Hello. I just discovered this utility and I was trying to figure out if Portable Apps Installer includes Portable Apps Creator or are they 2 separate programs? I am interested in installing software onto a USB drive to carry around with me.
Thanks,
Ben
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As it says on its page, the PortableApps.com Installer is for packaging only. It makes it easier for you to create a distributable exe. But it can only be used if you have the app in the required specification.
With creator I guess you mean the portableapps.com launcher creator which is for making a launcher which takes care of the programms' settings etc so nothing is left behind when you run it.
Bothe have in common that they are configured by an ini file. The trick is to find out what to put into that ini file as that is app-specific.
Finally, if you just want to carry it around with you and not want to distribute it further, you can just simply add it to your PortableApps.com menu as outlined here.
Have fun with it and welcome here!
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Making an app portable is sometimes more complicated than you'd think.
Over the years, there have been several attempts to help people do this for themselves, including guidelines, instructions, etc.
At one point, a member created the Portable Apps Creator, but that was never fully supported by the official PortableApps people.
Now, there are some official apps to help make portable apps. Each is used at a different stage of development.
First, check out this page:
https://portableapps.com/development
and here's the basics of what you need to know:
The PortableApps Format is a set of specifications, telling you what files and folder structure are needed to conform to the PortableApps requirements.
The PortableApps Launcher is a tool that helps you portablize your app. The end result of this is a finished portable app, but doesn't include an installation file.
The PortableApps Compactor is a tool that will compact your application to make it as small as possible.
The PortableApps Installer is a tool to create an installer file from your finished app. An installer file has the *.paf.exe extension, and is optimized to work with the Portable Apps Menu, as well as allowing your installer to act as an upgrader when the next version of your app is released.
So there isn't one tool, there are several.
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