I am wondering why this worked

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by bgoodman4, Apr 18, 2013.

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  1. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I am wondering why something I did today worked and its implications.

    I am in the middle of upgrading to a new PC so many of the apps I use on a regular basis are on my new PC and some of my apps are on the old PC. I had removed most of the apps that had been installed on the new PC because a number of the apps I will need to run in the future will not run on the new OS and so I created a VM of the old PC using VMware Convert. Since I wanted this VM to be as light as possible I removed all but the essential programs from the old PC.

    Today I was working on the old PC and discovered I needed an app that was no longer on it. I did not have access to the new PC but I did have access to an image I had made of it. I thought perhaps I would be able to find the install files for the app from the image rather than have to re-download them so I loaded the image as a virtual drive and went looking for them. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the install files were not there. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I navigated to the virtual drives program files folder in Windows Explorer, found the programs folder, and doubled clicked on the launch (exe) file for the app. Much to my surprise the app (Sony Sound Forge) launched without issue. I was able to use it, save my file to the real machines C drive, and then dismount the virtual drive without issue.

    Why was I able to do this? I know the registration files and the installed program etc are part of the image but I did not think this would be sufficient to allow the program to launch as if it had were currently installed on the old PC.

    The implication here is that it may be possible to have VMs simply based on a drive image. No need for special software, no need to do PtoV using a program like VMware Convert, just mount an image as a drive, double click on any exe file for a particular program in that image, and away you go.

    I look forward to your comments/thoughts on this.
     
  2. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Nobody?
     
  3. Sadeghi85

    Sadeghi85 Registered Member

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    It depends on the software. Some are written in a more portable way, some are specifically written to prevent this.
     
  4. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Thanks, the program is Sony Sound Forge if that helps, its def not a portable app.
     
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