niether xampp or xampp light were found

i have the following

F:\XAMPP (f-udb drive, xampp last version)
F:\PortableApps\XAMPP\XAMPPLauncher.exe
F:\PortableApps\XAMPP\Data\xampp.ini
in it
[xampp]
dir=F:\XAMPP

i tried moving xampp to any directory
to no avail.

xampp read me
-------------
###### ApacheFriends XAMPP Version USB lite 1.8.0 ######

+ Apache 2.4.2
+ MySQL 5.5.25a (Community Server)
+ PHP 5.4.3 (VC9 X86 32bit thread safe) + PEAR
+ phpMyAdmin 3.5.2
+ OpenSSL 1.0.1c
+ ADOdb 5.15
+ XAMPP Security
+ XAMPP mailToDisk 1.0 (write sendet emails via PHP on local disk in \mailoutput. Is activated in the php.ini as mail default.)

Help plz