FWW archive won't unzip

[Aram]

Downloaded 2023 fWW archive. It won't unzip. Macbook Pro, Sonoma 14.4.1.

I emailed Taunton. We'll see what they say. Has anyone run into this? Resolved it?

Thanks.

[Gary G™]

Did you compare the hash of the download to the original to make sure there’s no corruption or error in the file?

[Aram]

Did you compare the hash of the download to the original to make sure there’s no corruption or error in the file?

I didn’t know I could

[Gary G™]

I didn’t know I could

Presuming Windows and the download site provides a hash of their original file which most places do for security purposes (usually SHA256).

Check their website; if they list the file hash, launch PowerShell on your computer and run this command:

Get-FileHash -path “c:\directory\downloaded.zip” -Algorithm Sha256 | select -exp hash
where “c:\directory\downloaded.zip” is the actual local full name of your downloaded zip archive.

If they provide a hash but not SHA256, see if the algorithm is available for the PowerShell cmdLet.
Get-FileHash -Algorithm and hit tab repeatedly to cycle thru the available options.

If their hash doesn’t match yours, the file is no good.

It’s prudent to do this with every file downloaded off the internet; it’s a security best practice. Before I retired, it was a requirement at work.
Bad actors will sometimes substitute their evil shite for data people are downloading—BSH!

[Aram]

Presuming Windows and the download site provides a hash of their original file which most places do for security purposes (usually SHA256).

Check their website; if they list the file hash, launch PowerShell on your computer and run this command:

Get-FileHash -path “c:\directory\downloaded.zip” -Algorithm Sha256 | select -exp hash
    where “c:\directory\downloaded.zip” is the actual local full name of your downloaded zip archive.

If they provide a hash but not SHA256, see if the algorithm is available for the PowerShell cmdLet.
Get-FileHash -Algorithm and hit tab repeatedly to cycle thru the available options.

If their hash doesn’t match yours, the file is no good.

It’s prudent to do this with every file downloaded off the internet; it’s a security best practice. Before I retired, it was a requirement at work.
Bad actors will sometimes substitute their evil shite for data people are downloading—BSH!

Thank you. Is there a Mac method?

[taxman]

While Gary's answer is amazing, and far more detailed than my tech knowledge, have you tried deleting the original download and downloading a fresh copy?

[grwold]

Thank you. Is there a Mac method?

Aram, you can run a quick test of the archive using the command line. Launch the Terminal app and, at the prompt, enter

zip -T /path/to/fwwarchive.zip