Comments on: Mojopac Freedom - Make Any App Portable

By: Pieter

Pieter — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:36:31 +0000

Thanks for the tip. NSIS is probably the most user-friendly solution (aside from the coding part, of course) but for now I prefer MojoPac. I just like the fact that you can install anything on your removable drive without having to do some coding for each app you want to make portable.

By: Usersky Daily News Network » Featured Windows Download: Make Any Application Portable with MojoPac Freedom

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:10:33 +0000

[...] Windows only: Carry any application with you on your thumb drive with freeware virtual PC software MojoPac Freedom. Back when we showed you how to build your own PC-on-a-stick with MojoPac, the application had a $30 price tag, but it has since launched several versions, and MojoPac Freedom is the freeware version. Even better, MojoPac Freedom supports all the data and application support of the rest, lacking really only customer support (aside from other premium features most regular users will never need). It still supports taking Microsoft Office, iTunes, video games, and virtually any other app portable. MojoPac Freedom is freeware, Windows only. MojoPac [via CyberNet] [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:02:55 +0000

That’s how programs like Portable Firefox work, but MojoPac requires a lot less effort on the part of the user. People want things that they can just run with as few problems as possible, and Mojopac is just that. Thanks for the info though.

By: Featured Windows Download: Make Any Application Portable with MojoPac Freedom | K E K U [alpha]

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:31:39 +0000

By: mo22

mo22 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:59:29 +0000

here is an example script for nsis to make portable software. you have to find out the registry entries and files using 3 differnt applications one to monitor which files are being installed where, the other to monitor registry edits from the install app, the other to extract the install files.
examples as follows….
“total uninstall” monitors registry and file installes
“universal extactor” to extact install exe/msi files
“regmon” to monitor registry
“filemon” to monitor file activity

here is the example script

;—Definitions—-

!define SNAME “Portable Application”

;—-Includes—-

!include “Registry.nsh”

;—–Runtime switches—-
CRCCheck off
AutoCloseWindow True
SilentInstall silent
WindowIcon off
XPSTYLE on

;—–Set basic information—–

Name “${SNAME}”
Icon “${SNAME}.ico”
Caption “${SNAME} Launcher”
OutFile “${SNAME}.exe”

;—–Version Information——

LoadLanguageFile “${NSISDIR}\Contrib\Language files\English.nlf”

VIProductVersion “0.1.0.0″
VIAddVersionKey /LANG=${LANG_ENGLISH} “ProductName” “Portable Application Launcher”
VIAddVersionKey /LANG=${LANG_ENGLISH} “LegalCopyright” “© Portable Creator”
VIAddVersionKey /LANG=${LANG_ENGLISH} “FileDescription” “Application”
VIAddVersionKey /LANG=${LANG_ENGLISH} “FileVersion” “0.1″

Section “Main”

${registry::SaveKey} “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Application\Application” “$EXEDIR\portable\LocalRegInfo.reg” “/G=1″ $R0
${registry::SaveKey} “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Application\Application” “$EXEDIR\portable\LocalSettings.reg” “/G=1″ $R0
Sleep 500

${registry::RestoreKey} “$EXEDIR\portable\Settings.reg” $R0
Sleep 300
${registry::RestoreKey} “$EXEDIR\portable\RegInfo.reg” $R0
Sleep 200
${registry::RestoreKey} “$EXEDIR\portable\DirSettings.reg” $R0
Sleep 200

System::Call “advapi32::GetUserName(t .r0, *i ${NSIS_MAX_STRLEN} r1) i.r2″

ExecWait ‘regsvr32.exe /s “$EXEDIR\Appdata\bin\stdvcl32.dll”‘

ExecShell “open” SW_HIDE “$EXEDIR\Appdata\bin\dcXSPCompReg.exe”

ExecWait ‘MSIEXEC.EXE /i “$EXEDIR\Appdata\msi\Microsoft_VC80_MFC_x86.msi” /qn /norestart’ $0

Rename “$EXEDIR\Backup\ADC_Contacts.adx” “$EXEDIR\Backup\ADC_Contacts-$0.adx”

CreateDirectory “$LOCALAPPDATA\Calendar\”
CopyFiles /SILENT “$EXEDIR\Appdata\Settings.ini” “$WINDIR\”

WriteRegStr HKEY_CURRENT_USER “Software\Application\The Application Desktop\General” “DirInstall” “$EXEDIR\Appdata\”
WriteRegDWORD HKEY_CURRENT_USER “Software\Application\The Application Desktop\User Options” “ShowSplash” 0×0

Sleep 300

ExecWait “$EXEDIR\Appdata\Application.exe”

${registry::SaveKey} “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Application\Application” “$EXEDIR\portable\Settings.reg” “/G=1″ $R0
Sleep 500
${registry::RestoreKey} “$EXEDIR\portable\RegClean.reg” $R0
Sleep 400

DeleteRegKey /ifempty HKEY_CURRENT_USER “Software\Application”
Sleep 300

${registry::RestoreKey} “$EXEDIR\portable\LocalRegInfo.reg” $R0
Sleep 800

Delete “$EXEDIR\portable\LocalSettings.reg”
Delete “$EXEDIR\portable\LocalRegInfo.reg”

SectionEnd

By: mo2

mo2 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:54:09 +0000

This can be done much faster and or smaller in size using NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page

nsis uses lzma compression for smaller files and overall is much faster load times than virtual software.

its an easy scripting language and far more options, customizing, and support (nsis forums are pritty nice)!

its free too!

lesson learned - use nsis!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:28:08 +0000

I’m glad you like it Pieter! It’s expected that it is essentially a sandbox because it doesn’t require you to install the entire operating system onto the drive. Most flash drives wouldn’t be able to hold all of that, so this is pretty much the best way of doing things.

By: Pieter

Pieter — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:31:15 +0000

Oh man, I love this app! Here’s the weird thing though: it copies some files from your Windows directory to your removable drive and if you press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or CTRL+ALT+DEL, you’ll notice that you’re actually working in some kind of sandbox-ish Windows. It’s really strange…

By: Mojopac ??????? ?????????? ??????????? by Lifehacker

Mojopac ??????? ?????????? ??????????? by Lifehacker — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:00:43 +0000

[...] (via CyberNet) — [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:06:38 +0000

Why don’t you head over to their forum. It looks like you can shoot them an email and they’ll send you a Beta version of the Vista-compatible Mojopac to play with. If you paid for a copy then I’m especially sure that they would have no troubles getting you in on the Beta version.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:05:16 +0000

I find this to be a little bit irritating. After coughing up for 2 licenses and being told (almost a year ago) that Vista support was right around the corner, now they make it free. That really sucks.
Having said that, I do like MojoPac. If they ever release a Vista compatible version I’ll really like it. Not holding my breath.