Instructions
Further actions will take place in the WinRAR window that opens, called “Name and parameters". On the General tab, select the maximum file compression method. On the right side of the window, check the boxes next to the “Create SFX archive” and “Create continuous archive” options. To make it portable version programs with a name different from the main application, change the name of the target file by entering it in the appropriate field.
Go to the Advanced tab and click the SFX Options button. In the additional settings window that appears, on the “General” tab, specify the path for unpacking – “Create in current folder.” In the "Run after unpacking" field, enter the name of the main executable file programs with extension *.exe. Go to the “Modes” tab, check the box next to the “Extract to temporary folder” option. Specify the information display mode – “Hide all”. On the “Text and” tab, if necessary, specify the logo and icon of the final SFX file. Leave other parameters unchanged.
Click OK in both settings windows. The creation of the archive will begin. Portable programs will be located in the working folder of the main application. Once logged in, check the created archive. Launch it. If all parameters and settings have been followed correctly, you will see the normal main application window. Created in this way portable version programs can be on flash and run on other computers.
There are other programs with which you can easily do program portable. For example, Thinstall Virtualization Suite is widely known. Its peculiarity is the analysis of the changes that each new installation makes in the system. They are taken into account when creating portable versions. Thinstall Virtualization Suite allows you to perform more fine-grained configuration of a portable program compared to the method described above:
Compression and ;
Isolation from the real;
Setting up a working folder for a portable program.
All settings are written in *.ini files, after which the program is compiled into a single executable file.
Video on the topic
Imagine your loved one being able to work on any Windows computer straight from a USB flash drive. Only portable applications have this advantage. You don't need to install them before starting, they leave the registry untouched. They can be created using special software.
Instructions
Download and install the Cameyo app. Click on the "Download Now" button on Cameyo.com then click it again when the next page loads. The file will be saved in the download location specified by your browser. Go to this folder and double-click on the application launch file, then follow the instructions to install the software.
Launch the installed application. Double-click its desktop shortcut to open program, and click the “Capture installation” button on the “Cameyo Application Virtualization” screen. A "Packager" pop-up will show a message that Cameyo will scan your system. Wait until the application completes it.
Open the software you need. When the program finishes the initial scan, the next pop-up window will indicate the applications that are available for further archiving. Navigate to the executable file of your desired application and run it following the on-screen instructions to install it on your system.
Wait for the applications you want to make portable to be recognized and click the “Finish” button in the pop-up window. The application will begin creating the executable file. Next, the new package will appear by default in the “My Documents / Cameyo Packets” folder.
Configure the package as needed. You can make additional changes to your portable application by clicking the "Edit existing package" button on the "Cameyo Application Virtualization" screen. When you open the package editor, a screen will appear where you can change the necessary registry settings to successfully recognize the program on any computer.
Place the portable application package on removable storage media and connect it to another computer. If archiving is successful, the program should launch without problems.
Video on the topic
Sources:
- creating portable programs in 2018
Tip 4: How to create a portable version of Windows 8 without additional software
For a long time, only Linux users could install the operating system on portable USB drives. This function has become possible in Windows in its latest version. You will learn how to install Windows 8 on a flash drive without using additional software.
You will need
- USB stick, Windows 8
Instructions
Press the Win + X key combination and select Control Panel from the context menu.
In the top right corner, select View Small Icons instead of the default category layout.
Last in the second column of the Control Panel you will see WIndows To Go (Follow Windows), on which we left-click.
Now we select a USB drive, which must be placed in a USB drive in advance to turn it into a portable drive. Click the Next button.
The wizard will automatically scan your CD/DVD discs and removable media. Select the Windows version and click Next.
At this step, you can optionally set a login password, but we will skip it.
As soon as the Wizard completes its work, you will be warned that your USB drive will be formatted. Clicks the Create button to begin the recording process.
Portable versions of programs are a handy tool not only for computer scientists, but also for many ordinary users. Stored on a flash drive, the necessary portable programs obediently follow their owner everywhere, no matter what computer device he is working with. Portable software is relevant for many corporate users working from accounts with restrictions on installing third-party programs. But, alas, it is not always possible to find a portable version of the desired program on the Internet. And rather than waste time constantly searching for the necessary portable software, it’s easier to learn how to create it yourself. Actually, that’s what we’ll do in this article - below we’ll look at how to create portable Windows programs using Cameyo, and also get acquainted with other possibilities of this project.
1. About the Cameyo project
The Cameyo project is a platform for virtualizing Windows programs. It includes desktop software for making portable versions of various programs, as well as a web service for using these programs online and transferring them to other computer devices like cloud storage. The operating principle of Cameyo is somewhat similar to that of hypervisors. Just as the latter can offer a separate, isolated guest system inside the main operating system, Cameyo can create portable programs that work in their own environment - not requiring installation in Windows, independent of the system registry, not creating their own background services, and in some cases not even leaving traces of your activity.
The Cameyo project is English-language. The desktop utility does not have a Russian-language interface either. But don’t let those for whom the language barrier can become an obstacle worry. We will look at working with the desktop part of the project in detail in this article, and when using the Cameyo web interface, the Google Translate extension for browsers can come to the rescue.
The very ability to create portable programs using Cameyo is free. But the generosity of the project creators ends at a certain stage in the use of Cameyo cloud space. We’ll talk about why and what to pay the creators of Cameyo below, when considering the capabilities of the web version of the Cameyo Online project. In the meantime, let’s download the Cameyo desktop utility for creating portable programs completely free of charge from the official website of the project - http://www.cameyo.com
2. Creating portable Windows programs
The Cameyo desktop utility for making portable versions of Windows programs is itself portable and does not require installation on the system. Having launched it, we will see three possible ways of further work:
- Cameyo Player– launching the Cameyo web service client application;
- Capture an installation– function of creating portable programs;
- Edit a package– editor of previously created portable programs.
Cameyo creates portable programs according to the following principle: first, a snapshot of the operating system is taken before installing the desired program, then you need to start the installation process of this program, after which the latter will be packaged into a portable version using Cameyo tools. Cameyo can offer the creation of portable programs without the need to install them on the system. We will return to this possibility later; it will be discussed in paragraph 3 of this article. For now, let's create a portable program in the usual way - by installing it on the system.
To create a portable version of the desired Windows program, in the first window after launching the Cameyo utility, select the second option.
Then in the lower right corner of the screen we will see this window:
This is a notification that Cameyo has started taking a snapshot of Windows before installing the program. As soon as such a notification appears in the same lower right corner of the screen,
We can proceed to launch the installer and install the desired program.
When the installation process is complete, click the button in the notification window "Install Done".
After this, Cameyo will notify you that the system snapshot will be re-created, but after installing the program. By comparing two snapshots of the system - before and after installing the program, Cameyo thus selects this very program from two states of Windows to create its portable version.
If everything went well, we will see a message indicating the path to save the portable version of the program - in the “Documents” user profile folder on drive C, in the “Cameyo apps” subfolder.
At the specified path we will find an executable EXE file of the newly created portable program, the name of which will contain an addition ".cameyo", as, for example, in our case "AOMEI Backupper Standard.cameyo".
This EXE file contains everything necessary for the portable program to work both on the current computer and on other computer devices. To work on these with a newly created portable program, you need to move this same EXE file to a flash drive or cloud storage.
3. Features of the Cameyo Player client application
Cameyo Player is a client application of the Cameyo web service, working like cloud storage client software. Like the latter, Cameyo Player is a desktop interface to the contents of a web account and provides for uploading/downloading EXE files of portable programs of its own production. But, unlike the same cloud storages, the Cameyo web service, and, accordingly, its client application, has its own specifics. In addition to the collection of its portable programs, any registered user gets access to ready-made portable programs completely free of charge. This is a small selection of popular free software, which includes, in particular, Mozilla Firefox and Opera browsers, OpenOffice text editor, WinRAR and 7-Zip archivers, KMPlayer, VLC, GOM media players, TeamViewer remote access program, as well as many other well-known programs. There's even a 3D space simulator called Celestia. But there is one caveat. This nuance follows from the fact that Cameyo is an English-language project, and this is, accordingly, the English-language interface of all these programs. Unfortunately, not all of them support switching to the Russian-language interface in the settings in the portable version.
In addition to a selection of popular portable programs, Cameyo Player has another feature, which was mentioned above - the creation of portable programs without installing them on the system, in the “Sandbox” mode. And now about everything in more detail.
Launch the Cameyo desktop utility and this time select launch Cameyo Player.
Let's register to use the capabilities of the web service. Click below "Register an account".
Registration is very simple. A user registration form on the official Cameyo website will open in the browser window. You need to enter your email address, create a password, confirm it and click the “Register” button. You can make registration even easier by using a Google account.
After confirming your registration, we can log in to Cameyo Player. Then in the application window we will see a list of the mentioned portable programs. Having selected any of them, we can download it to a computer or run it online without downloading. Naturally, downloaded portable programs will work faster and more stable when they are launched locally without the mediation of the network.
By clicking the plus button at the top, among the two possible functions of Cameyo Player we can choose "Upload an existing package" for uploading portable programs hosted on a computer that were created using Cameyo to the cloud storage.
"Drag & Drop your Cameyo package here", - Cameyo will ask in the next window that opens, and this means that you can drag the EXE file of the portable program into this window. But you can also use the browse button "Browse"
To download the portable program to the Cameyo cloud, click "Upload".
After the successful download process of the portable program, we will see the notification “Expiration in 7 days,” which in Russian means “Valid for 7 days.”
The process of uploading a portable program to the “cloud” may also be unsuccessful if the size of the EXE file exceeds 50 MB. By the way, about restrictions.
4. Terms of free use of Cameyo cloud storage
The first facet of the generosity of the Cameyo creators is only a 7-day storage period for portable programs in cloud storage within the framework of a free account with a basic license. Another aspect of using the Cameyo “cloud” without financial investments is that the size of the program’s EXE file should not exceed 50 MB. You can improve such defective conditions for a fee by purchasing a Pro account or a more expensive Enterprise account for a monthly subscription. You can simply provide disk space for storing portable programs by connecting to Dropbox cloud storage.
Fortunately, creating portable programs without installing them into the system is an opportunity provided by the creators of Cameyo for free.
5. Creating portable programs without installing them on the system
Without installation into the system, portable programs are created as part of Cameyo Player. Another function that can be accessed by pressing the plus button is "Create a new package", that is, the creation of a new package, essentially a new portable program.
After selecting this function, we will again see a window asking you to drag a file into it, only this time it’s the installer for the future portable program. There is also a browse button to add an installer.
This will be followed by a window with a choice of ways to create a new portable program: the first two buttons are methods in online mode (do not always work), the third is using system snapshots, as discussed in paragraph 2 of this article. But the fourth button - Sandbox Capture - is the very way to create a portable program without installing it on the system. Let's press it.
Then in a window like this
Cameyo will notify you that the program installation process has started in virtual mode (in the “Sandbox” mode), and that in fact this program will not be installed on the system. Click “Ok”. And we carry out the installation process.
Upon completion, in the Cameyo Player window we will see several options for further actions, including "Upload"- upload to the cloud. We can immediately upload the new portable program to the Internet.
We look for the local EXE file of the newly created portable program in the same subfolder “Cameyo apps” in the user profile folder “Documents” on drive C.
6. Working with the Cameyo Online web service
You can work with portable programs - both your own, stored in the cloud for those same 7 days, and the list of ready-made programs from Cameyo - in your account in the web version of the project Cameyo Online, using any browser, in any operating system, from any device that provides more or less acceptable Internet speed. To do this, on the official website of the program go to the section "Apps".
In this tab we will see all portable programs downloaded to the cloud, the 7-day storage period of which has not expired. We can choose any of them.
And either delete, download, or run online in a browser window.
By connecting Dropbox cloud storage in your account settings, you can work with online versions of portable programs like Chrome OS - saving files created or edited in running programs on the file storage drive. In addition to Dropbox, Cameyo Online optionally provides for connecting Google Drive, but so far this function is unstable.
In the account section on the Cameyo website, we can perform the same operations as in the Cameyo Player client application - upload a portable program to the cloud, or create it using Cameyo Online. To download a ready-made portable program, select the item "Upload your existing Cameyo package" and specify the path to the EXE file.
To create a new portable program, select "Create a new Cameyo package, from software installer". This is another way to create portable programs without installing them on the system, however, the process takes a little longer than using the “Sandbox” within the Cameyo Player client application, and more often ends in failure. In the “Submit file” column, select the “Local machine (50 MB max)” item and indicate the path to the installer of the desired program on the computer. The item above is “URL” – the ability to specify a link to download the installation file, but, alas, this method does not always work. In the “Destination” column, select either “My Apps (stored 7 days)” or “My Dropbox”, if one is connected. Next, click “Online Install”.
The remote desktop will open in the browser window and the program installation process will begin. Let's go through it.
And when finished, press "Install done"».
In the same browser window, a page of the portable program will open with the ability to download it and run it online.
7. Portable program editor
The third function that we can observe when running the Cameyo desktop utility is "Edit a package", portable program editor.
Cameyo, in principle, by default creates portable software with optimal settings, but if necessary, these can be changed by adjusting this or that program to your needs. In the portable program editor, you can configure data access, file associations, integration with Explorer, leaving traces in the system registry, etc. All available settings are neatly distributed into tabs and columns, so if you want to work with the editor, what you will need to do is translate the option labels into Russian.
8. About the disadvantages of Cameyo
Cameyo is a very interesting project, but, alas, not everything is as smooth as described above. Above we looked at how work ideally occurs. In practice, every now and then we will encounter problems both during the creation process and directly during the operation of portable programs. So, not every program can be made portable, because some Windows software is designed to work in a full-fledged operating system environment with the launch of its own background services. There are also problems in the operation of the Cameyo Online web service: not every portable program will even launch in a browser window, not to mention the stability and speed of its operation. A more reliable option would still be to use portable programs after downloading them to your computer disk.
THERE ARE TWO WAYS:
1 .The simplest is using an archiver WinRAR.
2 .Using the program Thinstall Virtualization Suite.
Who cares?
Creating a portable computer in WinRAR.
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How to make a Portable program.
This is perhaps the easiest way from a regular application to make a portable version of a program that will run from a flash drive or other removable media, does not require any rights in the system and does not make changes to the system registry. A lot of portable software is created using Thinstall Virtualization. To begin with, take a “clean” system into which the application virtualization program Thinstall Virtualization Suite is installed. You can download the Russified version here:
Deposit
Letitbit
Rapida
direct link
Archive size 4.8MB
And so, we downloaded and installed it on a “clean” system. Now we run the Thinstall Virtualization program, select which disk to scan (usually C) and wait for the program to finish scanning the system. Thinstall Virtualization takes a snapshot of the system before installing the application that we will port.
After that, we install the program, a portable version of which we want to receive. We install the crack if necessary, enter the registration key, install if patches, cracks are required, and if a reboot is needed, reboot.
Without running the installed program in Thinstall Virtualization, click the “Next” button and scan the system a second time, and we see this window. We get a “snapshot” of the system after installing the ported program.
Click “Next” again, the program completes its work and closes. After that, we follow the path - My computer / drive C / Program Files / VMware North Star / Captures / Find the folder with the installed program, in it click on the file build.bat
We have another folder called bin, go into it and see our application already in Portable version.
It is worth noting that not all programs can be ported this way; for example, antiviruses will not work. From experience, I can say that out of 10 programs, 7-8 turn out to be quite functional.
So, try it. Good luck!
P.S Where to get a “clean” system. The free VirtualBox program can help you with this. A program for simultaneously running several virtual operating systems on a computer. VIRTUALBOX allows you to install and run several operating systems on one computer, including 64-bit ones. Here is one of Such guest systems can be used as “pure” ones only for the production of portable programs.
You can download it from the program website virtualbox.org or from the link below.
Direct link VIRTUALBOX
Who doesn't you can close immediately.
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INSTRUCTIONS (in English, but everything is clear...)
Porting the application using VMWare ThinApp
Many Windows applications can be made portable using VMware ThinApp, with the following exceptions:
Applications that require installation of device drivers are not supported. The application will work if the required drivers are pre-installed on the system;
Applications with hardware copy protection are not supported. ThinApp emulates only some hardware properties (for example, device serial numbers; emulation of ethernet MAC address, CPUID, and other properties is not supported).
To port we need 3 things:
1. VMWare ThinApp itself (there is a paid and free version)
2. What we will dissect
3. A computer on which the program from step 2 was not installed
In general, the manual recommends that all operations for porting certain programs be done on a “bare” virtual machine, so that after the process is completed, you can roll back the virtual machine to a snapshot taken in advance, thereby again obtaining a clean, uncluttered axis.
As a test subject, I chose the fast and free defragmenter Auslogics Disk Defrag. Whether you consider this an advertisement or not is your right; I am pleased with its speed of operation, compared to the standard Windows one. (Actually, Auslogics previously published 2 versions of the defrager, already ported and with an installer, now something installable)
And so, let's begin the process. The whole process can be divided into several stages.
1. Launch ThinApp and perform an initial system scan. In this case, it is recommended to turn off antivirus software to avoid garbage access to the disk by third-party programs. More on this below.
2. Installation of the target program and its configuration (configuration for maximum clarification of the system paths used).
3. Re-scan the system for changes after step 2
4. A little tweaking of the project before the final build
5. Building the application.
As you can see, there is nothing tricky. Well, before starting, it’s worth dwelling on point 1 and point 2 in more detail.
Point 2 - Why configure the program if it can be done later? The fact is that when setting up programs, they really like to save their data in the most secret corners of the operating system, of which the latter has plenty. So, not all programmers make sure that during installation all the necessary paths for their brainchild are created. Accordingly, when you port a program that is initially destined to work only after being installed on the system, it may not create all the paths it needs for subsequent work. Naturally, VMWare also does not have telepathy and cannot predict everything in the world. In short, at the end we get a program that seems to be ported in all respects, but with missing paths. There are at least a couple of ways the situation could develop. Firstly, all the settings are saved along standard paths on the computer where the initial setup of our program takes place, secondly, a mountain of errors begins to pour in and everything turns into a glitchy hell. So it goes.
Accordingly, we select that hard drive/flash drive/floppy disk/punched card or where do you place the test subject? Select all the registry sections that are located under the media selection window at once - it won’t get any worse.
Click OK and boldly press on Prescan.
Cameyo program.
More recently, at the link,
I introduced you to the excellent Portableapps application. This application is a convenient shell for downloading and running ready-made (created in the Portableapps community) portable versions of programs.
Information for those who do not know what portable versions of programs are. Portable versions of programs do not require installation on a computer. They can be put into operation immediately.
But what to do if the program you need is not on the Portableapps website? Create a portable version of the program you need yourself! And what will help us with this is perhaps the simplest in this category, a free program called Cameyo. Using this application, you can easily create a portable version of any program, after which you can transfer it to a flash drive or to your cloud file storage. By the way, the Cameyo program has its own cloud service for creating and storing portable versions of programs, but a free account allows you to create only 3 programs per month, frankly speaking, not a lot, so let’s consider the issue of creating portable versions of programs directly, on your computer. There are no restrictions here.
The program does not require installation; it is essentially an application for connecting to the Cameyo service.
Select to start the program.
When you first start, you need to go through a simple registration.
Do not close the Cameyo program window!
After registration, you will receive a letter to your specified email address with a link to the registration confirmation page. Let's move along it.
Fill out the login form (login, which is your email address and the password you created during registration).
After successful registration, a window will appear on your desktop confirming successful activation and logging into the program under your name.
In the program window, select the option to create a portable program locally.
Cameyo will take a snapshot of your operating system and remember all currently installed programs. This process is quite lengthy. Be patient.
After the process is completed, a window like this will appear.
There is no need to do anything with it for now.
Now we download the program from the Internet, the one from which you decided to create a portable version. In my example, I download and install the Mozilla browser on my computer (the installed program can be deleted later).
Now, only after installing the program you need, click the “Install done” button.
The Cameyo program will again scan your computer for installed programs, determine that a NEW program is installed (in our case, the Mozilla browser) and automatically create a portable version of it.
Everyone could already appreciate the convenience of Portable soft; many people like it more for some personal reasons.
But the most important reasons in my opinion:
? There is no need to install soft and thereby clog up the system and registry
? Ability to store and use Portable soft on an external flash drive
? Your Portable soft is always with you on a flash drive, and you can use it anywhere if you have USB ports on your computer
? Use at work where it is not desirable or impossible to install soft, or there are not enough resources for this
? Cheapness and sufficiently large capacity of flash drives on which you can store your favorite programs
Finding Portable versions of almost all popular programs is not very difficult now, but what to do if you use some rare or specific software? The answer suggests itself - do it yourself.
Let's look at the step-by-step creation of a portable version of the program Firefox 3.0.6
Download the program distribution from the offsite.
To create portable we need a program, we use it.
So, let's begin.
Unpack the program archive Thinstall Virtualization Suite to any folder. Run Setup capture.exe.
We take the first snapshot of the system before installing the program. Click Start. To create a portable, Thinstall compares snapshots of the system before and after installation.
We leave everything by default, scan drive C and all registry branches. Click Pre-install Scan.
The scanning process takes some time, wait for the following window to appear:
Do not close the window, minimize everything and proceed to installation Firefox.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
Launch and configure firefox.
That’s it, the program is installed and configured, we return to the previously hidden window and scan the system for changes with Thinstall. Click Post-install scan.
Select the main exe file that will launch the program:
Select Mozilla Firefox.exe and click Continue >>
All changes will be saved in the folder with the Thinstall program:
The changes have been saved, let's continue:
The folder with the program, all changes and the bat file is here:
C:\Thinstall Virtualization Suite 3.358 portable\Captures\Mozilla Firefox (3.0.6)\
Having finished cleaning, look at the changes in the registry in the following files:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER.txt
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.txt
HKEY_USERS.txt
And we delete from there everything that does not concern Firefox. We make sure that there are no extra spaces left - otherwise portable will not compile.
Section – responsible for file compression. Compression/decompression will consume system resources.
CompressionType=None
;CompressionType=Fast
Section – is responsible for isolating the program from the real environment. WriteCopy – means that all changes from the program will be saved in the program folder. Merged – all changes will remain in the system.
;DirectoryIsolationMode=WriteCopy
DirectoryIsolationMode=Merged
SandboxName – the name of the sandbox (container) – the name of the folder in which all changes from the created portable program will be saved. By default this is the folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thinstall. By the way, if you already use portable programs, take a look at this folder - you will find a lot of garbage there - not very convenient.
Option SandboxPath specifies the path to create the Sandbox folder; usually this option is not present in the Package.ini file; by default, Sandbox is created in the C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Thinstall folder.
In order for Sandbox to be created in the folder with the portable program file, specify SandboxPath=. in the section, for example, immediately after the description of the SandboxPath option.
This is much more convenient than searching for these files in Documents and Settings.
And finally, the final action - run build.bat and get the portable program in the folder bin.
We test the obtained result for its “portability”. If necessary, return files and settings from a previously saved archive (Captures\Mozilla Firefox (3.0.6)\) and create portable again.
PS. It is best to conduct all your experiments on a “virgin” system, preferably a virtual machine (VMWare VirtualBox). The latest program is free. Building portable software on a virtual machine will allow you to avoid the unpleasant consequences of messing up your operating system and the less garbage there will be in your build.
Make your programs portable!
