
To open “RAR” you will need to perform only a few steps;
RAR is a high compression archive format. Let's find out what ways there are to unzip this type of file.
You can view the contents and unpack RAR archives using archiving programs, as well as some file managers.
Method 1: WinRAR
Of course, you should start with the WinRAR utility. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it was created by the same developer (Evgeniy Roshal) who created the RAR format. The primary task of this application is to create, process and unzip the specified format. Let's see how it's done.
There is also an option to open directly from the WinRAR interface.
- Launch WinRAR. In the menu, click on the inscription "File". A list of actions opens. Select the inscription in it "Open archive". Also, the above actions can be replaced by pressing a key combination Ctrl+O.
- The search window opens. Using the navigation tools in it, we go to the hard drive directory where the desired RAR archive is located. Select the name and click on the button "Open".
- After this, the WinRAR window will display the elements contained in the archive. If the user just wants to run a specific file without unpacking the archive, just double-click on it with the left mouse button.
- The object will open in the program with which it is associated by default, but the archive itself will not be unpacked.
- If you want to work with files without the need to access WinRAR or similar applications in the future, then in this case you need to perform an extraction procedure.
When the user wants to extract an element from the archive to the same folder where it is located, he needs to right-click on it. Then select the item from the menu "Extract without confirmation" or type a hotkey combination Alt+W.
If the user wants to unpack the entire contents of the archive into the directory where it is located, then to do this, you need to select not a specific file, but an icon to go to a higher level in the form of an open folder with two dots next to it. After that, activate the context menu and click on the inscription "Extract without confirmation" or use pressing Alt+W.
In the first case, the selected element will be extracted to the same folder where the archive is located, and in the second case, the entire contents of the RAR object will be extracted.
But often you need to extract not to the current folder, but to another directory on the hard drive. In this case, the procedure will be slightly different.
Like last time, if you need to unpack one element, then select it, activate the context menu by right-clicking, and check the item in it "Extract to the specified folder".
You can also replace this action with a set of keys Alt+E or by pressing the button "Extract" on the WinRAR toolbar after highlighting the name.
If you need to extract all the contents into the selected directory, by analogy with extraction without confirmation, select the icon to go to a higher level, and then click on the inscription in the context menu "Extract to the specified folder".
You can also use a keyboard shortcut Alt+E or pressing a button "Extract" on the toolbar.
- After the specified steps to extract an item or all content to the specified folder, a window opens in which you should configure the path and extraction parameters. On the left side in the tab "Are common" There are basic settings, by switching which you can adjust the update mode, overwrite mode and other parameters. But most users prefer to leave these settings unchanged. On the right side of the program interface there is an area in which you should indicate where exactly the objects will be unpacked. After the settings are completed and the folder is selected, click on the button "OK".
- After completing the last step, the procedure for unpacking the selected content into the specified folder is performed.
Method 2: 7-Zip
You can open RAR contents using another popular archiver - 7-Zip. Although, unlike WinRAR, this application cannot create RAR archives, but it unpacks them without problems.
- Launch the 7-Zip application. In the central part there is a file manager, with which you can navigate the hard drive. In order to view the contents of RAR, use the specified file manager to go to the directory where the desired object with the specified extension is located. Just double-click on it with the left mouse button.
Instead, after highlighting, you can click on the key Enter on the keyboard or go through the horizontal menu to the item "File" and select a position from the drop-down list "Open".
- After this, all the elements contained in the archive will appear to the user through the 7-Zip interface.
- To extract the desired file, select it and click on the button "Extract" as a minus sign on the toolbar.
- Then a window called "Copy". If you need to extract to the same directory where the RAR file itself is located, then just click on the button "OK" without changing any other settings.
If you need to specify another folder, then before unpacking, click on the button in the form of an ellipsis to the right of the address field.
- The folder browser window opens. In the central area, go to the directory into which you want to unpack. Click on "OK".
- Automatically returns to the window "Copy". As you can see, in the address field of the directory intended for storing unzipped objects, the path that was selected in the folder browser window is indicated. Now you just need to click on "OK".
- After this, the selected object is unpacked into the specified directory.
Now let's see how to unpack all the contents.
Method 3: Hamster Free ZIP Archiver
Another popular archiver that can work with the RAR format is the Hamster Free ZIP Archiver program. In this application, the approach to unpacking differs significantly from the actions that we described in previous methods. Let's see how to perform this procedure with the Hamster program.
- Let's launch the application. The mode switch in the left vertical menu must be in position "Open". However, it is installed in this position by default.
- After that we open Windows Explorer and go to the directory where the RAR file we need is located. Select this object and, holding down the left mouse button, drag it from Conductor in the central area of the Hamster application window.
- As soon as an object enters the Hamster window, it is transformed, splitting into two parts: "Open archive..." And "Unpack next...". In the first case, the object will be opened in a window and ready for further processing, and in the second, the contents will be instantly unpacked in the same directory where the archived object is located.
Let's first look at how to proceed when choosing the first option.
- So, after moving the object to the area "Open archive..." the Hamster window will display all its contents.
You can also add an element for processing in a more traditional way. After launching the Hamster application, left-click on the central area where there is the inscription "Open Archive".
Then the opening window starts. In it you need to go to the directory where the RAR object is located, select it and click on the button "Open". After this, all the contents of the object will be presented in the program window in the same way as we saw above when opening by dragging.
- If you need to unzip all the contents, then in this case click on the button "Unpack everything".
- A window opens in which you need to specify the extraction path. Using the navigation tools, we go to the PC folder in which we want the extracted content to be stored. Then click on the button "Select folder".
- The contents will be extracted to the selected directory in a folder whose name will be identical to the name of the archive.
What to do if the user does not need to retrieve all the content, but only a single element?
Now let's return to what happens if, when moving a file from Conductor add it to the area "Unpack next...".
Method 4: File Managers
In addition to archivers, some file managers support working with RAR objects. Let's see how this is done using the example of the most popular of them - Total Commander.
If you need to extract an object to a specified location, then do it as follows.
Now let's see how to unpack all the contents completely.
Of course, not all archivers and file managers that allow you to view and extract the contents of files with the RAR extension are listed above. However, we tried to focus on the most popular of these programs, the likelihood of which the user has is quite high.