How to update my portable version?

[moorpipe]

The download wants to install xplorer2 ultimate on my host computer. Is this intended? Should I indeed first install it on my host computer, do some tricky things to preserve my settings, copy it to my USB stick en uninstall it from my host? If so, does it leave traces on my host? Sorry for asking but I've never seen a portable app that needs to be installed first.

p.s. I couldn't find a separate forum xplorer2 ultimate, so I posted my question here. There's a general forum but that's for chitchat

[Kilmatead]

I've never seen a portable app that needs to be installed first.

The ultimate version is not a "portable app" out of the box per se, simply a version which allows the conversion into one. There are essentially two ways to update a portable install:

1. Install the new version on a host (you don't need to reactivate it, and avoid any "integration" options), copy the contents of the install folder into your portable-folder (as you did originally, once upon a time), then uninstall it from the host, being sure to tick the uninstaller option to remove settings. It does uninstall cleanly, though you may check for a harmless 'AppData\Zabkat' folder which has been known to evade capture from time to time. You don't need to worry about your settings assuming you already keep the INI in the portable-folder itself - just don't overwrite that file with anything.

2. The simplest method (requiring no installation at all) is just to use 7Zip to extract the contents of the installer package itself and copy the newer versions of the appropriate files into your portable-folder, overwriting the existing ones.

Either method can be generously described as being "somewhat fiddly" even on the sunniest of days, and the catch is that obviously you can't have your portable x2 running while doing this, which is where "somewhat fiddly" becomes full-on Cirrhosis. Using the 1st method mitigates this slightly.

At least updating is not done too often.

The moral of the story is that using a portable version is primarily intended for those who really need it (from a professional/work viewpoint) rather than for those who just have an arbitrary dislike of installing anything on principle.

Also, for v3.5, note that the Colour Tags feature should not be used in portable mode. Well, it can be, but the database appears to still be stored under Appdata\Zabkat, so "portability" of that feature is more a state of mind than a reality...

[moorpipe]

Thanks, I'll probably go for the second option, which is closest to a "portable installation".
As to your "moral insights", thanks for sharing, but I have my own reasons for putting my tools on an USB stick. I'm probably not the professional you had in mind, although I'm working in IT for about 30+ years. I'm using xplorer2 since 2004 and only recently switched to the ultimate version, because of its portability. It is advertised as portable (with the installer as an added bonus) with "no installation required".
By the way, good to know that this new feature "Color Tags" is actually breaking portability.

Regards.

[nikos]

if you check the installation folder of xplorer2 ultimate, there's a file called PORTABLE.TXT that explains how you create a portable USB version in a few simple steps. As for the portability of color tags, it is unlikely that a certain file will exist in the same location in 2 different computers, so it wouldn't work anyway. The decision of using a database makes things much faster, albeit fragile

[Kilmatead]

As to your "moral insights", thanks for sharing, but...

Don't get me wrong - when given a choice of using software, 9 times out of 10 I will also choose the portable option where one is available... they tend to be easier to backup and restore to other systems as needs be, and generally promise a cleaner disposition when sauntering down the street. (Though, like everyone, I've run into more than a few which help themselves to the registry, despite their proclaimed pedigree.)

It's just that as x2 is primarily a "shell related programme", many users could have unrealistic expectations about how portability works ("What happened to my WinRAR context menu entries?"), never mind the x86/x64 crossover divide within Windows itself, and so forth. Curiously, the addition of TC plugins to x2 has mitigated some aspects of this (column-data extraction), so x2's portability is more functional than it used to be years ago.

But yeah - the updating of portable versions could be better, especially (as you pointed out) Nikos boxed himself into a corner when stating on the site that "No installation required" - but then again he's always had a difficult relationship with common-sense (from my point of view), so maybe it's just a Greek cultural thing that he's yet to shrug off.

For the record, I don't use x2 in portable mode myself - there's just no benefit to it in the long run on desktop systems (except in the truest sense of "portable"). That said, the world is changing and happily passing me by, so I will always fight so-called progress wherever I see it. There's no mistake that Ada Lovelace's father (Lord Byron) was a supporter of the Luddites (yes, really - there's irony for you!), despite the eponymous Ned Ludd never being a real person, and despite Byron's propensity for otherwise bucking the moral norm.