About Linux FAQ

Browse More FAQs:

Open rar file or Extract rar files under Linux or UNIX

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: June 16, 2008]

Q. How do I open rar archive files under Linux / UNIX operating systems?

A. RAR files are in compressed archive format, if you have downloaded rar files from the Internet, you need to unpack or unrar them (extract rar files).

RAR is a proprietary file format for data compression and archiving, developed by Eugene Roshal.

Under Linux and UNIX, use command called unrar. By default unrar is not being installed on Linux, FreeBSD or UNIX oses. You can install unrar command with the help of apt-get or yum command.
(See below for Windows XP info)

Install unrar command

Under Debian Linux, you need to type apt-get as follows to install unrar program:
# apt-get install unrar

If you are using Fedora core Linux then use yum command as follows (see discussion below):
# yum install unrar

If you are using FreeBSD, use:
# pkg_add -v -r unrar

If any of above, methods is not working for you, download binary package from official rarlab site:
$ cd /tmp
$ wget http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Untar file
$ tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz

Both unrar and rar commands are located in rar sub-directory. Just go to rar directory:
$ cd rar
$ ./unrar

Now copy rar and unrar to /bin directory:
# cp rar unrar /bin

How to use unrar

unrar command supports various options below are common options that you need to use everyday.

Task: To open rar (unpack) file in current directory type command:

$ unrar e file.rar

Please note that replace file.rar filename with your actual filename.

Task: List (l) file inside rar archive:

$ unrar l file.rar

Task: To extract (x) files with full path type command:

$ unrar x file.rar

(D) To test (t) integrity of archive, file type command:
$ unrar t file.rar


How do I open rar file under Windows XP/NT/2000?

Windows XP or NT/2000 user

  • If you are using Windows XP then I recommend to download Winrar. It is free download ( Free to try License) software.

E-mail this to a friend      Printable version

Related Other Helpful FAQs:

Discussion on This FAQ

  1. ajos1 Says:

    On my Redhat FC4… says there is no unrar or rar… does this package go under a different name?

    [root@www ~]# yum install unrar
    Setting up Install Process
    Setting up repositories
    Reading repository metadata in from local files
    Parsing package install arguments
    No Match for argument: unrar
    Nothing to do

  2. nixcraft Says:

    You need to point out to use dag RPM Repository for unrar command under Fedora Core Linux. I have following line in my /etc/yum.conf file:

    [dag]
    name=Dag RPM Repository for Fedora Core
    baseurl=http://apt.sw.be/fedora/$releasever/en/$basearch/dag
    gpgcheck=1
    enabled=1

    Save file and import PGP key:
    rpm –import http://dag.wieers.com/packages/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt

    Upgrade your system by typing following command:
    yum update

    Install unrar:
    yum install unrar

    Or just download RPM file from dag site

  3. joe Says:

    nixcraft - that dag repo is giving a 404:
    Setting up repositories
    dag [1/4]
    http://apt.sw.be/fedora/5/en/i386/dag/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404: Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:22:50 GMT

  4. nixcraft Says:

    Joe,

    Grab unrar/rar software from http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm install the same. Type the following commands as root user:
    cd /tmp
    wget http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    cd rar
    cp rar unrar /bin

    Now you can use rar and unrar

  5. Eliade Says:

    Hi nix, well how to handle *.lzh file on linux?
    I want to extract it….

  6. nixcraft Says:

    Eliade,

    Files with .lzh or .lha extensions have been compressed with the LHa, LHarc, or LHx compression utilities. You need to use lha command.

    lha x file.lhz

    Download link
    http://www.infor.kanazawa-it.ac.jp/~ishii/lhaunix/

    Hope this helps

  7. Ranjan Says:

    Thanq.This info is exactly matched my requirement.

  8. Arun Says:

    hey nixcraft thanks for the info.. :)
    really helpful

  9. Mike Says:

    This is just what I have been looking for, thanks!

  10. Daniel Says:

    when i try and use unrar i get the following error:

    unrar: /lib/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4′ not found (required by unrar)

    how do i fix this? can someone perhaps kindly point me to another article or some instructions? thank you!

  11. nixcraft Says:

    Daniel,

    What distro you are using? You need to have updated version of GLIBC.

  12. pranjal karwal Says:

    thanks dude it works! thanku for such an easy guide :)

  13. AudioTravel Says:

    Thanks for this info! Ultimately this forwardet me to:
    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=542860.
    That worked great for me. I think there might be a typo in the posting. I am using Centos Linux, so I thought I’d post what exactly I did:

    •wget http://dag.wieers.com/packages/unrar/unrar-3.6.2-1.el4.rf.i386.rpm
    •rpm -Uvh unrar-3.6.2-1.el4.rf.i386.rpm
    •unrar e rarfile.rar

    Cheers,
    Richard

  14. Alex Says:

    Thanks nixcraft for your nice guide, worked like a charm.

  15. Blind Says:

    How am i suppose to run these commands? Sorr

  16. Margaux Says:

    How do I fix this error

    Cannot find volume GA_-_S2E13_-_Begin_The_Begin.part2.rar
    Grey’s Anatomy - Season 2 - Episode 13 - Begin The Begin.avi - CRC failed
    Total errors: 1

    i’m very sure that i’ve downloaded it and it is in my Desktop…

    Thanks!

  17. sleestak Says:

    Thanks for providing this info. Very helpful.

  18. Ritu Says:

    cd /tmp
    wget http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    cd rar
    cp rar unrar /bin

    but the result is
    $ ./unrar
    ./unrar: /lib/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4′ not found (required by ./unrar)

    can any one tell me what is the problem?

  19. Tushar Tandulkar Says:

    Very nice help for unrar, thanks

  20. Pavan Kumar Says:

    Thanks Man.. The Unrar stuff works pretty nice.

  21. Vikas Says:

    Thanks

  22. Alex Says:

    There is a program - RAR fix, able can extract information even from those compressed files that are protected with a password, works with all variants of this format and can recover data from archives and corrupt rar files with various compression rates and created in different software.

  23. nmuthukumar Says:

    Here but it asks password to open the file

  24. biswajit deka Says:

    hi, am using fedora linux and not able to install unrar using yum install unrar
    it shows an error as No Match Argument rar.
    please help me out of this.

  25. Janis Says:

    I’ve heard you could also use 7zip to extract RAR files under *nix. That might be easier for some than using the method described in this post.

  26. matt Says:

    need some help with extracting .rar files on feisty fawn

  27. alex Says:

    Hey thanks!

  28. kldfsj Says:

    you can use Winrar with WINE - you can decompress and create archives with and without password etc. You will get nag screen in 30 days but it will work further

  29. arif Says:

    apt-get install unrar doesn’t work for debian.
    For debian apt-get install unrar-free

    Enjoy
    Arif Meraj
    Unix Administrator
    Therapbd

  30. Mishu Says:

    Installation For Suse 10 users:
    # su
    # yast2 -i unrar

  31. doctor mapache Says:

    For Ubuntu users (I’m using 7.10) you can find it in the Synaptic package handler menu.
    Sorry for the translation if it is not accurate, I have the menu in Spanish.

  32. Azura Says:

    Very helpful. I downloaded the binary package and followed the subsequent commands…

    It works on Slackware, Yay! ^__^

  33. simo Says:

    Hello when i execute ./rar i got this error

    -bash-3.00# ./unrar
    ./unrar: /lib/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4′ not found (required by ./unrar)
    -bash-3.00#

    any body can provid a help ,

    Thanks

  34. anand Says:

    Hi,

    I was getting same error.

    I installed rar and unrar through rpm and its working fine.
    rpm -ivh ftp://ftp.univie.ac.at/systems/linux/dag/redhat/el3/en/i386/dag/RPMS/unrar-3.6.2-1.el3.rf.i386.rpm
    rpm -ivh ftp://ftp.univie.ac.at/systems/linux/dag/redhat/el3/en/i386/dag/RPMS/unrar-3.6.2-1.el3.rf.i386.rpm

  35. Carmel Says:

    If you are searching for a GUI utility to extract and handle rar files with, there is PeaZip for Linux which comes handy:
    http://peazip.sourceforge.net/

    It runs both in Gnome and in KDE and is available as DEB and RPM.

  36. Free Wallpapers Says:

    Great post!

    Thank you!

  37. Varaonaid Says:

    Carmel…thanks *so* much for the ifno re: peazip. I’m much more comfortable with a GUI and it was exactly was I was looking for. Worked perfectly! :)

  38. MSK Says:

    very useful one..

  39. rash Says:

    I downloaded unrar successfully but i get an error when i try to open the file thats compressed. the error is:
    Warning:You need to start extraction from a previous volume to unpack file.wmv
    No files to extract

  40. rash Says:

    I forgot to mention i a am using sidux [debian] live CD!

  41. Questioner Says:

    How?
    file.001
    file.002

    file.par2

    Possible?

  42. ilke Says:

    thanx Mishu, nice to see Suse has a support here, i searched for long time… i will give a try tomorrow morning.

    Mishu Says:
    November 24th, 2007 at 2:36 am
    Installation For Suse 10 users:
    # su
    # yast2 -i unrar

  43. igor Says:

    cd /tmp
    wget http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    tar -zxvf rarlinux-3.6.0.tar.gz
    cd rar
    cp rar unrar /bin

    when i put the last command it says:
    cp: cannot create regular file `/bin/rar’: Permission denied
    cp: cannot create regular file `/bin/unrar’: Permission denied

    what do i do?

  44. vivek Says:

    igor,

    Run last two command as a superuser (root).

  45. igor Says:

    vivek sorry i am new to this linux thing would you be able to tell me what exactly do i tyoe in the terminal? like the last two command you said with superuser but how do i write that? thank you very much i appreciate it.

  46. Vladimir Says:

    run “su -” and enter your root password, then issue your commands and you should receive no errors

  47. charlymanja Says:

    thanks, it really works on fedora 8, keep blogging

  48. Abhishek Says:

    Thanks!;)

  49. vinodh Says:

    thanks a lot

  50. Sergey Says:

    # apt-get install unrar

    It’s not work :(


    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree… Done
    Package unrar is not available, but is referred to by another package.
    This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
    is only available from another source
    E: Package unrar has no installation candidate

    Please, help (((

  51. celleke Says:

    Help, all those tools rar, peazip etc are very nice to use. But how can I extract a spawned rar archive?
    Called *.rar, *.001 …
    Thanks

  52. CodeLab Says:

    Thanks For The Very Good Description Here
    It Worked Perfect For Me.
    One Question
    How Do I Extract Password Protected Rars
    I Mean, I Have The Password, But How Do I Specify It In Command Line.
    Need Syntax For That

  53. CodeLab Says:

    @celleke
    Its Called Multi-Part Rars
    You Dont Have To Do Anything Different For That
    Heres The Ex.
    unrar e file.part01.rar

    unrar Looks For All The, I Tried And It Worked
    file.partxx.rar and Extracts It For You
    Hope It Helps

  54. vivek Says:

    Try

    unrar e -p{password} file.rar
    unrar e -pmySecrete demogame.rar

  55. bill Says:

    has anyone a solution for that GLIBC problem?
    although the libc.so.6 exists and has 777 the error appears, complete libc6 is installed. machine: debian7 minimal from netinst cd. thanks-a-lot!

  56. DSpider Says:

    Same problem on Debian Etch…

    unrar: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4′ not found (required by unrar)

    This problem seems to pretty old… Dating back to 2007 (and even older). No-one came with a solution… I’m starting to think this Linux shit isn’t the OS for me :| Windows is easyer. So what if 99% of all viruses are made for Windows ? Ignorance is fucking biss…

  57. bill Says:

    Everything is easy as long as you know what you’re doing ;-)
    Windows ain’t easy. It’s frightening -> You don’t what what IT does ;-)))

  58. S. Nilesh Says:

    There is something simply called ‘rar’ which uncompress AS WELL AS compress. That means you can create, read, modify RAR archives. Its free. I don’t know about its license.

  59. bill Says:

    aha, and where to get? googleing for “rar” could be difficult :-D

  60. vivek Says:

    Bill,

    Type the following commands as root:
    apt-get update
    apt-get upgrade
    apt-get update unrar

    Here is output from my system:
    cat /etc/debian_version
    4.0
    unrar
    If you need further assistance please feel free to use our forum as thread discussion is supported very well..

  61. S. Nilesh Says:

    Bill,

    it is available for Fedora in freshrpms. I don’t about Debian based distros.

  62. Vovanuch Says:

    It works, thanks a lot.
    Unrar and 7zip too. I install win-made version of 7zip (it was in my win distr’s collection) under WINE and it works great.

Leave a Reply

We encourage your comments, and suggestions. But please stay on topic, be polite, and avoid spam. Thank you very much for stopping by our site!

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Copyright © 2006-2008 nixCraft. All rights reserved - TOS/Disclaimer - Privacy policy - Sitemap - Powered by Open source software.