The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/portable/
I have tested it out and it works! Not sure if anyone else has submitted this.

Very interesting! I had thought this type of app to be impossible without installing a driver.

There is nothing special about "installing" that you go through in typical installing processes. It's just copying files and making registry entries.

With this one, you don't go through a typical installing process, but it's not so "stealth" either. This is Windows limitation. Things like virtual CD drives can't be completely "stealth."

dmg wrote:Very interesting! I had thought this type of app to be impossible without installing a driver.

In fact, according to this thread, Portable WinCDEmu does install a driver when it mounts a disc image (and remove it afterwards). AFAIK, making Windows believe that there is new hardware always requires a driver. This also means that such programs require administator rights and can't be stealth (Windows creates registry entries when drivers are installed).

Anyway: nice find, Cheese Penguin! I'm going to uninstall Virtual CloneDrive and replace it with Portable WinCDEmu as soon as I boot Windows next time (I'm using GNU/Linux right now). Portability alone is a reason good enough to do so.

@infimum: You're describing a silent install. Software is being installed but no questions are asked. In some cases, the user may even be unaware that installing is in progress.

Portable WinCDEmu is no longer in beta stage.

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/portable/

If you check the properties of the file, the description stil reads "Portable WinCDEmu [BETA]" and the version is still 3.4.0.1 like it was when I downloaded it 3 months ago.

The size has changed though from 227KB to 230KB.

Works quite well

I've noticed this app has being updated to v4.0 beta 1.... silly question: Do we list apps that are in beta?

Thought I'll check before updating the entry

ChemZ wrote:I've noticed this app has being updated to v4.0 beta 1.... silly question: Do we list apps that are in beta?

Thought I'll check before updating the entry

From the edit page:

Beta releases should be posted to the Portable Freeware Update forum to avoid clogging up the mainline RSS feed with frequent beta updates. Exceptions, however, can be made for apps that have not been updated in years, but has a new stable beta.

ChemZ wrote:Do we list apps that are in beta?

Although SYSTEM already answered the specific question around this, I'd like to note the general policy issue here around beta software: I recommend against it but we make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Some examples include CDex and Bvckup which lists a freeware, unsupported "beta" as a way to boost his commercial offer.

I've used a lot of beta-phase software over time that was extremely stable and maybe just labeled that way out of some missing features or perfectionism from the developer(s). Part of it comes from the fact that the alpha, beta, release structure of software development is just getting more blurry. One might blame the Agile development system for that but I think it's just a greater diversity of developers and development styles.

I've used a lot of beta-phase software over time that was extremely stable and maybe just labeled that way out of some missing features or perfectionism from the developer(s). Part of it comes from the fact that the alpha, beta, release structure of software development is just getting more blurry. One might blame the Agile development system for that but I think it's just a greater diversity of developers and development styles.

Very cool.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone managed to find "what's new?" Can't seem to find it anywhere.

ChemZ wrote:Just out of curiosity, has anyone managed to find "what's new?" Can't seem to find it anywhere.

Yes

Topic update: WinCDEmu v4.1 released 2019-01-25 (see https://github.com/sysprogs/WinCDEmu/releases).

The portable version of WinCDEmu is still at v4.0, though...