

If you have an old license or extra license key laying around, this might be a great alternative. The main catch here is that you need a separate license for the copy of Windows in your virtual machine. Then you can install all the Windows apps you like within that virtual machine, without any further work. Using a platform like PortableApps is great, but there may be a much simpler way to make any Windows application portable – make Windows itself portable! How? Simply get the portable version of VirtualBox from and install a licensed copy of Windows on it. Virtual Machines As a Portable App Alternative

Simply download the installer, install it to an external drive and pick all the app from the list you want. We recommend which comes with its own launcher and app management interface. Of course, you are unlikely to find any paid software this way! However, plenty of popular free applications have been converted into portable versions, ready to download. First, Check If It Hasn’t Already Been Doneīefore you go down the route of making a non-portable app portable yourself, it’s a good idea to check if someone else hasn’t already done the work for you. The developers have created them specifically to run without being dependent on anything. It’s important to know that there are also apps that are portable by design. That software then creates custom dependencies that make the app think it’s running on the original computer. While it’s possible to do this manually, it’s far easier to use one of several specialized apps that scan the dependencies of an application and then replicate them in a virtualized way. To make a portable app, you have to fool it into thinking all of its dependencies have been satisfied. If you simply copied the application folder to an external drive and tried to run it on another computer, you’d either get a bunch of error messages or a program that doesn’t work right. Windows applications, for example, pick a folder on your local hard drive, make entries in your registry and generally expects Windows to provide certain amenities so that it can do its job. When you install most applications on a computer, it makes changes to the system and integrates itself. These days, most of us have multiple computers that we take with us, but what if you wanted to turn any computer into your computer? That’s where the idea of “portable” apps come into the picture.īy loading up a flash drive or external hard drive with these apps, you simply have to plug the device into a compatible computer and all your software and data are right there.
