Installing Apps on External Hard Drive

J

JJRod3

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Nov 12, 2006
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I just searched the forums for the past hour looking for a topic on this, but I didn't see one so here goes...

I have to work 8 1/2 hour shifts in a computer lab where I am not allowed to download/install... I have no administrative privileges. It's a mechanical engineering computer lab, so the computers have the basics (XP with Office, games, paint, windows media player) plus a few engineering programs. My problem is that the Windows Media Player is an old version, and I'm not allowed to install codecs, and I really would like to pass the time watching some videos rather than playing 8 hours of Hearts. I have a 60 GB external hard drive, so I've tried installing some programs (Windows Media Player + new codecs, DIVX player, PowerDVD) to that. It won't let me install them at work (says I need administrative access), so I tried installing them on my home PC and then using them here at work. This obviously didn't work, because I believe when you install programs it does something with the registry and/or the system folders. I've read that there are a few programs that allow you to run a "virtual XP" environment, so you can install apps on your external HD and run them on any computer. So my questions are:

(1) Is there a better way to solve this problem (aka allow me to run programs off of my external hard drive without having installed them on the work computer)?

(2) If there aren't, are these programs reliable?

(3) Will these programs work in this specific situation (as I have no administrative privileges and I can't make any changes to the control panel, etc)?

Any help would be appreciated, so thanks in advance for your time!

Oh, and along these same lines... we don't have Java or Flash on these computers, is there any way I can get around this? It's a big pain in the ass to not be able to view anything on websites.
 
For vids try Portable VLC player which contains its own codec and is stand alone. Doesn't play RM's though.
 
Hypernova said:
For vids try Portable VLC player which contains its own codec and is stand alone. Doesn't play RM's though.
Click to expand...

I second that. VLC is probably the most portable media player out there.

As for Flash, download a copy of Portable Firefox and follow the instructions for installing plugins. Unfortunately, there's no portable version of Java I know of (it needs to be installed locally).
 
You should search for portable apps such as on this site http://portableapps.com/apps or just Google..... "portable apps" For the most part, these apps will run off a thumb drive or any portable media. You can even burn them to cd and run some from there.
 
Another alternative is MIcrosoft Virtual PC.

I don't know if the VPC software can be installed on a external HD and run independantly of the registry, but if it does it can make a virtual harddrive and install anything you want in it. All the settings, registry, and system info will be stored on the virual harddrive file that would be located on your external hd.
 
Are these school computers restrictive? I tried portable Firefox and Thunderbird on a thumb drive on my work computer, and it didn't work. I'm not sure if I did it wrong or that the restrictions blocked it from trying to retrieve information from the internet. The proxy filter blocks any site dealing with games, as well as a lot of other pages for reasons unknown to me. Even some of my friends' facebook pages.
 
Thanks! It's working right now on a regular school comp, though I haven't tried it at work yet. Thanks again for the positive, clear replies.
 
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