Decompress Files in Windows XP

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

As I know, one can compress and /or decompress individual files via 'Properties'. ...Further to this 'Disk Cleanup allows the compression of old files en masse. ...But how do you decompress all compressed files on your Hard Drive in one go?

Thanks.

[FunkyMunky]

I think you can right click the hard drive in My Computer, select properties, then make sure "Compress drive to save disk space" is unticked. It may be ticked and grey if only some files are compressed, in which case click it a couple of times til it's clear again. If you have a large drive or lots of compressed files, the operation could take a while. I'm not sure how "deep" this goes regarding subfolder trees or some compressed/some uncompressed files, so there may also be another way.

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

FunkyMonkey.....

Thanks, but no luck; unticked and clear (no grey).

The only compressing to date has been to 'old files' via Disk Cleanup. Wondering how to reverse this.

[FunkyMunky]

Another possible solution to uncompress every compressed file on the drive:

Open a command line window (Start >> Run >> type in "cmd" then enter).

Navigate to the root of your hard drive using

cd c:\ .

Then, type in

compact /U /S /I

This sets the uncompress (/U) action on all subdirectories/files (/S) on the drive, and continues even when errors are encountered (/I). This should uncompress everything on the drive that's compressed, and will take a while depending on the size of the drive.
Good luck!

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

FunkeyMonkey.....

Marvelous! ...Thanks; just the quick one off remedy I was looking for. ...Successful.