Google Chrome Portable - I Haven't Worked On It Since Chrome 6 Edition Update 2

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January 7, 2012 - 7:04pm

The MAZZTer

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Google Chrome Portable - I Haven't Worked On It Since Chrome 6 Edition Update 2

I need to start working on my personal projects more. I have Steam and Minecraft launchers in the works that need some TLC and then a nice release. For now, have an improved Google Chrome Portable launcher.

Application: Google Chrome
Category: Internet
Description: Google Chrome Portable is a web browser that runs web pages and applications with lightning speed. It's designed to be simple and stylish. It's packaged as a portable app, so you can take your browsing experience with you.

Download Google Chrome Portable Developer Test [1.4MB download / ~80-90MB installed]

The link above goes to the directory where I periodically upload development tests. Newest builds are at the top, and I compiled new Stable and Beta builds (right now at the moment Dev is the same version as Beta).

[Edit: Converted to a PAL-made launcher!]

[Edit: Fixed a critical bug and gave Portable Passwords the ability to import old databases. Also remove shortcuts from the desktop that Chrome may create when you mess with multiple profiles (it was doing it on one computer but not another, not sure why, maybe it creates shortcuts in XP not 7? I dunno). I was told it also creates shortcuts in Quick Launch bit I did not see this on either computer I tested with so currently the launcher won't look there. I also tweaked the install-time license message a bit since I was adding another entry in there anyway, let me know if I changed something dumb.]

Release Notes:
3.0.0.0

Ported to PortableApps.com Launcher 2.2 beta 1
Updated to PortableApps.com Installer 2.0.9
16.0.912.75 Stable, 17.0.963.33 Beta, 18.0.1003.1 Dev
Canary download URL is no longer static so the installer for it is not as useful and will not be distributed for now. You can always drop in a Canary build into App\chrome-bin though.
Chrome icons updated to new style.
Removed Google Update Chrome version registry hack in favor of cleaner command line switch.
Add various command line switches to help suppress portable-unfriendly behavior.
Fixed GCP exiting when Chrome restarted itself instead of properly waiting.
GoogleChromePortable.ini format and options have changed, see Other\Source for the new template. Some options have moved to App\AppInfo\Launcher's ini but changing these is now considered unsupported so take care.
Incognito option for INI imported from Iron Portable
Portable Passwords converted from an ANSI plugin to a Unicode plugin, and it now works exclusively with UTF-16 strings so there should be no more problems with passwords in UTF-16 not being remembered. Old ANSI databases will be converted over for you.
Chrome may create shortcuts on the desktop when creating new profiles using Chrome's multi-profile feature. These shortcuts are now detected and removed when you exit Chrome.

January 7, 2012 - 9:45pm

J Neutron

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Huh?

How does you launcher compare to the official PortableApps.com version of Google Chrome?

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com

January 7, 2012 - 10:34pm

(Reply to #2) #3

The MAZZTer

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I wrote it.

I wrote the official one. This version is a bug fix release based on some new stuff I figured out about Chrome and a couple other bug fixes.

I tweeted this page to @PortableApps so hopefully they'll pick up on it and integrate my fixes into the "official" build. I'll keep an eye on it and fire off an e-mail or something if it looks like they haven't noticed it.

The PortableApps.com team keeps recompiling GCP as new versions of Chrome come out, which I am glad they do since I hardly feel like coding for any of my personal projects these days.

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January 7, 2012 - 10:51pm

(Reply to #3) #4

John T. Haller

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PAL Update

Any chance you'd care to update it to PAL, possibly using the Iron code as a base? We need to move off the existing Google Chrome Portable launcher because it is ANSI-only NSIS, which means it won't work properly from Unicode paths (a big deal for Unicode Windows installs in particular).

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

January 7, 2012 - 11:23pm

(Reply to #4) #5

The MAZZTer

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Whoops, I guess I forgot to

Whoops, I guess I forgot to check the latest PA.com version, I didn't realize it had changed significantly.

I'll look into the official GCP/Iron launchers tomorrow or something and merge stuff in or whatever needs to be done.

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January 7, 2012 - 11:39pm

(Reply to #5) #6

John T. Haller

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Not GCP

GCP is still using the old launcher you did with some modifications I made to fix some registry entries your launcher left behind. Iron is using PAL with a modified Unicode version of your password portablization routines as well as a few other bits from GCP updated for use with PAL (and NSIS Unicode). Starting from Iron may work best. Or, you can start from the work I was doing on GCP with PAL based on Iron and your launcher. I can't remember how far I'd gotten, but this is what I had when I had to stop and focus on platform work.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

January 9, 2012 - 3:42pm

(Reply to #6) #7

The MAZZTer

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I did end up building off of

I did end up building off of Iron. I have one little feature left to port over and then I just have to test for any issues and I can post a new build that uses PAL. I do work full time now but hopefully I can get the bulk of that done tonight.

I don't know about additional registry entries though. I actually did a test yesterday with Chrome to ensure I was getting them all (no new ones or whatever), ran Process Monitor filtering for RegistrySetValue and the only keys that were written to (that were not obviously Windows internal stuff safe to ignore) I had already covered. Actually I'm pretty sure one of them is harmless and safe to ignore but I'm gonna portablize it anyway since it's so easy with PAL. I'll double check the portableapps.com GCP launcher for those keys you mentioned just to be sure though.

I am loving working with PAL so far, will make building future launchers much easier.

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January 9, 2012 - 3:55pm

(Reply to #7) #8

Aluísio A. S. G.

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Profiles?

Have you checked if the GCP launcher work with profiles?

Previously known as kAlug.

January 9, 2012 - 6:41pm

(Reply to #8) #9

The MAZZTer

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I will include that in my

I will include that in my tests but it should work as-is. Even the Chrome 6 launcher supported multiple profiles (since support existed in the first release of Chrome but was removed, I heard it was going to reappear later so I coded GCP with the expectation it would reappear. So it should work).

The Iron Portable launcher appeared to not support fixing paths on anything but the first profile, so some stuff on other profiles would break like themes. It's an easy fix though, if my tests show it works (replace the "Default" folder name in the launcher ini with the * wildcard).

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January 9, 2012 - 7:34pm

(Reply to #9) #10

Aluísio A. S. G.

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Should work; shortcuts

Using * in the profile name should work; this is how I did it in the latest Chromium Portable IIRC.
It seems that in the last Dev releases, Chromium was creating icons in the desktop and quick launch bar for each new profile. Can you confirm it?

Previously known as kAlug.

January 12, 2012 - 9:04am

(Reply to #10) #11

The MAZZTer

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The * for the profile name

The * for the profile name works perfectly.

I'll test the icon thing... if it happens that's a problem and I'll have to have the launcher clean those up.

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January 9, 2012 - 6:47pm

(Reply to #11) #12

The MAZZTer

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I see

I see HKCU\Software\Google\Update\Clients\{8A69D345-D564-463c-AFF1-A69D9E530F96} in your test launcher you linked but GCP no longer has to overwrite the pv value here, as in previous versions of GCP. The only other noteworthy value here is "lang"; I don't think this changes when changing Chrome's language settings but I will test to be sure (the user's profile contains their language selection AFAIK).

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January 9, 2012 - 7:36pm

(Reply to #12) #13

Aluísio A. S. G.

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Overwritten

IIRC, Chrome overwrites this value, so it must be backed up, at least.

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January 9, 2012 - 8:55pm

(Reply to #13) #14

The MAZZTer

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I checked again and it

I checked again and it doesn't seem to be written to. Perhaps it used to be, or it is written when you DON'T pass in --chrome-version like GCP does now (removing the need for it to read from the pv value in that key).

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January 11, 2012 - 12:07am

(Reply to #14) #15

The MAZZTer

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Coding and testing is done

Coding and testing is done and it's looking nice and stable. Was delayed a bit by VirtualBox, for some reason it was mucking up my Portable Passwords DLL. Virtual PC ran it OK so so I'm going to take that as an indication that it should work fine on a real XP system.

I'll concentrate on cleaning up my directory structure, getting Stable/Beta/Dev builds built, and posting them online tomorrow.

Changelog:
- Ported to PAL 2.2b1 using IronPortable as a base.
- GoogleChromePortable.ini has changed, see new sample in Other\Source.
- ImportJava: Functions differently, automatically loads JavaPortable
- UsePAMLanguage: Always on when applicable
- Other settings such as file executable can be changed in App\AppInfo\Launcher\GoogleChromePortable.ini but changing this file is not supported, do so with caution.
- --no-first-run switch added.
- --disable-logging switch added to replace code that would remove the log if it existed.
- Ported Incognito setting from IronPortable. Though you can just add --incognito onto the AdditionalParameters line for the same effect.
- Portable Passwords converted to work entirely in UTF-16 (previous versions could not handle UTF-16 passwords). The data files used will be incompatible with the old version of Portable Passwords.

Big thanks to the idlers in #portableapps for helping me with my dumb questions.

Known issue:
- Right now PAL doesn't have a way to signal you want to abort execution in Pre or PreExec so I do a lot of stuff in Init so I can safely call Abort, including prompting for your Portable Passwords Master Password, so that pops up BEFORE the splash screen. Lots of hacks to detect stuff like Secondary Launch to suppress the password prompt since those variables aren't read yet. I've stuck a feature request for PAL up on the forums that would eliminate this problem.

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January 11, 2012 - 10:07am

(Reply to #15) #16

John T. Haller

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Password Migration

How about we support migrating passwords from the old format to the new. We can decrypt the old ones using the ANSI portable passwords feature from the old GCP compiled into a simple stub EXE and the use the new one from then on.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

January 11, 2012 - 10:53pm

(Reply to #16) #17

The MAZZTer

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OK, it wouldn't be too hard

OK, it wouldn't be too hard to do. If the password hashing using the new DLL fails to match the master password, try the old one. If that succeeds you use the old DLL to import passwords, wipe the DBs, and then the new one to export.

However it's not really too hard for the user to migrate it themselves with a little care. Only problem is if they can no longer access the last machine they ran GCP on before updating.

In the meantime I posted new Dev Test builds with everything I've done so far. I have all features I want in except for maybe that migration feature.

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January 11, 2012 - 11:07pm

(Reply to #17) #18

Gord Caswell

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Installer

the Installer is now at version 2.0.9

January 12, 2012 - 9:06am

(Reply to #18) #19

The MAZZTer

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So it is. My todo list said

So it is. My todo list said "Compile with PAI 2.0.8" and I may have forgotten to update that number when I downloaded and installed 2.0.9... among other scenarios. I'll double check to be sure I have 2.0.9 when I get home.

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January 14, 2012 - 12:21am

(Reply to #19) #20

The MAZZTer

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Migration is in. I'm

Migration is in. I'm bundling both ANSI and Unicode versions of the plugin; though I won't be updating ANSI anymore (it just contains a bug fix over the one in the current GCP and will be used to migrate only).

I may allow for better error recovery if Portable Passwords can't initialize but part of that work would include removing that init from the Init segment (it could be moved back to PrePrimary) and that would involve testing of the changes... right now I don't think the benefit would be worth the cost and I want to move on to other projects... I will leave it on my TODO list though.

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January 21, 2012 - 5:01am

#21

kirbylover4000

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Launcher waits for separate Chrome process

When I use GCP on a machine that already has Chrome, I find that the launcher is waiting for the non-portable Chrome background service to close, which I need to kill manually with task manager. Could you possibly make the launcher only wait for the Chrome process it opened?

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February 25, 2012 - 5:25pm

#22

tal

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Can you update it to the latest chrome stable and dev?
I want to test it
Thx

April 4, 2012 - 2:26am

(Reply to #22) #23

Joshwiker14

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Download drive letter

I love Google Chrome, But hate telling it where to download everything, Could you make the launcher change the drive letter for the download path?

-Hello

July 3, 2012 - 3:32am

(Reply to #23) #24

nightwing_dk

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Chrome sign-in

I don't know if I'm right here..
I use GoogleChromePortable 20.0.1132.43

And it looks like it works as so good.. but I can't sign-in and get my online stuff. is there a way you could tell me how I can or tell me it can't.

Thanks

The Danish guy

July 3, 2012 - 9:48am

(Reply to #24) #25

Zach Thibeau

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bug reports should go into

bug reports should go into the other apps support forum as this app since then has been released as a portable app officially

your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau

August 26, 2012 - 7:32am

#26

Mickeyj4j

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the latest version of google

the latest version of google chrome portable 21.0.1180.83, it is the same version i have installed on the pc. I think i am running the portable version but unlike firefox it does not say portable when i click on about google chrome in the wrench icon.

any ideas to tell if its the portable version or not.

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August 26, 2012 - 10:17am

(Reply to #26) #27

John T. Haller

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Launch

If you launched it with GoogleChromePortable.exe or from the PortableApps.com Platform, it's portable.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

September 22, 2014 - 2:35pm

#28

PaulRichardson

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Problem with DEV version

I verified the Sha1 & MD5, for the PAF I'm running, against the hash values listed on SourceForge, just to be sure, and even downloaded the PAF again, and checked the hash values on it. Here they are:

GoogleChromePortableDev_39.0.2150.5_online.paf.exe 2014-09-11 1.4 MB 1,2601,260 weekly downloads i
SHA1:
6393c5d28932a8d1e2db664f20208c2a9bf4adb6
MD5:
de7a12f466e40ed6e5349f06c2bd4ac4
Downloads (All-Time):
2,951

So, here's my problem: when I look at behavior, and at the info found at the URL: chrome://version/ it shows 'Official Build' ... "m", instead of DEV, even though the executable and profile path on that same page shows I'm inside the intended version of the app.

I noticed that you mention the dev channel happened to be at the same version. Is it possible that in the process somewhere you got the folders/executables swapped/confused by accident?

Just in case anyone would like to double-check this, I've put a screencap here: http://i.imgur.com/jLrbIwF.jpg of the version info, and to get the Sha1 & MD5, you have to click the little letter 'i' (presumably for "info"), out to the right of the download, which is easiest to find by searching the page via text, since visually the font is cut off on the right side.

IMPORTANT: Latest versions are here: http://omahaproxy.appspot.com/ per the FAQ: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/faq

September 22, 2014 - 3:41pm

(Reply to #28) #29

mjashby

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Google Chrome Portable

I'm not sure I follow your message.

This thread has been dead for two years.

Google Chrome is a released PortableApp available here: https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

You'll find details of the development versions available at the bottom of that page.

MJA

September 22, 2014 - 3:45pm

(Reply to #29) #30

John T. Haller

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Wrong Thread, Ignore About

This is a long dead unrelated thread. There is a support forum for Google Chrome Portable.

You can ignore that in about. It had to do with the channel you are on in Google Updater which is not included. You only need to worry that the version number is correct.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

April 2, 2019 - 5:01am

#31

borisbaran

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Installation program can't be downloaded

The portable installation program fails to download the installation program, you know what the problem might be?

Screencap of the error message

https://imgur.com/a/vJbPrq5

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