thank you for the sample. i believe its something to do with WinRAR and how it does passwords. i have now tried IZArc (using PKZip 2.0 password option), PKZip (using traditional password encryption), and a password zip created with the zipengine. all work with password. i could not find any password options in WinRAR. my guess is that its using a better encryption method of password causing it to not be compatible. unfortunately, this falls above my knowledge of ZIP. i would recommend trying IZArc or PKZip to create the PAK file.