# Anybody else try freeware to convert a ZIP to an EXE?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 17, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413 "2008-10-17T17:55:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413/1 "2008-10-17T17:55:18Z")

</div>

I’m using a freeware application from Chillkat called Zip 2 Exe.

> **[(Free) ZIP 2 Secure EXE - Create Self-Extracting Executable with AES...](http://www.chilkatsoft.com/ChilkatSfx.asp)**
>
> ZIP 2 Secure EXE - Create Self-Extracting EXE (executables) from Zip Files, with AES encryption

It converts a zip file into a self extracting executable. There are a couple of catches, though:

1. When running, a message appears saying the exe is unsigned and the user’s given the option to run or not run it. I’m not too hopeful that there’s any way I can get rid of this, but is there a simple way to add a signature?

2. THe first time I did one of these, it ran fine. The second time, a message appears which says:  
‘\?\C:\AVIPresentation’  
CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory. UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory.

It still runs otherwise, and it does in fact put the files where I’m telling it to (c:\AVIPresentation), but no matter what I do I can’t get rid of this message.

Any help with either of these would be much appreciated… or if there’s another, better ap that does the same thing, I’d love to hear about it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413/2 "2008-10-18T00:08:39Z")

</div>

You can do this with [7-Zip](http://www.7-zip.org). I’ll see if I can find the pertinent spot in the documentation.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413/3 "2008-10-18T00:14:07Z")

</div>

Ok, in the 7-Zip help, expand **Command Line Version\Commands\Switches** and select **-sfx (Create SFX archive)** for instructions.

If you don’t care about compression, the utility iexpress.exe is built into Windows 2000 and up. [Here](http://babek.info/libertybasicfiles/lbnews/nl134/iexpress.htm) is a helpful (but somewhat silly) walkthrough.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-else-try-freeware-to-convert-a-zip-to-an-exe/468413/4 "2008-10-23T15:44:36Z")

</div>

Thanks! Took me some time banging around, but I’ve got something now that does the trick.