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What the hell, again??

I just bought Jbridge and now have the file. It's compressed as a 7z file. I do a quick search and Win 10 has a free app called 9 zip that opens pretty much anything including 7z. Great, no sweat, right?

No matter what I do absolutely nothing happens. I can double click the file, I can right click it and hit Open With 9 zip, I can try going though the app first and find the file and click open. At the most all I get a quick flash of the splash screen that disappears before I can even read anything.

I'm just shaking my head here. The most simple things...

So I noticed in the email there's a link to another app called 7 Zip. 7 zip, 9 zip, what's the difference? Whatever, I installed 7 zip. Now when I double click the file I get a box about the App Store and the only option I see is for 9 zip. Why is this guy messing around with these other zip apps anyway? Everybody in the world has been using regular old zip since the dawn of time.

Sooo, I open the 7 zip app and hit Open. No matter what I do I cannot navigate to my Download directory. It gives me Computer, I can open the C drive but nowhere is my Downloads directory listed. This is unbelievable. Another wasted morning trying to do something as basic as opening a stupid zip file.

How do I open this file?

Bob





Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Hmmmm......

I'm just shooting from the hip here but have you tried right click/extract to yet?
I believe it prompts one to select a folder or location to extract the files to.

I've had weird issues occasionally also over the years with zipped files.

Hope you get it sorted out....

Last edited by chulaivet1966; 07/16/16 05:51 AM.
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This is Win 10. When you right click the file the only thing that opens is the App Store window and your only choice is to open the Store. It opens to a selection of apps that "should" be able to open the file. No other choices. 9 zip was the first one listed so I did that one. Once I installed the app, it's as I described. I get a quick flash of the splash screen and that's it. When I try to open the app itself, there's no file open or anything to do that I can see. The description of the app implies it's basically automatic. Right click the file and that should be it but of course for me it isn't.

That's why I tried 7 zip and I can't make that do anything either.

In Win 7 all I've ever done is right click>open with>windows explorer and that's it. This isn't a standard zip file.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
This is Win 10. When you right click the file the only thing that opens is the App Store window and your only choice is to open the Store. In Win 7 all I've ever done is right click>open with>windows explorer and that's it. This isn't a standard zip file. Bob


Sheesh....don't you just love it.

So...per what I'm used to, you can't right click/properties to determine if any files are actually within the zip file!....I don't get it either.

Sorry I'm no help but do share your frustration with something that should quite simple.

Back to it....

Last edited by chulaivet1966; 07/16/16 07:33 AM.
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J is hiding the .exe in the regular zip-file from Windows and its software integrity attorneys by using another compression software. That is the simple reason. (Many times a download has been blocked if the .zip conatained a .exe.)

Several years ago I did acquire a WinZip license and don't have the problem to open the file. (I just tried it.)


Windows 10
While Windows 10 does have some advantages there are quite a few disadvantages. I can't get the analog clock on my laptop, I was able to get it back on my desktop. (It takes more time and brain power to read the digital display compared to the analog clock.)
The replacement "Edge" for the Windows Media Player almost always has a short misfire at the beginning of a song.
Many tools that had been included in Windows are gone now and you have to get a paid copy from either Micrososft or from a third party.
...


Desktop; i7-2600k, 8 GB mem., Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
Laptop: i5-2410M, 4 GB mem, Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
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I got it but man, it's not obvious.

First I've given up on 9 Zip. No matter what I did it does nothing with this file so I uninstalled it.

I'm going to give a step by step for anybody with the same problem.

For 7 zip I moved the download from my Downloads folder (Why? Who knows) to my Documents folder. Now 7 zip sees it.

I clicked the file so it's highlighted and hit the Extract icon in the menu bar. Sounds pretty obvious, right? Oh, no it isn't. It created a folder so I thought Aha, got it. I go back to File Explorer and that folder is empty! Properties show zero bytes. !$%&**($.

Back up and try something else. I'm back in 7 zip's window. I right clicked the file this time and in that menu is Extract. That worked. Why doesn't the Extract button on the menu bar work? Who knows.

Back to File Explorer, I open that folder and...nothing shows.

Grrrrr. Back to 7 zip. From within it's window I double click the folder, it opens and there's the file but...IT'S STILL ZIPPED!! This time I right clicked the file and at the top of the menu is Open. What the hell, I clicked it and viola it opened and now I finally, finally have my Jbridge .exe file.

Damn, Sam.

Again for the zillionth time, you have to turn yourself into a teenaged hacker to understand this stuff. Have patience Grasshopper, maybe a beer or two, set aside a half day of your life because you have nothing better to do and just figure it out.

This isn't regular big name software. This is one guy sitting in his basement who comes up with these free apps to help us all. He doesn't have the resources, he's probably a young kid himself and he's trying to help his friends who are ALREADY VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE TEENAGE HACKERS. That means they know way more than us old farts will ever learn so this is nothing to them.

I want to really rant but it's a freebie, use at your own risk, yada yada.

Hope this helps somebody.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
Have patience Grasshopper, maybe a beer or two, set aside a half day of your life because you have nothing better to do and just figure it out.


Holy shvtfire....that's quite the story there jazzmammal.
(of course not, I'm not laughing)

Hell....I'd even buy you the beers to mitigate the need for a therapy session.

Carry on....

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Bob, what I do with 7-zip is to place the zipped file on the desktop, create a new folder, right click on the zip and drag it to the new folder. A menu opens up with 7-zip with sub menus and other items. I left click on on open here in the 7-zip sub folder and the files are transferred to the the new folder. You can do the same if you create the new folder in program files or program files(x86).

Note that I have Win 10 pro.


Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!

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Hmmm, that's about as unintuitive as what I just discovered but it does seem useful. How did you figure that out? I tried reading the Help file and holy crap what a bunch of technobabble.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
Hmmm, that's about as unintuitive as what I just discovered but it does seem useful. How did you figure that out? I tried reading the Help file and holy crap what a bunch of technobabble.

Bob


Trial and error, total frustration for a few hours and about a 6 pack of beer!


Back in my day the only time we started panic buying was when the bartender shouted "last call"!

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Thanks buddy, I thought I missed something obvious...

From what GHinCH explained I think I understand the thinking behind this program now. The .exe needs to be hidden from the computer so it or your email provider allows the download to proceed. I get that because I've received spam emails at work with .exe attachments and those are digital landmines.

That means Extract isn't the process that unzips the actual file, Extract is only taking the zip file out of the wrapper folder that's hiding the .exe from the computer. There's two zipped files, the wrapper and the file inside it.

My big gripe here and I see it so many times with software help files, is why isn't this the first thing that's explained in detail?. FAQ 1 should be "How to open a 7z file". Of course that's not the case. The person who created 7 zip simply assumes everybody knows that because him and all his friends do so we all should. That's the problem with computer geeks, to them that's so stupidly obvious they don't need to bother explaining it.

That means the Jbridge guy who put a link to 7 zip in the email to me should have explained this. But, guess what? He's also a member of the geek community and thinks the same thing. All he did in his email is say something like, if you have a problem here's the link to 7 zip. Nothing else.

Bob



Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Bob, if you haven't, just download 7-zip. It's free software, and it will unzip both the 7-zip and the zip file that results.

If you own Winzip, you can do the same (to unzip both of them). 7-zip is just an open source version of zip.


John

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John, out in the sun too much today? <grin>

7 zip is what this thread is about. Yes it will unzip stuff, the question is what's the procedure?

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Quote:
So I noticed in the email there's a link to another app called 7 Zip. 7 zip, 9 zip, what's the difference? Whatever, I installed 7 zip. Now when I double click the file I get a box about the App Store and the only option I see is for 9 zip. Why is this guy messing around with these other zip apps anyway? Everybody in the world has been using regular old zip since the dawn of time.


Sorry, Bob, missed this part (in this long thread).

I don't know about 9-zip, but my guess is that it got set as the default for 7z files and that's why double clicking the file doesn't bring up 7-zip.

Anyway, if you installed 7-zip, just open the program (not the 7z file from jbridge), then do a "File, Open" to select your 7z jbridge file, and then extract that to the Zip file. You can then open that zip file (again in 7-zip) and extract the EXE. Then just run the EXE file and you should be good to go with jbridge.

I'd be happy to write this up when I get home from work tonight, if you wish.

Or have I missed something else? (In which case, I'll head back out into the sun). smile


John

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In 7 Zip, right clicking should bring up a menu to select a destination. I don't have JBridge but you should see an option to unzip to the correct folder.

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Thanks, John. That's what I finally figured out but it wasn't obvious. I had no idea it was a two step process, that is not mentioned anywhere. Since the purpose of the app it to unzip files, why is there no control that simply says "unzip"? Stuff like that is what bugs me about Help or FAQ's in apps and programs. I used File>Open to first find the download and then used Extract thinking that was it. What does Extract mean if not unzip to a noob? I see it now, Extract means removing the zip file from it's container folder and THEN you unzip the file. All that was needed was a mention of this in the FAQ to explain it to us old farts since I've never needed a dedicated unzip program before because Windows normally handles it.

That's my gripe.

Bob


Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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For me, that's just experience, as I've been a user of file compression since MS-DOS days even before the legal challenges between SEA Arc and Phil Katz' PKZip back in the late 80's. For me, it was a matter of recognizing the file extensions and just knowing what to do.

But if you don't know what to do, then, you just don't and yes, the documentation really should have made it clear. It's not like they needed to write a whole book on how to do it.


John

Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD
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BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK

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