How to make portable applications.: Portable Applications, Windows XP

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-10-01 at 06:02:08ID: 25468171

You can use Microsoft Virtual Machine installed in good hardware with enough RAM
And can have the weblink to that hostmachine, where u can access machine where u installed heavy application

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-10-01 at 06:03:43ID: 25468183

to know more - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

by: ram_keralaPosted on 2009-10-01 at 06:06:23ID: 25468202

Windows Virtual PC console is integrated with Windows Explorer so that users can manage all of their virtual machines from an easily discoverable folder (%User%\Virtual Machines).

by: marietto2008Posted on 2009-10-01 at 06:24:58ID: 25468346

Nope,I'm thinking to do something like this ---> Autodesk_AutoCAD_2008_Portable_[g8ni_92]_[tntvillage] ...

by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-07 at 00:50:38ID: 25512918

Hello Marietto

I'm not entirely sure what you wanted us to do with the:
Autodesk_AutoCAD_2008_Portable_[g8ni_92]_[tntvillage]
statement.

Clearly it is a very large download available as torrents linked to in a lot of sites. You don't expect us to download 354MB of files to see what you are talking about, do you? Firstly this is obviously a version of AutoCAD that has been decompiled, altered, and recompiled in contravention of all copyright and licensing. To my knowledge a 2008 version of AutoCAD was never legally made available as a "portable" version, and distributing it along with a "KeyGen" program and "profiles" files is not what you would call legal, is it?

In my opinion you have already been given by far the best option, ie. use a Virtual Machine environment. You already use VMWare (http:Q_24766352.html#a25447523).

However, you are obviously looking for a way to make different applications run as completely self-contained with all the required files in one folder and not writing any settings to the registry.

Firstly, unless a program has been compiled by the author (or the source code has been made freely available for other end users to do so themselves) so that instead of writing to the registry it writes to local *.ini, *.cfg, *.xml, or other "settings" files instead, then you require some programming knowledge and software to modify the program files.

That is the main reason why the contributors of applications to these sites tend to use Open Source software applications:
http://portableapps.com/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/portable-software-usb/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_software
http://www.pendriveapps.com/
http://www.portablefreeware.com/

Apart from keeping things legal by using Open Source or freeware applications, a lot of the Open Source applications are cross-platform ones that by design are usually completely self-contained.

The non-hacking advice given by this person should give you a good start:
http://inshame.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-make-portable-applications.html

Then your best bet is to google for results:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=how+to+make+an+application+portable&meta=

by: rindiPosted on 2009-10-07 at 03:06:30ID: 25513622

I completely agree with BillDL's statement above, particularly regarding software piracy...

I just want to elaborate on VMware, they also include something called "Thinapp". With this tool you can create applications that are portable, but of course it isn't a free product... Also, not all applications can be made portable. They have to use the standard Windows API to be able to make portable.

by: marietto2008Posted on 2009-10-07 at 04:02:12ID: 25513971

I'm not trying to encourage piracy, but I want to run any Windows application on Linux, reaching maximum compatibility. If I have purchased regularly Windows and programs,no one can forces me to use them only on Windows. Usually you use a virtual machine to do it, but I think that it consumes too many resources on the computer. Unlike wine is an excellent idea, but it doesn't offers the maximum compatibility. I'm thinking to a intermediate solution and I thought to create the applications that are portable and then use it on Linux via the standard Windows API.

by: rindiPosted on 2009-10-07 at 04:12:58ID: 25514056

You'll still have to use wine or it's commercial version, crossover if you want to run windows apps on linux, even if you have a portable version.

by: marietto2008Posted on 2009-10-07 at 04:37:49ID: 25514222

and then what's the best tool to reach the maximum compatibility when you run portable applications under Linux ?

by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-07 at 04:58:30ID: 25514363

I wasn't implying that YOU were encouraging or engaging in software piracy, I was just pointing out that the example file name you gave does lead you in google searches to a lot of sites that are hosting links for torrent downloads that ARE effectively encouraging piracy by supplying to others retail software, in many cases along with a key generator and/or software serial key. Your choice of examples was a poor one unfortunately, because AutoCAD is an expensive retail software. I apologise if it sounded as though I was accusing you personally of engaging in shady activities.

You didn't actually mention anything about Linux in your question, nor did you list it in your question tags or zones. In the end though, what rindi mentioned about needing Wine is the very stumbling block that you want to get rid of. It strives to provide the APIs needed and is an extra layer, although you may find that applications run faster using Wine than in a full Virtual or Emulated environment.

by: rindiPosted on 2009-10-07 at 05:00:30ID: 25514375

Wine should probably suffice for most of them. As I don't have crossover, it being a commercial product and therefore not free, and can't give much info about it

by: marietto2008Posted on 2009-10-07 at 05:14:34ID: 25514483

you are right BillDL,I did a bad example,excuse me. I have another question : what's the best tool to create portable applications ? You said "Thinapp" ,but it will work with games,too ? If I want to create the portable version of the latest games,it will work ? Or if I want to do the portable version of autocard 2010 regularly bought,it will work ?

by: rindiPosted on 2009-10-07 at 05:50:50ID: 25514763

It should work with games, but that will mainly depend on the game. Many need certain hardware which isn't available with portable apps or within wine.

By the way, you can try a test version of thinapp for 60 days, so you should have no problem finding out what works and what doesn't.

by: marietto2008Posted on 2009-10-09 at 22:50:20ID: 31635838

thanks.

by: BillDLPosted on 2009-10-10 at 04:28:21ID: 25541842

Thank you Marietto.

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