|
| Image Credit: resalasolutions |
One doesn’t need to look very far though, since creating a portable app for one’s flash drive is relatively easy. The process simply requires you to understand and comprehend a few simple steps. So if you want to know how to pull this off, here are the 6 easiest steps to make your application portable.
Step 1 – Download The Necessary Application File:
First things first, you will need to download the necessary file that you want to install. For the purposes of this article, we will use the Audacity as an example. This particular application file is an open source program used for editing audio files, so it’s free. You can either download your own file or simply follow along.
Step 2 – Download WinRAR As Well As Universal Extractor:
Aside from Audacity, which is our sample, you will also need to get WinRAR and Universal Extractor. After you have downloaded them, install both of them on your computer and allow both of them to associate with each of their respective file types.
Step 3 – “UniExtract” The Necessary Setup File:
Assuming that you’ve downloaded WinRAR, Universal Extractor and Audacity, the next step will be to simply “Uni-Extract” your Audacity file into a folder of your choosing. It’s preferable to store this folder on your desktop to keep things easy, but feel free to do whatever feels easy for you. Once you’ve extracted the file, a folder will then be created with the extracted files inside them.
Step 4: Look For The “exe” File:
Now that we have the necessary software extracted, it’s time to look for the “.exe” file. These files usually have the same name as their program, and are usually present in the main folder. In our case, we’re looking for “audacity.exe.” Once you have found this file, you will need to make sure that it can run the program properly.
Step 5 – Take All The Files And Store Them Into An Archive:
After you have made sure that Audacity’s “.exe” is functioning properly, the next thing that you will need to do is to take all of these files and put them into an archive. To do this, simply highlight all of the files inside the folder as well as the sub-folders and right click on them. You will then be given the option to “Add to archive.” Click on it and name the archive with whatever name you like, and then select “Best” under the compression method.
Once you’re through, click on the advanced tab on the file and then select SFX options. When you encounter the field entitled run after extraction, type in the name of your program’s .exe file, which in our case, is Audacity.exe. Next, go to the tab entitled “Modes” and unpack all the contents into a temporary folder, and afterwards, click on the “Hide All” field.
Finally, visit the Update tab and pick out the “overwrite all files” command. After you’ve done that, simply hit okay and WinRAR will automatically generate the application file that you need.
Step 6 – Copy Everything To Your USB:
Now, that we’re finished processing all the files, programs and folders, the only thing left to do is to copy-paste the application into your USB drive. You can then test it to see how well it works. To do this, simply double click your new application and run it on a compatible computer. Since, we’re using “Audacity,” it’s worth mentioning that this program only works on Windows.
The general idea behind this six step process is that if the .exe file mentioned in step 4 works great then the rest of the process will be very easy to do, and you will have no problems in packing it all into a single application file. So all things considered, the process in making applications portable is easy. You just need to understand the general idea and the rest will follow.
