Graph and PowerShell Blog

Recently, I was asked to look at creating a password-protected Zip file via PowerShell using 7-Zip. With one directory as a source, it is relatively straightforward:

$7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath

Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\dataFolder

-mtt=on - this turns multi-threading on, important if you have a large amount of data/files to zip

-bd - this stops 7zip from constantly showing the zip file progress, best when running via PowerShell

-mx1 - we are choosing the quickest compression as we will have large files

However, due to the size of some files being added to the archive, it was decided to leave them in place and add them directly to the archive. 7-Zip allows for this in its command line:

$7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath

Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on c:\scripts\file.zip -p"password" c:\dataFolder c:\otherFolder\file1.dat c:\otherFolder\file2.dat

↑ Archive is created from one folder source and two file paths.

Ideally, I would like the two files to be placed in a separate folder, but this is not possible with the command-line version of 7-Zip. You could copy the two files into a folder you wish to archive, but in my case, these files are too large.

For the script I was creating, I needed to add 10 files that were too large to be copied temporarily. When running this via PowerShell, I found that the files did not get added:

NOT WORKING:
$7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath

$string1 = "c:\Scripts\files2\file1.jpg c:\Scripts\files2\file2.jpg"
Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\Scripts\files\ $string

WORKING:
$7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath

$stringL = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()
$stringL.add("c:\Scripts\files2\file1.jpg")
$stringL.add("c:\Scripts\files2\file2.jpg")
Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\Scripts\files\ $stringL

I found it a bit strange that the command wouldn't take a string but would take an array input, but whatever works!

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Pass multiple source files to 7-Zip archive in PowerShell 16-Feb-26 Recently, I was asked to look at creating a password-protected Zip file via PowerShell using 7-Zip. With one directory as a source, it is relatively straightforward: $7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe" Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\dataFolder -mtt=on - this turns multi-threading on, important if you have a large amount of data/files to zip -bd - this stops 7zip from constantly showing the zip file progress, best when running via PowerShell -mx1 - we are choosing the quickest compression as we will have large files However, due to the size of some files being added to the archive, it was decided to leave them in place and add them directly to the archive. 7-Zip allows for this in its command line: $7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe" Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on c:\scripts\file.zip -p"password" c:\dataFolder c:\otherFolder\file1.dat c:\otherFolder\file2.dat ↑ Archive is created from one folder source and two file paths. Ideally, I would like the two files to be placed in a separate folder, but this is not possible with the command-line version of 7-Zip. You could copy the two files into a folder you wish to archive, but in my case, these files are too large. For the script I was creating, I needed to add 10 files that were too large to be copied temporarily. When running this via PowerShell, I found that the files did not get added: NOT WORKING: $7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe" Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath $string1 = "c:\Scripts\files2\file1.jpg c:\Scripts\files2\file2.jpg" Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\Scripts\files\ $string WORKING: $7zipPath = "c:\program files\7-Zip\7z.exe" Set-Alias Start-SevenZip $7zipPath $stringL = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new() $stringL.add("c:\Scripts\files2\file1.jpg") $stringL.add("c:\Scripts\files2\file2.jpg") Start-SevenZip a -bd -tzip -mx1 -mmt=on -p"password" c:\scripts\file.zip c:\Scripts\files\ $stringL I found it a bit strange that the command wouldn't take a string but would take an array input, but whatever works!