An archive command can finish successfully while containing the wrong input set. Treat the selected filenames as part of the result, especially when a project contains extensionless items such as README, LICENSE or a configuration file.

7-Zip matches *.* only to filenames with extensions. To include everything, use * or a folder argument without a wildcard. Folder arguments already include subfolders; -r is not generally needed.

This is an input-selection problem. Opening one document from the archive would not reveal an omitted licence or startup file. Prepare an explicit small inventory before repeating the command against a real handover folder.

Build a selection witness

In a harmless fixture directory, include README, notes.txt and a nested folder containing another extensionless file. Put a clearly different short marker inside each file. Keep the archive output outside this fixture so the intended input set is easy to describe.

From the fixture's parent directory in Windows Command Prompt, a folder-based command such as 7z a candidate.7z fixture provides a straightforward comparison when 7z is available on the command path. Use a new archive name for each attempt instead of updating an earlier candidate whose old entries could conceal an omission.

List the completed archive and locate every expected path. Compare the extensionless root file, the ordinary text file and the nested witness separately. A total of three files is insufficient if the wrong three paths were selected.

Validate the command you will actually keep

Extract the candidate into another empty test folder and inspect the witness contents. Then compare the production command's arguments with the version that passed. Record its working directory as well as its text, because relative paths need that context.

If the intended task selects only a particular type of file, define that requirement explicitly and test both an included file and a deliberately excluded neighbour. Do not add recursion switches by habit to an otherwise unexplained command.

Retain the input inventory with the accepted archive. The acceptance condition is that the intended paths and contents survived the selection process, not merely that 7-Zip returned success or that the output became large enough to look plausible.

Sources: Official documentation.