PowerShell: Creating an archive of a folder and subfolders when some files are used by another process

Question

I need to create an archive of a folder with certain subfolders (having some folders/files excluded) in PowerShell using compress-archive command.

For example, here is a folder structure:

c:\Temp\Folder
log1.log
log1_1.txt

c:\Temp\Folder\Folder1\
log2.log
log2_1.log

c:\Temp\Folder\Folder2\
log3.log
log3_1.log

Need to exclude Folder2. As a result, the following folders / files have to be included to the zip file:

c:\Temp\Folder
log1.log
log1_1.txt

c:\Temp\Folder\Folder1\
log2.log
log2_1.log

Since some files are being used by another process, had to follow the recommendation below:

Compress-Archive Error: Cannot access the file because it is being used by another process

Here is a script:

Copy-Item -Path "c:\temp\folder\*" -Exclude "Folder2" -Force -PassThru | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath c:\temp1\archive.zip

However, only "c:\Temp\Folder" folder files are being included in the archive:

log1.log
log1_1.txt

Using -recurse (in Copy-Item) does include the files from Folder1, but does not keep Folder1 in the archive. So I am getting all the files from the subfolder inside archive.zip, which is not what I need.

I need the below structure of archive.zip:

log1.log
log1_1.txt
Folder1\
log2.log
log2_1.log

I tried using get-Item / get-child-Item and pipe it to copy-item - no luck - getting all files from the subfolders without folders name.

I figured out out that if I run the command below:

Copy-Item -Path "c:\temp\folder\folder1" -Force -PassThru -Recurse | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath c:\temp1\archive.zip

It creates and archive file with the below files/folders:

log2.log
log2_1.log
Folder1\
log2.log
log2_1.log

So after I deleted archive.zip and ran initial command - it is working as expected even after client reboot.

Copy-Item -Path "c:\temp\folder\*" -Exclude "Folder2" -Force -PassThru | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath c:\temp1\archive.zip

The content of zip file:

log1.log
log1_1.txt
Folder1\
log2.log
log2_1.log

I've tried it on different windows clients: win2012/2016/2019 same behavior.

If I rename c:\Temp\Folder\Folder1\ to c:\Temp\Folder\Folder3\ it stops including Folder3 folder and its contents to zip file unless I follow the above steps to get it "fixed".

Not sure why this is happening.

How to get it working properly? Appreciate your time!

Thank you!

Answer 1

You can try this script to achieve your requirement

$sourceFolder = "C:\Temp\Folder"

$destinationArchive = "C:\temp1\Archive.zip"

$excludeFolders = @("Folder3", "Folder5")

$tempFolder = "C:\Users\Downloads\TempFolder"

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $tempFolder

Get-ChildItem -Path $sourceFolder -Exclude $excludeFolders | Copy-Item -Destination $tempFolder -Recurse

Compress-Archive -Path $tempFolder -DestinationPath $destinationArchive

Remove-Item -Path $tempFolder -Force -Recurse

Answer 2

i hope this script will help you. This will archive the folder with subfolder and files as well

$sourceFolder = "C:\Temp\Folder"
$destinationArchive = "C:\temp1\Archive.zip"
$includeFolders = @("folder2", "folder5")
Compress-Archive -Path (Get-ChildItem -Path $sourceFolder -Directory | Where-Object { $_.Name -in $includeFolders }).FullName -DestinationPath $destinationArchive