What is portable software? Can a normal app be made a portable app?

 Portable software or portable applications or portable apps in a nutshell are just like the usual installable apps, but it has a number of advantages. You can run any software from one computer to another by using USB drive, you don't have to install it at all, the settings of the software will also be saved in the USB drive. Another advantage is that the portable apps are a little lightweight, which means your space will be saved a little. There is no difference in functionality between the general application and the portable application, but there are some differences at times, however, the portable application is definitely a good thing, and of course worth trying!

Portable software

Before you get a good idea about portable apps, you need to know how common installable apps work. The software setup files on a Windows computer are actually .EXE files, which can be opened to install the software. In fact, .EXE is an executable type of file, in which the necessary files of the software are archived.

Once the process starts, the installation files start transferring to different locations. The main files of the program are copied in a row in the C: \ Program Files folder folder, the setting files of the app are stored in the folder called ProgramData folder, the setting files with different permissions for each user of the computer are stored in a hidden folder called “AppData”. Moreover, most Windows software creates its own entry in the "Windows Registry", so that it can hold many types of configurations. Many apps work using shared code libraries from operating systems, such as DLL files, .NET Framework, Visual C ++ redetributables.

So you understand, the general software sends files to many locations at once and holds various settings. However, for security and privacy, these files need to be kept in a separate folder.

Now let's talk about portable apps, how do they work? - In fact, portable apps do not require executable files, meaning they do, but you do not have to leave the files in a separate folder. These are archived in the .ZIP file instead of the .EXE file, you just need to extract the archive in order to use it, then run the software EXE file without running it and the software will run directly.

All your settings are saved in the same folder, you can move the folder to any portable media or pen drive if you want. Insert a pen drive from one computer to another and your software will run without installing on that computer. Moreover, all the settings will be stored in the folder of the pen drive, so the settings will remain the same no matter which computer you use the software.

If you run a portable application from your computer without running a pen drive, it will be a little lighter than the original application, if it will provide the same functionality. However, there are downsides to portable apps, especially in terms of security. These apps bypass the User Account Controls (UAC) system, meaning that anyone on the computer can run all the apps without being an admin, where you can install and use many apps without an admin. No. However, if your computer is not used by anyone other than you and if you want to run the software without installing it on any computer carrying USB stick then there is no comparison of portable app.

However, since you will run the portable app on a pen drive, be sure to safely eject the pen drive after running the app, otherwise your software files may be corrupted. So, from the above paragraphs you must have easily understood the merits of portable software!

General software is made into portable software

Now the question is, what kind of software is portable and is it possible to make portable software from ordinary software? You may think that only small software, especially utility type software is portable, but any type of software can be portable, word processing software, image or graphics editing software, of course utilities, productivity software and many more.

Yes, you can turn any regular software into a portable application. However, some manual work may be required to make large size software portable. It is very easy to make small utilities portable, just copy all the files of the software from C drive and take it to the pen drive, maybe the software will work as portable. However, it may not always work like this, but at least where is the problem to try?

If you want, I can publish a complete guide to how to make all kinds of software portable, if any guide will not work for all software, because different types of software are different. Which need to be understood manually. But otherwise any software can be made portable, the app virtualizes, meaning you need to create a portable virtual machine where the necessary operating system is installed and the software is set up. No matter which computer you open, the software will run from the virtual machine, there is no need to install it. The best tool for this is Portable VirtualBox.

Virtual Box itself is a free software that works on Oracle and can run any desktop operating system. And there will be specific software in the operating system, then you can work with the virtual box on a pen drive or portable hard drive.

It doesn't matter how you make an app portable, if it is portable, you will get all kinds of benefits, especially from one computer to another without having to install it. Many websites already have portable versions of many softwares available. You can download portable versions of many softwares just by searching Google. Moreover, you can make any software portable by yourself.