Questions about instructions

[jgphenom]

Hi all. Just want to start out by saying that JauntePE is an amazing program and will not only free up resources on my PC by allowing me to uninstall a bunch of programs, but reformatting my disk will be SO much easier next time since all I have to do is copy folders from now on instead of installing programs. So... THANKS!

Ok, so I've read redllar's 12-step Program instructions as well as Firewrath and portable-freak's instructions so I've got a basic idea about what to do, but I think there is a gap in the instructions.

The 12-step program starts from the installation file and begins making the program portable as it is installed. But the instructions stop once the program is installed. The other two sets of instructions start with the program already installed and then use the "Build Portable" option.

My question is: should I start from the installation file, follow the 12 steps, and THEN use the "Build Portable" button, or can I just run the executable file I get at the end of following the 12-step Program installation?

...am I making any sense?

[jgphenom]

hmmm... I think I figured this out on my own.

If I leave my application like at the end of the 12-step Program, I can run it THROUGH the JauntePE launchpad for it to run as a portable app. But if I use the "Build Portable" option, then I can run it as a portable app through the new executable it produces so I won't be tied to the JauntePE program.

Can anyone tell me if I'm on the right track?

Thanks in advance!

[Local]

Yup, that sounds about right.
I've not read the 12 step instructions and don't know much about running through the launcher.
What I do know is that if you create your app "Build Portable" choose all of your options "Redirect registry/File system etc" the resulting executable should redirect everything into its own folder.

Anything more complicated you'll probably have to ask Reddlar or Firewrath about.

The basics are pretty simple to pick up though

[jgphenom]

Thanks for the quick reply, local. I've been messing around with this program all day but I still can't seem to get the hang of it.

Been trying to make a series of DVD ripper/burner apps I have portable. I've tried to portablize DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink and RipIt4Me. I THINK I have DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink working ok (followed the 12 steps and then built the portable file) but not RipIt4Me.

RipIt4Me uses DVD Decrypter in it's process and sends Decrypter certain variables to get Decrypter to process certain files. If I point the portable RipIt4Me to the portable DVD Decrypter, it doesn't work. But if I point the portable RipIt4Me to the regular DVD Decrypter executable, then it seems to work fine until DVD Decrypter has to communicate back with the portable RipIt4Me to tell it that the file is done. Then the communication breaks down again.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if this is a limitation of JauntePE since it's still in early development. If there IS a solution I think it might have to do with setting the module settings in the .ini files. Right?

Any help would be cool. If I can get everything working I'll be more than happy to help someone else that wants to portablize the same apps.

[Firewrath]

ok,

so i take it you ran th installer through the 12step bit,
and so on,

now im going to assume that it didnt put folders in the 'User' or 'Windows' directory or anything like that,

so what you do from there is, if you dont want to use the GUI to launch the program,

build the portable.exe, run it, close it, let it crash out, whatever,
get the name for the .reg file, copy that name,

take the .reg file from the install, rename it to the .reg file from the program,
replace the programs .reg file with that one,

youll be surpised how many problems that solves,


the reason you run the installers and such through JPE first is that alot of the times they add registry entries the program doesnt and needs,


also,
the reason it might have problems calling another .exe file is that its using an absolute path, so if the path change, then you have problems,

otherwise, whenever a JPE program launches another program, JPE is automatically applied to that program,
so you dont have to make a portable.exe for the other program and point to it,

i use this alot with Pstart,
i build a portable_pstart.exe, then Every program i run off it is caught by JPE,
saves me alof of time/space, ^-^


but i cant explain why it would mess up when its sending the info back to ripit, unless it thinking its in a path its not since youve made it portable,
im not sure,

and if you want to test if its a module problem,

[ModuleExclude]
1=*

will work for a quick test,
if it works after that, then chances are its a module issue, heh,

[jgphenom]

otherwise, whenever a JPE program launches another program, JPE is automatically applied to that program,
so you dont have to make a portable.exe for the other program and point to it,

i use this alot with Pstart,
i build a portable_pstart.exe, then Every program i run off it is caught by JPE,
saves me alof of time/space, ^-^

Hey Firewrath, thanks for the reply. I didn't know that JPE programs that call another program will make that other program portable too. I've been using the portable RipIt4Me to call another portable program. I think that the problem is with each program's portable file system. Both are looking for a certain file to pass to each other but they are looking in their own file system. I've been messing with the special folders exclude to see if that helps.

That PStart Idea sounds like that might be my solution. I LOVE PStart. So if I portablize PStart, will the programs I run from it use PStart's own .reg file and file system? I'm pretty sure that would solve my problem. I'm gonna have to look a little more closely at the PStart examples you made in your JauntePE-contrib download.

Thanks again!

[Firewrath]

Actually, those were examples provided by redllar from an earlier release,

but i dont remember how they work, so heres how i have mine setup:

on my USB stick in the base directory, i have:

\JauntePE\
Pstart.exe
PStart_portable.exe
JauntePE_jauntePE.ini
(Note: My 'PStart_portable.exe' was built by redllar point to the '\JauntePE\' folder where the 'JauntePE.dll' is, i havnt been able to build one that would do this on my own, so you might need the .dll with your portable.exe)

[Registry]
Ini=..\JauntePE\PStart_jauntePE.ini

[Filesystem]
Ini=..\JauntePE\PStart_jauntePE.ini

and in my '\JauntePE\' folder, i have my 'PStart_jauntePE.ini'
which is:

[Registry]
Use=1
Data=.\Data\Registrys\%appname%_registry.reg

[Filesystem]
Use=1
Data=.\Data\Filesystems\%appname

Hope that helps,
also,
youll notice my first 'JauntePE_jauntePE.ini' is pointing at another directory,
this is Very handy for programs that need their own .ini like OpenedFilesView,
which i have in '\Utilities\ofview\'
with this .ini:

[Registry]
Ini=..\..\JauntePE\OpenedFilesView_jauntePE.ini

[Filesystem]
Ini=..\..\JauntePE\OpenedFilesView_jauntePE.ini

then in my '\JauntePE\' folder, the .ini is like so:

[Registry]
Use=1
Data=.\Data\Registrys\OpenedFilesView_registry.reg

[Filesystem]
Use=0

[RegistryExclude]
1=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet

i point them to my base '\JauntePE\' because it makes it easier if i have to access or change them, that way i dont have to go and dig them out of my folders,

so yeah,
like i said, hope that all helps,

[redllar]

@jgphenom: I setup those same apps with JPE for a friend a few weeks back and didn't run into any problems. But that was with the new version so...

It's easiest just to JPE-install and JPE-run them all from the same, common, portable directory, so that they use the same portable registry and portable file system. The 12 steps guide should work as long as you just do steps 1 thru 3 once at the beginning. If all goes well then when you launch RipIt4Me it should automatically pick up and display the other 2 app's locations as taken from the portable registry after their portable installs.

[jgphenom]

Thanks to both of you for your advice. Got two good suggestions on what to do. I think I'll be taking the all-the-programs-in-one-file-system-and-registry option instead of the make-PStart-portable option.

I put RipIt4Me, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, and FixVTS all in one file system using one registry and it all works perfectly together. I can run RipIt4Me first and have it access each other program, thus making it portable. Or I can run the portable versions of the other programs too. My only gripe is that for some reason it takes forever to access the folder those files are in. I'm assuming that it has to do with the ini and registry files in the folders.

I'll definitely be using the PStart solution for any other apps I want portable that don't need to share resources with one another.

Thanks again!

[redllar]

Glad to hear you got it all working.

My only gripe is that for some reason it takes forever to access the folder those files are in. I'm assuming that it has to do with the ini and registry files in the folders.

Yep, JPE is at its worst when you're browsing around the file system using one of the shell windows. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of registry and file system api calls made just to get one of those windows to pop up.

Anyway, if you haven't made any performance changes yet, try adding a MemRegistry=1 line to the [Redirection] section in the portable directory's JauntePE_jauntePE.ini file. That should help a bit.

If it's still too slow for you then you can try disabling some of the file system redirection tests. Get in the ini and look at the [SpecialFolders] section's entries and find the ones that you don't think need to be redirected. You can use your portable directory's "Files" subdirectories as a guide. For example, if you don't need Desktop or Start Menu redirection, then add entries for those folders to the [FilesystemExclude] section, e.g.:

[FilesystemExclude]
1=0
2=2
3=7
4=10
5=11
6=16
7=22
8=23
9=24
10=25
11=29
12=30
13=47
14=48

If you find that you end up excluding more than you keep, try excluding everything and then use the [FilesystemInclude] section to add back in just those folders you want redirected. For example, to only redirect the Program Files folders, use the following:

[FilesystemExclude]
1=*

[FilesystemInclude]
1=38
2=42
3=43
4=44

And the new JPE version, hopefully coming soon, is much faster and has more performance tuning options if things are still too slow.