Thinstall Application Virtualization Platform V3 is a very easy to use application for making portable applications (applications that require no installation) from existing software applications. This video and written tutorial will explain and demonstrate the procedure step-by-step.
1. INSTALL THINSTALL V3
You must have a full version of Thinstall V3 installed on your computer before proceeding any further.
2. SELECT AN APPLICATION YOU WANT TO MAKE A PORTABLE VERSION OF
This should include all files required for installation and all information / files to activeate the application into the full version. Any trial versions of an application Thinstalled will produce a portable trial version NOT a full version of the application.
3. RUN A "PRE-INSTALL SCAN" USING THINSTALL
Open up Thinstall and select the "pre-install scan option". This will scan your computer and create a snapshot of all relevant settings on your computer. This may take a few minutes to complete depending on the speed of your computer and how much software you already have installed.
DO NOT CLOSE DOWN THINSTALL AFTER THIS STEP
4. INSTALL THE APPLICATION YOU WISH TO MAKE A PORTABLE VERSION OF
Install the application you wish to make a portable version of. This should include whatever process is required (serial numbers etc.) to activate the application into the full version of the application before moving on to step 5.
5. RUN A "POST-INSTALL SCAN" USING THINSTALL
Open up Thinstall and select the "post-install scan" option. This process is almost identical to step 3 as Thinstall will scan your computer and create a snapshot of all relevant settings on your computer. This may take a few minutes to complete depending on the speed of your computer and how much software you already have installed.
6. SELECT THE DATA ACCESS POINT(S) WITHIN THINSTALL
After completing the post-install scan Thinstall will ask you to to select the primary data container, for most applications this will be a single .exe file with the same name as the application you are Thinstalling but for some applications you may wish to make multiple .exe data access files.
i.e. if you were Thinstalling Microsoft Office you may wish to make to make an .exe access point for Word, an .exe for Powerpoint, an .exe for Excel etc.
Select "continue" then select "save results" when you have completed this process.
Thinstall will tell you "set-up capture now complete" then Thinstall will close down
7. LOCATE THE "CAPTURES" FOLDER WITHIN THINSTALL
The easiest and fastest way to do this is to right click on the Thinstall shortcut icon select "properties" then select the "find target" option. This will take you directly to the installation folder of Thinstall where you will find the "captures" folder.
Inside the catures folder you will find another folder with the same name as the appliction you are making portable.
You can either work directly with this folder or you you can right click on this folder and create a shortcut to this folder which you can place anywhere "desktop / my documents etc.)
8. ALTER THE PACKAGE.INI FILE SETTINGS
Open the captures folder, then open the folder inside that named after the application you are making portable and open up the "package.ini" file using notepad.
Alter the "CompressionType" settings so that both of them are set to Fast
Alter the "DirectoryIsolationMode" settings so that both of them are set to Merged
Save changes and exit the Package.ini file.
9. PLACE THE ATTRIBUTES SETTINGS FILE INSIDE THE MAIN FOLDER
Open up the %Desktop% folder, copy the "attributes" file and paste it back into the main application folder.
10. DELETE ALL FOLDERS EXCEPT %ProgramFilesDir% and %SystemSystem%
You can now delete all folders inside the main application folder except "ProgramFilesDir% and %SystemSystem%.
DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THE OTHER FILES INSIDE THE MAIN APPLICATION FOLDER
11. RUN THE BUILD.BAT FILE
Run the build.bat file in the main folder and this willbegin the building of the portable application.
A command prompt screen will appear on your desktop and begin scrolling throught the proccesses that are being performed and a "bin" folder will apppear in the main application folder.
Once the process is complete the command prompt screen will disappear and the portable application .exe file file be inside the bin folder.
12. HAVE FUN WITH YOUR NEW PORTABLE APPLICATION :-) |
