New Zip File on CD or DVD

This operation requires Windows XP or Vista.

Creating new Zip files on CD or DVD

WinZip can create new Zip files directly on CDs or DVDs. New Zip files written to CDs or DVDs can span multiple CDs/DVDs if necessary.

To create a new Zip file on CD/DVD, open WinZip's File menu and choose New Zip File on CD or DVD (see below if this menu entry does not appear). This displays a dialog with the following options:

CD or DVD drive: if you have more than one CD/DVD burner installed on your computer, you can choose which drive to use.
Zip file name: type the name that you would like to use for the new Zip file. Do not include a drive letter or folder name in the Zip file name.
Write Speed: choose Fastest, Medium, or Slowest as the speed you want WinZip to use when writing the Zip file to the CD or DVD drive.
Fastest corresponds to the fastest speed supported by your CD or DVD drive for the media that you load into the drive. Similarly, Slowest will give you the slowest supported speed, and Medium a speed that lies somewhere between the two extremes.
As long as it works reliably, you're usually best off selecting Fastest. However, if you experience failures at the fastest speed setting, you may have better luck choosing one of the slower speeds. When the drive spins at a slower rate of speed, the laser used to write data onto the CD has more time to burn each individual spot, and this can help to reduce or eliminate failures.

About writing to CD/DVD

To write to CD/DVD, WinZip first creates the new Zip file (or an individual part of the new Zip file) in WinZip's working folder. Once the Zip file (or Zip file part) has been created, WinZip will then write it to a CD or DVD.

This staging process is necessary because of the way CD/DVD writing hardware works. It also requires that you have enough disk space available in your working folder to hold the staged Zip files.

If the menu entry does not appear...

If New Zip File on CD or DVD does not appear in WinZip's File menu and you are using Windows XP or Vista, you may be running WinZip from a user account with limited rights. This situation can be corrected as follows:

Log on to the computer using an adminstrator account, or have a system administrator log on.
Open Windows security policies:
2. Type SECPOL.MSC and click OK.
Open Security Options under Local Policies.
Find the Restrict CD-ROM access to locally logged-on user only option. Double-click the option and change its setting to Enabled.

Limitations

Zip files written to CD or DVD are read-only and cannot be updated at a later date. Furthermore, due to restrictions imposed by the file system used on CDs and DVDs, the maximum length of the name of a Zip file to be written to CD or DVD is 107 characters. Currently, WinZip supports the following media: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW.
WinZip will only create one Zip file on a single CD or a DVD. If you insert a rewritable CD with existing data on it, WinZip will ask you if you want to erase the existing data before proceeding to write the new Zip file. If you elect to proceed using the CD in question, you will not be able to get back any data that gets erased.

CD/DVD support in the WinZip Job Wizard

WinZip also supports writing to CD or DVD when running WinZip jobs. Details on how to use this feature are in the help topic for the Specify Zip File panel of the WinZip Job Wizard.