18 replies to this topic

[Shirin Zaban]

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How to Make Portable programs
=============================================================================
Hi

I think All BartPE ,Live XP and other projects users and even Basic users Need to have portable
version of their favorite programs.

When you have portable programs ,you do not need to install it to work.

When you want to make scripts , you will need to have this kind of applications.

When you want to make live xp projects(for example winbuilder livexp and other projects,Reatogo,and
some boot projects),you will need them.

Any way ,Not all programs can be portable.But we can make a lot of applications to be portable.

In this little program,i am going to make an portable program step by step ,hope will be helpful.

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What happens when installing an application ?
===============================================

When we install any software in our system ,Software Does as :

1. Makes folder or folders in our system.
2. Places some files in one or several directories.
3. Adds some entries in our registry,And may changes some of our registry settings.

So,If we make directories needed and place files needed in appertain places (witout installing) and
then apply needed changes to our registry,The program will work and we will not need installing that.

This means that for making portable programs we should know and have:

1.Directories and files needed for program.
2.Registry changes.

================================================================================
==
How to understand witch files an directories made and what are Registry changes
================================================================================
==

1.Note that applicatins (when installing them) ,Does not make directory (and files) just in your
"Program Files" directory , most of them make directories in your "windows" directory and sub
directories, and some of them make directories (and fies) in your "Documents and Settings" directory
and sub directories.

2.I think there is not easy way to know all informations needed without using special programs.there
are several programs that can check changes in your system during setup process,and can give you all
changes informations.

3.In this small tutor i am going to use "Total Uninstall" and show you how to do it.Just note that:

*** I prefer "Total Uninstall version 4.11" and used that in my tutor.If you use older or newer
*** version ,the process is a little bit different.

*** I will make Portable version for "AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4" and i suppose that you have placed
*** that in D:\defrag\setup.exe

*** I suppose that you have installed "Total Uninstall version 4.11".

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Process of getting needed informations:
==========================================

1.Run Total Uninstall ,in comming widow click on "Install" .

2."Install new" window will be seen ,In "Application name" section type "AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4"
and in "Application setup path" give the address "D:\defrag\setup.exe" (see Picture_1) Click on "Next"

3.Program will save settings of your system befor installing process and after a few minutes will show
"Install new" window again ,Make sure "Launch setup..." is selected (see Picture_2) then click on "next"

4.At this time ,AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4 will begin to install.Install it as usual.

5.When setup finished ,"Install new" window will be appeiered Make sure "Application is installed ..."
is selected (See picture_03),click on "next"

6.The Totall uninstall will check the "after install settings of your system" then will show
another window click on "Close",The main window of Total Uninstall will be shown.

7. Go to Files menu,select "Export" then click on changes (see picture_04),in comming window
click on save button.the program will save all chanes information as:

D:\defrag\AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4 - Changes.txt

8.Do the same as step 7 just click on "registry changes" in end,and in comming window click on "OK"
then click on save. the program will save reg changes made in your system in:

D:\defrag\AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4.Install.reg

==========================================
Process of Making portable program
==========================================

At this time if you open D:\defrag\AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4 - Changes.txt ,you will see all information
needed and you have reg file neede too.

I have placed two files above created for "AusLogics Disk Defrag 1.4" by "Totall uninstall" in needs.zip
(in attachment.)

Now you can copy all needed files and place them some where.Note that you should copy needed files
and directories by their assosiated addresses.for example if the program has placed file xxx.yyy
in system32\000 directory, you should save it as:
...windows\system32\000\xxx.yyy

and when you want to use that on other system you should place that file in windows\system32\000\xxx.yyy
of that system.

Then you should run Reg file made by Totall uninstall.

after that you can run program without installing.

===============================================

have good times

shirin zaban

Attached Thumbnails

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Attached Files

•  Needs.zip   3.1KB   1770 downloads

[MedEvil]

Portable programs are opposite to common belief not the best choice for a PE.
The best choice are programs that follow M$ guidelines thoroughly.
Meaning, they never ever try to write to any place but the current user profile and the registry.

[paraglider]

Exactly. Who cares if a program writes to the pe ram drive or its registry. It will all disappear when you reboot.

[Brito]

The Total Uninstall tip is fabulous!

Thank you for another good tutorial.

It's such a simple solution that I'm amazed and can say that learned something new.

For reference, there was a similar question made yesterday about this matter that also contains some good informations about other techniques to get the install details: http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=5394

[Shirin Zaban]

The Total Uninstall tip is fabulous!

Thank you for another good tutorial.

It's such a simple solution that I'm amazed and can say that learned something new.

For reference, there was a similar question made yesterday about this matter that also contains some good informations about other techniques to get the install details: http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=5394

====================================
Hi Numo

Thank you ,your notes makes me to work more and better.

have nice days

shirin zaban

[MedEvil]

Shirin, you've seem to forgot part two of how to make a Portable App.
One of the trademarks of a good portable program is, that it will not leave garbage behind on the host system after a run.
Thus cleaning of temp files and registry entries is a must.

[sanbarrow]

Why not use a capture-installation-program directly on the PE ? That safes you several steps
Thats what I do in MOA.
With this approach - I use installrite - dotnet2 or Java - can be "portable apps" too

[Shirin Zaban]

Shirin, you've seem to forgot part two of how to make a Portable App.
One of the trademarks of a good portable program is, that it will not leave garbage behind on the host system after a run.
Thus cleaning of temp files and registry entries is a must.

=================================================
Hi MedEvil

Thank you for note

Hope other friends will complete in more advance.

I Tutorials,mostly i try to intoduce , i do not go to detail, may be because i am just basic user.

thanks again for your mention

have nice times

shirin zaban

[MedEvil]

=================================================
I Tutorials,mostly i try to intoduce , i do not go to detail

Ahh, ok.

[Brito]

Why not use a capture-installation-program directly on the PE ? That safes you several steps
Thats what I do in MOA.
With this approach - I use installrite - dotnet2 or Java - can be "portable apps" too

Interesting too, the more the merrier.

Would you volunteer for tutorial yourself?

[sanbarrow]

Sure - though I don't know if my method can be used on Winbuilder projects ?
The MOA environment with home and programs in R: (where R: can be a USB-disk, virtual disk, truecrypt-container or a ramdrive) makes loading apps on the fly much easier than the usual Winbuilder layout.
The biggest app I ever managed to prepare this way was Borland C-sharp Explorer - a 500 Mb installation

Anyway - I look into it

Ulli

[Brito]

A new section has already been created for this purpose, let's try to compare our notes then.

[mahdi]

Thanks, small but really useful

[Akshat Mittal]

There Is Something Called "Vmware Thin App" to do this.

Just Try To Use it For This Pourpose and to embed it into Whatever Just use simple text basics into config Asr.crx files.

[Wonko the Sane]

There Is Something Called "Vmware Thin App" to do this.

... which retails for a mere US$ 6,050.00 as starting price :
http://store.vmware....s=1304862787866
plus a US$ 47.19 per seat/client:
http://store.vmware....uctID.105855800


Wonko

[L A M A]

This site has tutorial (but one close their eyes and not look at anything else there)

[steelbone]

Hi guys.

Please have a Look to for Example: http://www.cameyo.com/

Creates also packages like thinapp.

I like this Freeware much more

But my biggest Favorite is http://www.ceedo.com/

Have much fun

Best regards Steel

[L A M A]

Your "My Script Page" redirects to boot-land.net... (successfully?) I thought reboot.pro was bought and boot-land was thrown... is that site under renovation or something?




Anyhow that ceedo thing costs 89$

[Wonko the Sane]

I thought reboot.pro was bought and boot-land was thrown...

You thought WRONG.

is that site under renovation or something?

No, strangely enough it is the repository for steelbone's scripts (hint, it is in steelbone's signature named "My script page")

Wonko