I've spent a considerable amount of time searching the forums for a solution to this, so if this has been answered already, please forgive me.
I use PortableApps from my USB stick on several computers at work, depending on which are available at any given time. This does not happen on every computer that I have access to, but sometimes I cannot open any of the applications that I have. I can open the PortableApps.com Platform with no problem, but when I try to launch an application (whether through the Platform or directly), they do not open, and there is no trace of them in the Task Manager, either.
Furthermore, in this situation, when I try to close the Platform, I get this error message:
Cannot open file:
G:\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\App\DefaultData\Themes\Default\button_eject_normal.png. The file cannot be found.
If anyone has any advice on how to solve this problem, it would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I could only use the computers that my apps work on, but that is not always possible.
Some more information: this problem always happens on a Windows XP computer. This problem happens on both networked computers (I have to log in in order to use them) and computers that are not connected to a network or otherwise connected to the Internet.
Thank you very much.
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The most likely cause I can think of is a faulty USB port on the computer; this can lead to things working a bit and not working a bit. If they have multiple available ports, try another port and see if that helps.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
If it's across more than one computer then it's more likely to be the USB Drive itself. Either way, the best guess is some kind of hardware failure.
When it's working on some, the USB disk is less likely to be the issue, I think.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
My guess, security software or a Trojan. I used to sometimes have issues like what you describe with Comodo, requiring a restart to fix it.
Windows has a pre-execution hook, and security programs can tie into it to stop malware before it starts. If they get confused they can cause all sorts of irritating and mysterious issues; even more so with Trojans that tie into the execution hook.
That is probably it. The computers I use have all kinds of anti-virus software on them, and the administrators set them to strict levels. I'm just surprised that there is no kind of notification if the software thinks that an application I am opening is a virus.
Thank you for your help!
Good security software should. Normally Comodo would give me warnings on new and unrecognized executables, but when it was messed up it wouldn't say anything - the programs just wouldn't start. As you mentioned, I could still browse for files and view documents (provided Comodo would let me run the appropriate document viewer). The pre-execution hook doesn't interfere with file access.
Thank you both for your replies. Yeah, I doubt that it is the USB drive itself, as it works perfectly fine on most computers. Plus, on the computers I have problems with, I can access the files on my drive with no problem. I just can't open any portable applications. Perhaps those computers have some kind of faulty USB port that doesn't allow me to open portable apps?
If the systems in question seem to discriminate only against PortableApps then it's possible that it could be an operating system policy. However, with those you normally get some kind of message saying that the system administrator has disabled or disallowed something (just like the security programs should give you also). I doubt the USB ports are randomly discriminating against PortableApps specifically but that would certainly be novel.