(Ok, I'm new to this sort of thing, so please excuse me if I sound a bit ignorant.)
I recently downloaded and installed several portable apps onto my SanDisk flash drive, which was plugged into USB Port G/ on my Laptop.
But when I plug it into any port other than G/ whether on mine or another computer, unless I plug it into Port G/, the apps will not run.
This is extremely unconvenient, as some of the computers I use do not have a Port G/, only F/ and E/
How can I modify the app to run in any USB port that I plug it in?
Thanks in advance,
Nocr
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It's not the port that gives you the drive letter. In other words, if on the same computer you plug it in on one port and it shows up as G:\, then remove it and plug it in on another port, it will not show up as H:\ but as G:\. Also, I've made a program (more or less) that substitutes the drive letter of your device to whatever else drive letter you want. For example, I substitute whatever drive letter my drive gets assigned to T:\. In most cases T:\ will always be available, so I can run any program from (almost) any computer under the T:\ drive. The here's the link. And if you wait till tomorrow, I should have the new version posted.
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"Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world." -- Lily Tomlin
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I guess I'll have to wait, since the link to download it doesn't work.
Thanks a bunch
Please Make TiLP Portable
If it's all portable apps, and you put them on a flash drive, I see no reason why it won't work? :S
Maybe John has some idea.
_____________________________
I felt so different without a signature.
Yeah, thats what I had thought.
I hope he does.
Please Make TiLP Portable
Hi, portable apps shouldn't fail like that... you must be doing something unconventional to get that result (or lack of results)
Perhaps if you gave us some more details...
Some ideas:
* Which apps are failing?
* What launcher are you using?
* Does the launcher at least work?
* What do they "say" when they fail? (Ideally, give the exact message, don't paraphrase it)
... anything else you can think of...
Help us to help you.
I downloaded and installed
ClamWin,
Firefox,
Audacity,
TorPark,
and OpenOffice all without incident. The flash drive was plugged into my laptop (as drive E/) when the installation took place.
I set it up so that I would have a shortcut to each app in the main section-thingy of the drive, while the rest of the app was tucked away in a hidden folder. (I didn't like having the .exe out in the open to be accidently deleted.)
Then I tested my setup, and was able to open and use the apps with the shortcuts.
But the next day, when I plugged my flash drive into a different computer, one of the many in my school's library, the shortcuts I had made to the apps would not open the apps. I checked the drive letter, and found that my drive had been assigned the letter G/
The error message said:
If its possible, I'd like to know how to enable the apps to run no matter what letter my flash drive is assigned.
Keep in mind, I'm extremely inexperienced with this sort of thing, so layman's terms would be appreciated. Also, if I need to alter any text, I'd like to be able to copy and paste it, so I can be sure that I won't mess it up.
Much thanks.
Please Make TiLP Portable
Do the programs start when you go to the folder that you've hidden and start the .exe? If they do, then
right click that .exe, click copy, then go to the place you want the shortcut, and right click, and select paste shortcut. It should make a shortcut to the .exe in the folder you hid and you should be all set. I do this with all of my portable apps; I have a folder named "Portable Apps" and have all of them in there, then make shortcuts to the base of my flash drive (as soon as you open it, the shortcuts are there).
"I set it up so that I would have a shortcut to each app in the main section-thingy of the drive, "
Did you manually create Windows shortcuts on the USB drive or are you referring to the PortableApps menu with your phrase "section-thingy"? If the former then you are right they won't work if the drive letter changes which is why you need to use the Portable Apps menu-thingy. If the latter then there is a problem with the PortableApps menu.
Ed
Ed
Yeah, I manually created them.
I was hoping that I didn't have to download the PortableApps Menu. Guess I was wrong.
Please Make TiLP Portable
Hi, nocr.
It seems to me that the apps are OK and it's your shortcuts that are not working.
For the sake of example, I'm going to asume you have this directories and files in your USB drive, and the drive in
Now if you right click Shortcut to ApplicationPortable.exe and pick Properties, you will see it's "Target" is "X:\PortableApps\ApplicationPortable\ApplicationPortable.exe" which is only OK for as long as your drive is in X:. Should it be in Y:, that link doesn't work any more.
Ideally you would replace that with a relative path and make it "PortableApps\ApplicationPortable\ApplicationPortable.exe" (note that it does NOT start with the drive letter) Unfortunately Windows will not let you do this. Even if you get it to let you click OK without complaining, if you show the properties again, it will have changed your relative path to an absolute one (one that starts with the drive letter). (I have only tested this on Windows 2000 so YMMV, but I doubt it).
The two best solutions are:
1) use a launcher (PortableAppsMenu and ASuite are two good ones, but there are many more).
2) use subst.exe to assign a fixed drive letter to your drive. There's a thread about doing that here
Or Pstart as a menu - this is why there is a menu, to get round this windows annoyance.
I'm going to try the subst.exe trick.
Hope that works.
Please Make TiLP Portable