Winrar is one of the most popular archiving programs in the world thanks to its widespread availability and ease of use. It also integrates rather well into Windows and is much more powerful than the in-built Windows ZIP reading utility.
However, as well-made as the program is, it isn’t perfect. In this article, we’re talking about the Winrar checksum error, its causes and what you can do to fix the problem.
What causes the Winrar checksum error?
The checksum error in Winrar appears when a RAR file is damaged and loses a few bytes of data. Regardless of the amount of data lost, if the file integrity is compromised, the file won’t meet its checksum, causing Winrar to throw the checksum error. There are a number of reasons why this might happen.
- Improper download
- The file transfer was interrupted
- Insufficient disk space on the target drive
- Malware infections
- Bad sector or damage on the host drive
Also read: How to fix 7zip headers error?
How to fix Winrar checksum error?
Here are nine fixes you can try out.
Restart your PC
The first thing you should do in such situations is to try and restart your PC. Restarting your PC can fix a bunch of seemingly random issues that occur without any explanation whatsoever.
Check the file
Next up, check to see if the file was downloaded (or transferred) properly. Compare the file size to another reference file to see if it’s complete. It’s recommended that you scrap the erroneous file and transfer it again from the source, whether it’s the internet or a local storage medium to ensure file integrity before trying to extract it again.
Keep broken files in Winrar
Winrar has a few inbuilt features that can help in extracting damaged or corrupt archives. Follow these steps to extract the archive while also keeping the broken files intact.
Step 1: Right-click the archive you want to extract and click Extract Files.
Step 2: In the General tab, under Miscellaneous, make sure that the Keep broken files option is checked.
Once you’re done, extract the file and you shouldn’t see any errors. Even if you see the error, you can ignore it and access the extracted files.
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Repair the archive
You can also try and repair the archive with Winrar to see if that fixes the problem. Open the affected archive with Winrar, head over to Tools and select Repair archive.
Winrar will ask you for a place to save the repaired archive, browse to a convenient location and click OK. Once Winrar is done repairing the archive, you should be able to extract it without any issues.
Run the Check Disk utility
The error can very well be a sign of your boot drive failing to perform as it should. Try running the check disk utility to check whether or not your storage drives are, in fact, functional.
You can refer to our detailed guide here on how to run the check disk utility
Also read: How to fix Spotify error 409?
Use another extraction tool
The issue can also arise from problems within the default Windows unzipping program or 7zip itself. A third-party extraction tool such as 7Zip can help resolve the problem as they’re often better at properly reading and extracting compressed archives.
Run an SFC scan
Step 1: Press Windows Key + S to bring up the Cortana/Search box and search for Powershell. Open Windows Powershell from the search results.
Step 2: Type sfc /scannow to scan your system for issues.
Step 3: If the SFC scan finds any problem, use the following command to resolve them.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Restart your PC, and the file system error should’ve been resolved. Alternatively, you can also run the DISM tool. You can check out our detailed guide on using the DISM tool here.
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Scan for malware
The issue can also arise from malware infections. Run an antivirus or antimalware scan using the security program of your choice to see if that helps fix the problem. Here’s how you can run a full scan on your PC using Windows Security.
Step 1: Press the Windows key and search for Windows Security. Click the corresponding search result.
Step 2: Click Virus & threat protection.
Step 3: Click Scan options.
Step 4: Select Full scan and click Scan now to start scanning your PC for malware.
Restart your PC and try again.
Reinstall Winrar
If nothing else works, try reinstalling Winrar from scratch to see if that resolves the problem. Reinstalling can often fix seemingly random issues with just about any program, let alone Winrar.
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