I know that some Windows applications are stand-alone in the sense that you can just start the EXE directly and it works - no installation required. Can Google Chrome do this?
I'd like to run Google Chrome, but I am looking for a way to run it on a Windows XP system without having to install it first. I thought I was looking for a portable version but that still needs to be installed. So "portable" is not the keyword I'm looking for, while "stand-alone" doesn't yield any results.
28 Answers
How about Chromium? It's "the open-source projects behind the Google Chrome browser".
Go to the build page, choose your platform, choose a build (larger number means newer), download the zip file, then extract and run! Perfect for me.
6Portable apps is your best solution to this problem.
The portable apps .paf file is technically a .zip file with a different extension.
To clarify how a portable apps installation works:
When you install the app to a flash drive with portable apps on it, all entries that would normally go into the windows registry, are in fact written to files within the portable apps system. Additionally, any files that might have been installed on the C drive, despite you specifying a D drive installation path, are also installed to your portable apps flash drive.
What you are looking for: an exe file you can download and just run; is rarely done these days in the world of programming. Sorry, but that is just the way most programs are developed. It is the primary reason that environments such as portableApps were developed.
The primary reason for the current install and write to the registry environment was to prevent people from bootlegging programs by simply copying the program folder from one location to the other which was very common during the dos/windows 3.1/Win96 days.
By the way, portableApps.com is not the only flash drive environment that makes programs portable. But it is likely the one that's most popular.
To test the non install portability of GoogleChromePortable, I copied the GoogleChromePortable folder from my portableApps drive to my D double clicked GoogleChromePortable.exe file to run Chrome and the it started without any problems. I could also go to various websites with it. So all you really have to do is decompress the portableapps.paf file to a folder on your C or D drive and run the program.
Take care.
You might also consider some de-googled chrome derivatives which have portable versions:
- Iridium Browser
- Ungoogled Chromium
Quote from the PortableApps website:
Standalone Installation - To install a portable app by itself, or manually, just browse to the location of the [AppName]_Portable_x.x.paf.exe file you downloaded. Double-click the file to start the installation. Follow the on-screen prompts and select the location you'd like to install to. Within the directory you select, an [AppName]Portable directory will be created containing the portable app.
All you need to do is install it once and then use the .exe in the folder the installer creates to run the app as a stand-alone.
Good luck!
2Installation usually consists of two actions (loosely speaking)
- extract a bunch of files from an archive somewhere and copy them to local storage.
- creating entries in the Windows registry (or equivalent on other platforms)
Usually, it's the second part that people wish to avoid.
The main way to avoid both parts is to run web-based applications - but that would be rather self-defeating in this case.
The idea of a portable app is that you install it on a removable storage device such as a USB flash memory drive. It can then be run on any number of PCs with performing any additional installation for each PC.
If this does not meet your needs, I suggest you revise your question to clarify your specific objectives.
3I haven't tried this, but if you have installed Chrome on other PC, try copying the Chrome folder from \Documents and Settings\<user-name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome
Use its not a stand alone app but it wont leave settings behind. Download google chrome portable run it, install it to your desktop, open the "GoogleChromePortable" folder and run "GoogleChromePortable.exe". When your done just delete the folder "GoogleChromePortable". Or you can use either vmware thinapp or cameyo.
Here you you can find all kind of portable apps, including Google Chrome:
You can find the latest (2010.11.29.) version of chrome here:
