VLC Media Player Portable Support

Many of the most common issues that arise when using VLC Portable are addressed here. Please read through the various topics to see if any of them address your question. You can also post a message on the VLC Portable Support Forum.

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VLC Portable-Specific Issues

General VLC Issues

Installing VLC Portable

To install VLC Portable, just download the portable package at the top of the VLC Portable page and then double-click it. Select the location you wish to install to and click OK. A PortableVLC directory will be created there and all the necessary files installed. That's all there is to it.

Using VLC Portable

To start up VLC Portable, just double-click VLCPortable.exe file where you installed VLC Portable on your portable drive. Then, use it just like you would a local copy of VLC. There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

  • Stay Safe - When using portable apps, it's always a good idea to practice Safe Portable App-ing.
  • Removing Your Drive - When you're done, exit VLC and then wait for the activity light on your removable drive to stop flashing. Then select the 'Safely remove [device]' option from the icon in the system tray. If you remove the drive while it is writing, you may lose data.

Upgrading VLC Portable

To upgrade to a newer version of VLC Portable, just install a new copy over the old one.

Changing VLC Portable to Another Language

By default, VLC Portable is set to automatically use the language of the operating system. If you wish to select a specific language, open VLC Portable. From the main menu, select Settings and then Preferences. Click Interface in the list of categories on the left. Next to language, change it from Auto to the language of your choice and click Save. Close and re-open VLC Portable.

Running From CD (VLC Portable Live)

This option is no longer supported.

Known Issues

The known issues with the current release are:

  • skins - skin selections are not remembered between sessions

Modifications

I made some modifications to the default version of VLC to make it more USB key friendly (decreasing total install size, etc). These changes are listed here so you'll know what they are, and so you can recreate the process, if so desired.

  • Friendly Launcher - VLC Portable Launcher makes launching a snap.
  • Plugins Cache Disabled
  • Skin settings portable
  • EXEs and DLLs Compressed - All EXEs and DLLs were recompressed using UPX. This gets our installed size down to one that is a bit more manageable. Additionally, it will speed up use when you're running over USB 1.1. The options used were: --best --compress-icons=0 --nrv2d --crp-ms=999999 -k

Version History

  • 0.8.6b - May 3, 2007
    • Updated to VLC 0.8.6b
    • PortableApps.com Installer
  • 0.8.6a - February 8, 2007
    • Updated to VLC 0.8.6a
    • Vista compatibility
    • PortableApps Format packaging
  • 0.8.5 Rev 2 - August 14, 2006
    • Compatible with Unicode paths passed on the commandline
    • Live CD support
    • In-place upgrade support
    • Name changed to VLC Portable
  • 0.8.5 - May 8, 2006
    • Updated to VLC 0.8.5
    • Switched to split app/data directories
  • 0.8.4a - April 12, 2006
    • Initial general release
    • Fixed config file appearing in drive root
  • 0.8.4a Beta - February 1, 2006
    • Initial beta release