I just reformatted and reinstalled my OS (Win XP Pro SP3) and I planned on using mostly portable apps to keep my hard drive cleaner. First I installed Google Chrome Portable (5.0.375.86) but I can never get it to open. I double-click on the icon and nothing happens. I checked the Task Manager and I might see the process open for a second but then it goes away. The weird thing is that I can run the same version off a USB flash drive. I even copied that folder on to my hard drive and it wouldn't open.
Is this app programmed not to open from a local hard drive?
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Till yesterday, I was running GCP 5.0.375.55 from my hard disk with the same OS as yours without any problem.
Now, I'm running GCP 5.0.375.99 instead, also without problems. (I skipped the version you refer to.)
After some experimentation I think I tracked down the problem (well, maybe a workaround). Google Chrome Portable seems to work for me as long as there aren't any spaces in the path. "C:\Program Files\GoogleChromePortable\" doesn't work, but "C:\GoogleChromePortable\" does.
However, the weird thing is that I had a non-portable version of Chrome installed and while it was installed I could execute the portable version from "Program Files" just fine. I wasn't executing the same copy either because one had extensions and bookmarks and the other didn't. Firefox Portable and PeaZip Portable work fine from the "Program Files" directory. I don't know why Chrome has to be so difficult.
Program Files is for locally installed apps, not portable apps. Portable apps should be installed to C:\PortableApps. Vista and greater has security measures in place that won't permit portable apps to run from the Program Files directory. XP can have issue as well. So stick to C:\PortableApps
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
On a hard disk with an E: drive (logical) as well, I've had no problem with E:\PortableApps for Chrome and OpenOffice.org. (I'm trying to reduce the clutter on my C:\ in the hope that that's a good thing.)