Do Portable Apps work on Chromebooks? I know that the following work on Chromebooks: mice, keyboards and USB drives work on Chromebooks. But I was really excited when I found Portable Apps, because, I wanted to move away from the Microsoft PC and associated software constraints imposed by MS. I don't want to spend $200-$300 or more on a Chromebook only to find out that PortableApps won't work. I am ready to cut the cord with Microsoft and PC hardware.
New: Run-Command (Dec 2, 2024), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, 2024)
1,100+ portable packages, 1.1 billion downloads
No Ads Nov/Dec!, Please donate today
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
PortableApps will NOT work on a Chromebook.
These applications are all Windows based programs and require a Windows operating system to run
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
I don't quite understand your intent. You want to cut your ties to Microsoft and Windows by running only Windows portable applications?
The Chromebook is a great little PC (yep, same architecture as the typical Windows PC [or Linux PC for that matter]--except for those using an ARM processor [mostly from Samsung]) if you can do everything (or only most everything) you need to in the Chrome browser, and many people can. But if you specifically want to use Windows portable applications, then you're going to need to access Windows in some way--either running the OS on a PC or using a virtual instance through your browser (which, in fact, some people/companies are using the Chromebook for).
Want to break away from Windows and run programs loaded from your own drives? The two primary alternatives are Linux and a Mac (which, by the way, is also a PC--that Intel architecture is everywhere).
Thanks for the clarifications on Portable Apps working on Chromebooks.
I was hoping that PortableApps could run on Chromebooks.
My need for Windows based software has shrunk by about 90%; I am trying out many of the Google based software apps, Google Drive, Google cloud and of course Portable Apps.
I am tired of having Microsoft telling me I have to upgrade. My 12 year old laptop with XP is working perfectly, for what I need to do. My current desktop with Vista on it and all the latest service pack works great; now MS says I should update my Internet Explorer, but won't because they want me to upgrade. This has somehow fixed itself somehow. I constantly updated the patches and IE, until finally it was able to update. What a hassle; what I really hated was MS telling me to upgrade a 4 year old computer.
As a former IT guy I know the hassles of keeping a PC and network running (I am out of that business since the Dot Com bust and Silicon Valley high tech jobs got shipped overseas). I am now The Guy to call for PC and WiFi fixes within the family and friends circle.
It appears that cloud computing is growing and all you need is a tablet (iPad, Android, MS), Chromebook or a Windows machine to get access to the cloud.
Yeah, PC's are at the heart of Windows, Linux and other OS's. It appears that Windows will be around for awhile.
I was naive to think that I could run Portable Apps without Windows. It has been a wish for a long time to move away from MS for a long time and Office; it has been a long time coming but little by little it has been coming true; Star Office from Sun was the start of this movement over a decade ago and I was happy.
Thank you Portable Apps, I love the concept, I love the applets, I have so many of them. I go through them and find something new to learn every week. I like the fact I can take my portable USB drive anywhere and have all my files and applets. When I start my Portable Apps Menu all the applets get updated. I use FirefoxPortable, ChromePortable and ChromePortableDev versions (I can access Chrome Apps from Windows Quick Launcher now). I can save Firefox bookmarks and settings, I can sync my bookmarks with Chrome (which automatically saves my bookmarks in the cloud). Any device I own can be synced using the cloud, I can sync Firefox or Chrome, my redundancy program for browsers.
It has been a long time coming but I can say I am in a happy place with Portable Apps, tablet computing, my Android smartphone. I hope to get a Chromebook in the future. Chromebooks offer easy updates as do tablets, which don't have virus issues yet, easy access to the web, Google Apps, Google Drive/Cloud.
Thanks for the great information on Portable Apps and thanks for your hard work on developing Portable Apps; keep up the good work.
Joe A Delgado
i have a request for you guys if its possible could you guys work on getting working on chromebooks
ChromeOS is a completely different operating system to Windows. It is a customised version of Linux built to run progressive web apps, and in the last few years they also support Android and Linux apps. ChromeOS does not run Windows software.
You may have some luck running our software on ChromeOS through Wine, but there are no guarantees. Some may work, some may kind of work, and some may be completely broken.