I'm trying to install mIRC on a portable USB stick, but it keeps using same registry files as Windows one. I want to be able to load 2 different, one from USB (for scripting) and one from Windows. How can I do this?
Did you use the mIRC installer to create the installation, or did you just copy your files?
Make a shortcut on your USB to the mirc.exe file, and add -portable to the commandline arguments (right click the shortcut and click Properties, add it to the Target)
Did you install mIRC using the "portable" option in the installer?
Actually, I had a problem with it as well. I installed a second mIRC app using the directory 'C:/Program Files(x86)/mIRC_B/' and selected "portable" in the installer and it overwrote the data in my AppData section that my first mIRC installation uses. It was a mess reconstructing my first installation's .ini files. Some are totally gone. I had to recreate some of the files myself from memory and redo all my color settings again. It also wiped out my entire notify list. I'm still fixing things as I type this entry.
I thought installing it as "portable" would force it to only read and write data in the directory where the executable is installed, meaning C:/Program Files(x86)/mIRC_B/.
I realize installing two mIRCs seems stupid but I have my reasons.
Edit: I was able to recover most of everything thanks to backups that the installer made. Khaled, thanks for adding the backup option on the install, it saved my butt.
It is not clear what the original poster's issue was - it was very likely due to not using separate ini files or not using the "portable" option in the installer.
Installing two copies of mIRC is fine, many people do that. However I was not able to reproduce your issue. I just tested by installing two separate copies of mIRC, one as a normal install and the second as a portable install. Their settings did not conflict. The normal install continued to use the AppData location and the portable install only modified and used the install location. Are you sure that installing the portable option is the cause of this issue? Are you able to reproduce it?
Yep, I'm very sure I used the 'portable' option but I don't think that's the cause of the problem. I just think that the portable mIRC install was perhaps using the same directory information when it came to reading and writing ini files. Also, I remember reading that the installation process did warn that installing on the the C drive could cause problems. Perhaps it's best to install it on a USB drive. I will also perhaps try using the -portable command line option but that shouldn't be needed if it's using the 'portable' install option.
Anyway, I wasn't really sure I wanted to reproduce the issue since it gave me problems trying to fix it afterward. However, I will try it again and make sure I have my critical ini files in a safe place. I'll add to this later to share my findings.
Well, I tried it again and it didn't cause any problems. Maybe it was a rare event. So, I wasn't able to reproduce the problem, but that's a good thing. It could've been my fault when I tried to use the ini files from my existing installation so I didn't have to customize the second installation from scratch. Well, it was worth checking out to see the result.
Khaled, thanks for your patience in this situation. I'm sorry if I implied there was a problem with the mIRC installation. It seems to work fine.
It seems to me that I noticed an issue in Vista/7 with installing Portable to the Program Files folder. Due to the restrictions on writing to these folders, it caused mIRC to write to the AppData folder even in Portable mode. Installing to another location, such as c:\mirc\ should work fine, or just use a USB drive. I saw this a year or two ago, so it's possible I'm remembering it incorrectly, but I think that's what happened.
Thanks for the post. I thought it was me doing something wrong. Of course, it still could be my doing. For now I'm dealing with just one installation again. I will give it another go soon, perhaps with that alternate location you suggested.
If you want multiple installs, you can also just put the settings files in the install folder and not use AppData at all. As long as mIRC.ini is in the install folder, it won't use AppData. That way you never have to worry about accidentally overwriting the files.