Hi I just installed the platform today and looks awesome 
except the autoloader doesn't work. At first I installed it to a new folder on the USB drive I named 'SYSTEM' as I didn't want to clutter the root up and SYSTEM seems a sensible name to use. So I took the USB drive out and re-inserted it hoping to see the portable apps menu pop up, but no only the Windows XP auto run menu appeared. I thought it could be that the .inf and the other portable app files aren't in the root of the device. So I cut and pasted them out of 'SYSTEM' into root and tried again and got the same result as before, Windows auto run and no portable apps menu.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
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the autorun.inf distributed with the platform is built to work with the standard folder layout, i.e. root of the drive.
You'll have to ajust it if you want to use a different folder.
And the root doesnt get TOO cluttered I think
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
So do I have to reinstall to do this? as like I said I cut and pasted it to the root before and no such luck.
Do you mean the autorun.inf that's included with the program that causes the Windows autorun dialog to come up with the PortableApps.com Platform first? Or do you mean the autoloader that's a test in the forums that you install on your local PC that makes it automatically run?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
No what I'm saying is the Windows auto run appears anyway (before I ever downloaded portable apps platform) but the actual portable apps menu doesn't auto load at all.
auto load.
The autorun.inf just makles a PortableApps.com entry in the autorun popup window. You still have to hit enter to launch the Menu.
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
I installed PA onto the drive following the standard process then it comes up as the first thing in the windows autorun list.
once i tried to copy and past it onto a friends drive but it would not work, Just like for you, so he just reinstalled it again it overwrote the install i copied and now works fine. or you may want to remove everything off the drive and start from scratch first.
Hope this helps you out.
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
MickeyJ4J
Right I got it working didn't even look to realise that the PA menu was launched from Auto run menu of Windows ;). I would rather it be in its own folder called 'SYSTEM' how do I edit the .inf file to be able to launch PA from Windows auto run? I tried this which doesn't seem to work:
[Autorun]
Open=SYSTEM\StartPortableApps.exe
Action=SYSTEM\Start PortableApps.com
Icon=StartPortableApps.exe
Label=PortableApps.com
And one more question is portable apps menu able to pop up on USB insertion without the Windows auto run?
Unfortunately it's not as Windows does not provide that kind of access without confirmation.
Ok but how do I set the .inf up so it can still be selected from the Windows auto run menu if the PA files are in a folder named 'SYSTEM'?
you seem to fixated on setting up pa in your own way. i have no trouble using it when installed. it sets itself up as it should. y not just use it the way it is designed to be used.
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
MickeyJ4J
OK, I guess I'm a little late to the game but I modify mine to do what I need/want it to do also, so I understand what you're asking.
Mine is done a little differently though, I've created a batch file which launches multiple programs when I tell windows to launch the drive from the XP popup.
My .inf looks like this
[Autorun]Open=StartUp.bat -auto
Action=Start Urahara
Icon=PAM-Stick2.ico
Label=Urahara
Shell=StartUp.bat
The batch file I have created only has the 2 following entries:
start \PortableApps\PortableAppsMenu\PortableAppsMenu.exestart \Documents\PStart\Pstart\Pstart.exe
It may be a little convoluted, and I'm sure there are other ways, but I'm using the PAM Mod menu with a custom skin so I launch it a little differently.
On your .inf file 'Action' is only telling XP what to specify is being performed. When my autorun comes up it says "Start Urahara". The 'Action' part of the .inf doesn't really do anything except make it more aesthetically pleasing when launching.
Your 'Icon' argument should point to the .exe or .dll that contains the icon, in this case it should look something like \System\StartPortableApps.exe
I believe the only thing wrong with your current .inf is that you need to put a \ in front of the system to tell it that StartPortableApps.exe is in the system directory off the root. i.e. \SYSTEM\StartPortableApps.exe
Edited current .inf
[Autorun]Open=\SYSTEM\StartPortableApps.exe
Action=Start Start PortableApps.com Suite
Icon=\SYSTEM\StartPortableApps.exe
Label=PortableApps.com