Run Apps from USB Thumb Drive

[homie742]

Hi all,

I was curious if anyone has tried to install and run apps from a USB thumb drive. I want to do this so I can bring apps from one computer to another. Is it possible to do it without leaving any registry keys and such on the computer after the drive has been removed. I know there are apps out that only has the exe and writes nothing to the registry, but what about those that do? Is there a way to make a "fake" registry hive and other folders on the thumb drive and fool the program into using that registry and folders? I know that Iomega has that Active Disk thing, but it's proprietary.

Thanks

[jaclaz]

Short Answer:

NO, but read long answer.

Long answer:

NO, but you can achieve that in two ways:

1) Use ERUNT to backup the Registry, do whatever you want, then restore the registry

2) Make the USB key bootable with BartPE and run programs from the BartPe environment

jaclaz

P.S.: There are quite a lot of standalone apps, here is a few good lists:

http://sapps.batcave.net/

http://www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html

http://standalone.atspace.org/apps.html

(and you can also use this tip:

http://standalone.atspace.org/tip1.html)

[Martin Zugec]

Hmmm, there was ability to use Virtual registry emulation in ACT... But I dont remember how did it work (e.g. redirection of 9x keys, or creating whole registry hive...). Just an idea where to look for.

[homie742]

Thanks for all the feedback. I've been searching online and found this:

Thinstall

It creates an exe that contain a vitual file system and virtual registry and leave zero footprint. Has anyone use this?

[jaclaz]

It creates an exe that contain a vitual file system and virtual registry and leave zero footprint. Has anyone use this?

No, they don't even have a "price tag" on the site, I think their target is BIG companies.

There is/was another solution, that seems abandoned (but site still works) here:

http://www.apct.net/en/products/AB.php3

So the technology exists for NT based systems.

(for Win9x there is the registry redirector the now FREEWARE Qualystem Rescue uses)

They also have a solution for NT based systems:

http://www.qualystem.com/en/index.php

(never tried it, but most probably uses the same technique of redirecting the Registry to a RamDisk)

I thought that the question was related to Open Source or Freeware solutions.

jaclaz

[homie742]

@jaclaz

My original question was related to Open Source or Freeware solution, but I couldn't find anything in my search except for that program.

The BartPE solution is okay if nothing else work. I would ideally like to have it so that I don't have to reboot. What I want to do is bring a drive with Firefox, Thunderbirds, and other programs to work so I can check mail and run those without having to install those programs to the work comp. I know there are portable versions of Firefox and Thunderbird, but since I didn't make it myself, I don't particularly trust the package (I'm just a bit paranoid!) and there are other apps that have no portable versions.

I'll take a look at the links provided, thanks!