Extraction path and options dialog: advanced options

You may specify the following options in this dialog:

File time

Set modification/creation/last access time

Windows file systems keep three different time fields for each file: last modification, creation and last access. By default WinRAR stores only last modification time, but using file time options in Time part of archiving dialog you may enable storing of creation and last access time. Even if a desired time field is present in archive, it is also necessary to set the corresponding time option in the extraction dialog to restore it on extraction. All these options are supported only by RAR and ZIP archives, for other formats WinRAR always restores only the modification time.

Attributes

Clear attribute "Archive"

Clear attribute "Archive" on the extracted files. This option is designed for backup purposes.

Set file security

This option has meaning only for NTFS file system and allows to restore file owner, group, access control and audit information if it was previously saved in the archive. It is necessary to specify "Save file security data" option in Advanced part of archiving dialog to preserve security information when creating an archive. You need to have necessary privileges in order to use this facility. Processing of security data may decrease the speed of archiving operation, so set this option only if you understand its meaning and really need it, in most cases security processing is not required for home users.

This feature is supported only by RAR archives.

Set attribute "Compressed"

This option allows to restore NTFS "Compressed" attribute when extracting files. WinRAR saves "Compressed" file attributes when creating an archive, but does not restore them unless this option is specified.

This feature is supported only by RAR archives.

File paths

Extract relative paths

This mode is used by default. If you browse some archive subfolder in WinRAR shell, the path part up to and including the current subfolder will be removed from extracted file paths. For example, if you are inside of "Backup\MyData" archive folder and extract "Images" folder, it will be extracted as "Images", not as "Backup\MyData\Images".

If you browse the root archive folder or start extraction from context menu, this mode works exactly as Extract full paths option.

Extract full paths

WinRAR unpacks contents of archive including the path information into the destination folder. Unlike Extract relative paths mode, the path information is unpacked completely, regardless of current archive folder.

Do not extract pathnames

If the option is set, selected files from the root archive folder and from selected subfolders will be extracted into the destination folder. The path information is ignored.

Extract absolute paths

If archive was created using "Store full paths including the drive letter" mode selected in Files part of archiving dialog and you set "Extract absolute paths" option, WinRAR will create unpacked files in their original folders and disks. Be careful, do not set this option unless you are completely sure that archive does not contain malicious files. You may read more about potential benefits and dangers of "Extract absolute paths" mode in the description of -ep3 switch, which is the command line equivalent of this WinRAR option. This feature is supported only by RAR and ZIP archives.

Delete archive

Never

Do not delete an unpacked archive.

Ask for confirmation

Ask for user confirmation before deleting an unpacked archive.

Always

Delete an unpacked archive without a confirmation.

WinRAR deletes an archive only if it had been unpacked without errors and if all archived files were selected to unpack. If you unpack a multivolume archive, all its volumes will be deleted.

Note that you can save the default state of this option with "Save settings" button in General page of extraction dialog and it will also affect command line and context menu extraction commands. Use "Ask for confirmation" and especially "Always" mode with care. Deleting an unpacked archive can cause data loss if used improperly.

Miscellaneous

Background extraction

Minimize WinRAR to tray when starting the extraction process.

Wait if other WinRAR copies are active

Wait in the queue if other WinRAR copies are creating, modifying or unpacking an archive and start the operation only when other WinRAR tasks are complete. If you are going to perform several archiving or decompressing tasks, such sequential execution can help to reduce amount of disk seeks and improve overall performance.

You can override this option for current operation by pressing "Continue" button in operation progress window. When you press "Continue", WinRAR stops waiting regardless of other copies activity.