FAQ

Is SimpleZipDrive free? Yes — GPL v3 open source. The license covers all releases.

Does it modify my archives? No. Mounted volumes are strictly read-only; the archive file is never written to.

Can I write files to the mounted drive? No — the volume is read-only by design. Copy out as much as you like.

Where did my drive go after I closed the window? Closing the window unmounts the drive. Keep the app running while you use the mount.

Can I mount more than one archive? One archive per app instance. Launch a second instance to mount another archive (each instance occupies its own mount point).

Which variant should I use? Dokan for the mature driver; WinFsp if you need cross-integrity mounting or folder mounts on fresh directories. See Variants.

Do I need administrator rights? No. The apps run unelevated (asInvoker). The WinFsp variant detects elevation when you choose to run as admin and switches to cross-integrity folder mounts so both integrity levels can see the mount.

Why drive letters M–Q? A reserved pool that rarely collides with real drives. You can request any letter explicitly on the command line, or mount to a folder instead.

Where does extracted data go? %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleZipDrive\Temp\<pid>_<guid>\ for the session’s disk cache — deleted automatically on unmount/exit and orphan-swept at startup. See Configuration.

How much RAM does it use? Roughly app base + largest cached entry. Per-entry caching is capped by MaxMemoryPerFileMb (512 MB default, clamped to 90 % of installed RAM); oversized entries go to the disk cache instead. See Caching.

Why does Task Manager show less than “file size × copies opened”? Buffers are shared: opening the same file repeatedly adds no memory after the first decompression. Since 2.9.0 even the first decompression peaks at one copy of the data (previously two).

Does it support ZIP64 / >4 GB archives? Yes, via SharpCompress. Very large entries (over the per-file RAM limit) are handled by the disk cache.

Does it support split/multi-volume archives? No.

Does it mount .iso/.vhd/.exe installers? No — only the formats listed in Archive Support.

Antivirus flags the app or the mount is slow — related? Real-time scanning can slow mounted reads substantially; excluding the mount letter or the app folder is a common remedy. Only download binaries from official GitHub releases.

Is any of my data sent anywhere? Crash/warning reports (filtered), one startup statistics ping (applicationId, version), and one update check. No file paths, no contents. Details and opt-out in Security & Privacy.

Where are the logs? %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleZipDrive\Temp\Logs\ — see Logging.

How do I report a bug? Automatic reporting already covers real defects; for anything else open an issue with the session log attached (Logging).