Windows batch file - The system cannot find the batch label specified

I would point out that the "Testing 1.2.3..." and "Press any key to continue . . ." lines indicate that execution has successfully gone to the :dozip label and then successfully returned to the caller.

Is the "7za" executable actually a batch file? If I modify my test script to have the helper be a batch file, I get the same error. The fix is to do 'call %zip% %1'

the moral of the story: when calling external programs/batch files in a batch file, use call

call foo.bat

and/or

call %foo%

(Calling one batch from another has been done since the days of DOS, just remember to call)