How to batch unzip files in multiple folders at once

I recently grabbed a few complete series, but the way they're organized is a bit of a headache. Every single episode is split up into about twenty different archives that all need to be extracted manually. On top of that, each episode lives in its own separate folder. Since these shows have over a hundred episodes each, spending hours extracting everything individually and then moving them into one central directory feels like a massive waste of time.
Is there any way to tell a program (like WinZip, or maybe something else) to just scan a specific folder and automatically pull every archive out of every subfolder and dump them into one single spot? The episode files follow a standard format like Serial Number.S01E01... so there shouldn't be any naming conflicts when I move them all into the same folder. Thanks.🙂

hiddensailor14 said:Any way to auto-extract all archives (including from every subfolder) and dump them into one single spot? The episodes have different names like Serial Number.S01E01... so moving them all into the same folder shouldn't be an issue. Thanks.🙂

Open WinZip, find where the archives are sitting, select all the folders, and just hit extract.
WinZip’ll just dump all the archives into one single folder. Since they all have different names, it won't be an issue.
Hey.

Kyle Johnson2 said:Just open up WinZip, locate where those archives are sitting, select all the folders, and hit the extract button.
Since they have different names, WinZip will just dump everything into one main parent folder without any issues...
Best,

Here’s how the setup looks: let's say I've got Star Trek, four seasons with maybe twenty episodes each, and every single episode is split into 24 separate parts.


The problem is, I can't actually select the folders themselves. I'm looking at a list of links to the archives, which means I have to manually open every single folder. And if I try to drag an entire season folder into WinZip, it doesn't actually extract anything—it just tries to re-compress them into another zip file...🤷

hiddensailor14 said:If I drag an entire season folder over to WinZip, it doesn't even bother unzipping—it just tries to re-compress everything into another zip file.🤷

Seen that double archiving crap before. Honestly? It drives me nuts. :-(
Look, I don't have a better fix than just grinding through it folder by folder.

hiddensailor14 said:It looks like this: take Star Trek, say four seasons with about twenty episodes each, and then every single episode is broken down into 24 separate little pieces.

Dealing with massive file repetitions using the same naming pattern is honestly easiest if you just use a command line batch script to process everything at once. But wait, are you absolutely sure there isn't some weird .cmd, .bat, or .vbs extension hiding in that archive that might have automatically merged everything back into the original structure?

🙄

Just use Google to look through the directory containing all those subfolders and their associated files. If you just type *.rar into the search bar, it’ll pull up every single archive at once, and then you can just unpack them all directly into whatever destination folder you actually want.

Greetings. I realize I am not entirely up to speed on all the technical nuances here, but I would like to pose a question. To be clear, I am by no means a hacker, nor am I some kind of advanced computer power user.
I am running into an issue regarding files I downloaded from the internet. Specifically, after downloading five WinZip files and extracting them, I ended up with this MKV file that I simply cannot open. It appears I have successfully downloaded a movie, yet I am unable to actually play it... if anyone could offer some assistance, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you all in advance.

What on earth are you using to watch stuff, kid?

It wouldn't kill you to download a actually decent player like VLC Media Player, or maybe GOM. While you're at it, grab some codecs and then you can finally stop worrying about whether your videos will actually play.

Joseph Chavez7 said:And what on earth are you using to watch this, kid?

It wouldn't hurt to download a superior player like VLC Media Player, or maybe GOM. Grab some codecs while you're at it, and then you won't have any more headaches when playing files.

Much appreciated, my friend. I did mention I'm a total amateur at this, though I'm getting there...
Now for question number two: if I burn this file onto a CD or DVD, will a standard DVD player actually read it along with the subtitles?
Also, what is the best program for downloading subtitles?
Thanks

An MKV file isn't going to work if you're trying to run it through a standard DVD player. If you actually want to watch it on that setup, you'll probably need to convert it to an AVI file, or just use Handbrake to turn it into a proper DVD format. As for subtitles, you can grab those just like any other file using one of the usual downloaders. 🙂

John Cook72 said:Dealing with those massive piles of duplicate files all sharing the same template name is actually pretty easy if you just use a command line interface; a quick little script can handle the whole processing job for you. I was wondering though, are you absolutely certain nothing went sideways within the archive itself? It’s possible some sort of .cmd, .bat, or .vbs extension triggered something that automatically merged everything back into the original structure...

Nothing to report.

Joseph Chavez7 said:🙄

Just use Google, really... just target the specific parent folder that contains all those subdirectories and their respective archives. If you type *.rar into the search bar, it'll pull up every single archive in one go. From there, you can just unpack them all directly into your destination folder... simple enough...

Thanks, that’s all I needed...🙂

hiddensailor14 said:Thanks, that's all there is to it.🙂

And what exactly is "all there is to it"?
You mean you aren't looking for links anymore?

The way I read you—and honestly, even just looking at the screenshot—makes sense.
Every single time you try to unzip a file, it asks you to set a destination path, then does it again for the next one, and after all that digging through folders, you're just left staring at another freaking ZIP file.