Windows runner: Expand-Archive error – downloaded archive is not a supported .zip file

[quvion]

Hello GraalVM team,

I encountered an error when using graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1 on a Windows GitHub Actions runner (self hostet on windows 11 - same problem arises on Windows 10). The action fails during the archive extraction step with the following message:

Expand-Archive : '' ist kein unterstütztes Archivdateiformat.
'.zip' ist das einzige unterstützte Archivdateiformat.
Error: The process 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe' failed with exit code 1

This indicates that the downloaded GraalVM archive is either:
1. not a .zip file,
2. corrupted, or
3. not detected correctly by the archive extraction logic of the action.

Environment
• GitHub Action runner: windows-latest
• Action version: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
• Configuration:

         build-native-windows-and-installer:
          runs-on: self-hosted

         - name: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
            uses: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
             with:
                 java-version: '25'
                 distribution: 'graalvm'

Full Log Excerpt
Expand-Archive : '' ist kein unterstütztes Archivdateiformat. '.zip' ist das einzige unterstützte Archivdateiformat.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:210

• ... Ignore)) { Expand-Archive –LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_tem ...

•             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:String) [Expand-Archive], IOException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : NotSupportedArchiveFileExtension,Expand-Archive

Expected Behavior

The GraalVM archive should download as a valid .zip file and extract successfully on Windows.

Actual Behavior

The action fails during extraction because the downloaded artifact is not recognized as a valid ZIP archive.

Please let me know if you need further logs or artifacts.
Thank you for maintaining the GraalVM setup action.

[fniephaus]

Thanks for the ticket, @quvion. We were not aware of any issues with self-hosted Windows runners.

Could you run your build in debug mode and share the build output? Either the download or the extraction step fails. Are you sure you have zip installed on the runner?

[quvion]

Hallo and thank you for your answer. This is the log:

Run graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
##[debug]isExplicit: 25.0.0
##[debug]explicit? true
##[debug]checking cache: C:\actions-runner_work_tool\graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin\25.0.0\x64
##[debug]not found
##[debug]Downloading https://download.oracle.com/graalvm/25/latest/graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin.zip
##[debug]Destination C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4
##[debug]download complete
##[debug]Using powershell at path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoLogo -Sta -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' ; try { Add-Type -AssemblyName System.IO.Compression.FileSystem } catch { } ; if ((Get-Command -Name Expand-Archive -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive -ErrorAction Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4' -DestinationPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0' -Force } else {[System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory('C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4', 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0', $true) }"
Expand-Archive : '' ist kein unterstütztes Archivdateiformat. '.zip' ist das einzige unterstützte Archivdateiformat.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:210

• ... Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_tem ...

•             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  • CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:String) [Expand-Archive], IOException
  • FullyQualifiedErrorId : NotSupportedArchiveFileExtension,Expand-Archive

Error: The process 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe' failed with exit code 1
##[debug]Node Action run completed with exit code 1
##[debug]Finishing: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
39s
##[debug]Evaluating condition for step: 'Set up GraalVM for Native Image'
##[debug]Evaluating: success()
##[debug]Evaluating success:
##[debug]=> true
##[debug]Result: true
##[debug]Starting: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
##[debug]Register post job cleanup for action: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
##[debug]Loading inputs
##[debug]Evaluating: github.token
##[debug]Evaluating Index:
##[debug]..Evaluating github:
##[debug]..=> Object
##[debug]..Evaluating String:
##[debug]..=> 'token'
##[debug]=> ''
##[debug]Result: ''
##[debug]Loading env
Run graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1

##[debug]isExplicit: 25.0.0
##[debug]explicit? true
##[debug]checking cache: C:\actions-runner_work_tool\graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin\25.0.0\x64
##[debug]not found
##[debug]Downloading https://download.oracle.com/graalvm/25/latest/graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin.zip
##[debug]Destination C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4
##[debug]download complete
##[debug]Using powershell at path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoLogo -Sta -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' ; try { Add-Type -AssemblyName System.IO.Compression.FileSystem } catch { } ; if ((Get-Command -Name Expand-Archive -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive -ErrorAction Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4' -DestinationPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0' -Force } else {[System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory('C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4', 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0', $true) }"
Expand-Archive : '' ist kein unterstütztes Archivdateiformat. '.zip' ist das einzige unterstützte Archivdateiformat.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:210

• ... Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_tem ...

•             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  • CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:String) [Expand-Archive], IOException
  • FullyQualifiedErrorId : NotSupportedArchiveFileExtension,Expand-Archive

Error: The process 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe' failed with exit code 1
##[debug]Node Action run completed with exit code 1
##[debug]Finishing: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
##[debug]Evaluating condition for step: 'Set up GraalVM for Native Image'
##[debug]Evaluating: success()
##[debug]Evaluating success:
##[debug]=> true
##[debug]Result: true
##[debug]Starting: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
##[debug]Register post job cleanup for action: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
##[debug]Loading inputs
##[debug]Evaluating: github.token
##[debug]Evaluating Index:
##[debug]..Evaluating github:
##[debug]..=> Object
##[debug]..Evaluating String:
##[debug]..=> 'token'
##[debug]=> ''
##[debug]Result: ''
##[debug]Loading env
Run graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1

##[debug]isExplicit: 25.0.0
##[debug]explicit? true
##[debug]checking cache: C:\actions-runner_work_tool\graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin\25.0.0\x64
##[debug]not found
##[debug]Downloading https://download.oracle.com/graalvm/25/latest/graalvm-jdk-25_windows-x64_bin.zip
##[debug]Destination C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4
##[debug]download complete
##[debug]Using powershell at path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoLogo -Sta -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' ; try { Add-Type -AssemblyName System.IO.Compression.FileSystem } catch { } ; if ((Get-Command -Name Expand-Archive -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive -ErrorAction Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4' -DestinationPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0' -Force } else {[System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory('C:\actions-runner_work_temp\ee84c70c-9579-4826-83d3-af53f9407fb4', 'C:\actions-runner_work_temp\31962dc4-f7c0-4a74-bb0b-17a1bd7d82c0', $true) }"
Expand-Archive : '' ist kein unterstütztes Archivdateiformat. '.zip' ist das einzige unterstützte Archivdateiformat.
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:210

• ... Ignore)) { Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:\actions-runner_work_tem ...

•             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  • CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:String) [Expand-Archive], IOException
  • FullyQualifiedErrorId : NotSupportedArchiveFileExtension,Expand-Archive

Error: The process 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe' failed with exit code 1
##[debug]Node Action run completed with exit code 1
##[debug]Finishing: Set up GraalVM for Native Image

I have the same problem on two different real (bare metal) windows desktop computers. One with Windows 10 and one with Windows 11. Zip is installedvon both computers. My workflow file is attached:

native.yml

Thank you!!!!

[quvion]

Same Problem If I use a Windows Server 2022 (VPS) as a self hosted runner.

[fniephaus]

Thanks for sharing more details. I took a look at the tool-cache code and I think I found the problem:
https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/6b63a2bfc339a753a113d2266323a4d52d84dee0/packages/tool-cache/src/tool-cache.ts#L356-L358

First, the code tries to extract the zip via .NET's [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::ExtractToDirectory, which doesn't require a file extension. If this fails, it tries to extract via Expand-Archive, which does require the file extension.
To work around, you could try installing .NET. We could also ensure the temp file always has a file extension. The best fix would probably be on the tool-cache side of things. It should probably keep any file extension for the default destination here.

[fniephaus]

I have pushed a fix. If you could try it out and confirm it works, that would be great. All you need to do is use the branch via:

# ...
         - name: Set up GraalVM for Native Image
            uses: graalvm/setup-graalvm@fniephaus/file-ext-windows
# ...