KB952249 Hotfix not working - can't extract compressed file

[clayga]

I'm not sure if this issue qualifies for free support - I may try that later
- but it's probably worth posting here regardless.

I ran into the bug described in KB952249 after I compressed a large dvr-ms
file so that it would fit onto a DVD+R DL disk. I then downloaded the
hotfix, successfully installed it, rebooted the computer, and tried to
extract the file from the DVD to a temp folder on one of my system's hard
drives (which has over 150 GB of free space btw). The following error alert
comes up just before the extraction process finishes:

"Copy File
An unexpected error is preventing the operation. Make a note of this error
code, which might be useful if you get additional help to resolve this
problem:
Error 0x800004005: Unspecified error
Try Again | Cancel"

This alert is identical to the one described in KB952249 except it says
"Copy File" not "Copy Folder" and has no Skip option. Some things to note:

1) the preceding alert described in the KB article ("There is already a file
with the same name as the folder name you specified. Specify a different
name.") does not appear.
2) pressing Try Again in the above alert just results in the same alert
coming up.
3) pressing Cancel exits the process with no extracted file in the target
directory.
4) this bug results in much wasted energy and user time because the error
happens at the end of the process.
5) My system is running Vista Ultimate SP1.

This is a serious bug and installing the hotfix hasn't fixed it on my system
at least. If this is reproducible, because the bug may involve data loss
(i.e. when the compressed file is the only copy retained), Microsoft should
address this quickly. As I said above, I'll most likely make a support call
on this, but if anybody has information of general interest about this,
please post it as soon as possible.

 

[clayga]

CORRECTION: the bug (or problem, or whatever you want to call it) I ran into
is not the one described in KB952249. I jumped to the wrong conclusion
because I assumed the error alert I received was specific. It's not. If I
had taken the time to check (the knowledgebase), I would have discovered this
alert comes up in a variety of circumstances.

The bug as best I can determine (without spending an unreasonable amount of
time narrowing things down) appears to be a failure of the built-in zip
routine with certain large files. I've spent a couple of hours zipping and
unzipping files, large and small, and the process usually works. However,
with two of the larger files I've tried, I've had "0x800004005: Unspecified
error" alert failures at the end of the unzip (i.e. Extract All). The
failure is reproducible with the largest file (>8GB), although I've only done
the zip/unzip twice because of the time involved. The second file that has
failed (once) is nearly 3GB. One thing worth noting perhaps is that both
files zip and unzip just fine when I use the free jZip program to do the job.
Because the built-in zip feature in Vista appears to be unreliable, I've
switched to using jZip instead.