Is it possible to run blender from a USB Flash drive? If so, how would I install in properly? I would be installing it from a computer with it’s own Blender install already on it, and I don’t want to mess up that install at all. Could I just copy and paste that install onto my flash drive and run it that way? I’m not at home atm so I can’t test that. Thanks for any info.
BTW, the purpose of this would be so I could run Blender where ever I find myself without installing blender on whatever local system I’m using.
It depends on your operating system. Classic Mac applications were great for doing what you’re talking about, because they were very self-contained. When you ran an application on a different Mac, it would create a preferences file in the System folder and usually run without a hitch.
I believe that some OS X applications still work that way, but I can’t guarantee that, and don’t currently have a way to test it.
If you’re on Windows or Linux, I honestly have no idea whether or not this will work. But obviously, the Windows version won’t work on a Mac or Linux box, nor will a 64-bit version work with a 32-bit OS.
I presume you’re talking about using all Windows machines? I know there’s an option to install some important data in the Blender directory when you use the installer… it’s possible that this option could make Blender “portable.” It’s probably worth a try.
Edit:
I just tested this on Windows by installing Blender to my USB flash drive on my Vista box, selecting the application directory as the user data destination, and running Blender from the flash drive on my sister’s Mac Mini (under Windows XP).
It works! I didn’t get any errors or anything. However, I was told that the XP computer didn’t have Python 2.5 installed. Depending on the computers you’re planning to use, it might or might not be worth it to make sure you have Python on all of them. Either way, this is a sweet feature. I wonder how many other Windows applications it works for…?
normally when you do an install in vista thre a part that is installed on C root and other part instal in user area ?
can you put theses 2 on thesame USB card on have an installation that use only one group of folder ?
normally USB card are there as external memory or extensin of memopry for Vista
see SB memory for vista
but it ouwld be a nice feature if it can be done !
Note when i bought my vista pc i had only 2 GB and then got a 4 GB USB card
and use th memory extension tolet vista use it and it owrks fine
but i never did a test to install Blender on the card instself
the only disavantage is the fact that you needt o install it on the Fast memory part of the USB card
which i dont’ know how you can do that - but the manufacturer should tell you more about it
if info is available