TAR and Curl in Windows: Learn more about TAR archiving on Windows 10 and 11. Use TAR and ZIP files to back up your data.

TAR is still the most popular tool for archiving data on Linux, but now it is available on Windows. The TAR (Tape ARchiver), which is still very popular and widespread today, as a very common command for Linux users to back up data and directories, it compresses on request also with the help of gzip or bzip2. The name was originally formed from tape archiver, as used to back up data to tape drives.

How to use C:\> tar -xf on Windows

Use TAR and Curl in Windows

Linux users will be happy about the possibility of being able to use TAR under Windows, because Microsoft also provides the command for Windows 10, where TAR is onboard from build 17063.

TAR also extracts ZIP files

Interesting and unexpected is also that tar of Windows 10 also extracts ZIP files. Which formats for compression will continue to be supported is not yet known at this time. There are also a large number of tools that also support tar, which also have a graphical interface, such as the free 7-Zip.

The tar help is displayed with call the option help.

C:\> tar -help
Usage:
  List:    tar -tf <archive-filename>
  Extract: tar -xf <archive-filename>
  Create:  tar -cf <archive-filename> [filenames...]
  Help:    tar --help

TIP

In Windows 10 and Windows 11 you will find another tool that is popular and widespread among Linux users. Microsoft delivered cURL almost unnoticed, in the context of release updates. cURL (Client for URLs) is a command line program for transferring files that has long been included in many Linux distributions.

Tar and Curl are coming to Windows

Starting with Insider Build 17063, we are introducing two command-line tools to the Windows toolchain: curl and tar. It took a long time, I know. We’d like to recognize the people who built and maintain tar and curl – fantastic open source tools used by millions of people every day. Let’s take a look at two powerful ways these tools make developing on Windows an even better experience.

Basic components of the toolbox

Tar and Curl are staples in a developer’s toolbox. Starting today, these tools are available for all Windows SKUs via the command line. And yes, they are the same tools you have come to know and love! If you are not familiar with these tools, here is an overview of how they work:

Windows TAR

Tar: is a command line tool that allows a user to extract files and create archives. There was no way to extract a file from cmd.exe outside of PowerShell or with installing software. We are correcting this behavior :) The implementation we ship in Windows uses libarchive.

Windows Curl

Curl: is another command line tool that allows transferring files to and from servers. So, for example, you can download a file from the Internet.

Command line file transfers

Now it is possible to do more than just file transfers via the command line. But also extract files in formats other than .zip (such as .tar.gz). PowerShell already offers similar functionality (it has Curl and its own file extraction utilities). Microsoft recognizes that there may be cases where PowerShell is not readily available or the user may wish to remain in cmd.

Windows 11 comes with new features and a fresh look, and with a redesigned Start menu. If you don’t want to get used the new design, you can go back to the classic Start menu look like in Windows 7.

How to Restore Windows 7 Start Menu

Hit the Windows-Logo key, or click on Start and type in cmd they will open command prompt, here you paste the following command and hit enter.

winget install startallback

At the first run, the confirmation of the license terms is asked, which you accept by pressing the Y button.

If you want to go back to the Windows 11 Start menu, simply hit uninstall the tool.

winget uninstall startallback

Addendum

The Start menu is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, providing a means of opening programs and performing other functions in the Windows shell.

Start menu, and the Taskbar on which it appears, were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at Microsoft who had previously collaborated on great ape language research with the behavioral psychologist at Harvard.

The Start menu was renamed Start screen in Windows 8, before returning to its original name with Windows 10.

It has been co-opted by some operating systems (like ReactOS) and Linux desktop environments for providing a more Windows-like experience, and as such is, for example, present in KDE, with the name of Kickoff Application Launcher, and on Xfce with the name of Whisker Menu.

Traditionally, the Start menu provided a customizable nested list of programs for the user to launch, as well as a list of most recently opened documents, a way to find files and obtain assistance, and access to the system settings.

Later enhancements via Windows Desktop Update included access to special folders such as “My Documents” and “Favorites” (browser bookmarks).

Windows XP’s Start menu was expanded to encompass various My Documents folders (including My Music and My Pictures), and transplanted other items like My Computer and My Network Places from the Windows desktop. Until Windows Vista, the Start menu was constantly expanded across the screen as the user navigated through its cascading sub-menus.