The installation process for software depends on your operating system and the program you are installing. As a result of these many combinations, we have created the steps below as a general guideline. The following does not cover errors during the installation process, as they are too vast for one document. Search on our site for further information on errors during the setup.
General Tips
Difference between vhd and iso install. Windows Server > Hyper-V. Hyper-V https. Since it downloaded with an exe format I was a little confused at first, but I eventually figured out how to install. My question is, what's the difference?? Differences that I've noticed. The software installation package is what you download, you can not entre it and use this software through this software installation package. “install” is when you have the software installation package on your device, you press this package then you will see the 'install' is proceed, when the proceed finish you can final use this.
Feb 5, 2008 - Download is making a copy of a file from the internet to your system. Installing means, making a software ready to work in your system. Is there any difference between the portable and desktop install versions of software or an application? For example, I have both portable and install versions of Google chrome. What's the difference between portable and install versions? Difference between an install EXE and the EXEs found within the install folder. The only difference that exists between our analogy and the software installation is that once you unpack the play station and install it, the packaged gift goes away. Whereas, when you download and subsequently install the software, downloaded file still exists at the location it was downloaded to.
- Make sure your computer meets the system requirements of the program, game, or utility you are attempting to install.
- The manual or the readme file contains exact instructions on how to install a program and are in the same directory as the installation files.
- When installing a program, utility, or game, it is always a good idea first to close or disable any other programs that are running.
- After installing a new program, if it prompts you to reboot the computer, do it.
Microsoft Windows users
How to install from a CD or DVD
Many software titles, games, and utilities have an AutoPlay feature. This feature automatically starts a setup screen for the software when the CD or DVD is inserted. If your program contains this feature, follow the steps that appear after inserting the disc into the computer.
If AutoRun is disabled, or unavailable on your disc, follow these steps:
- Open My Computer.
- In the My Computer window, open the drive that contains the installation files. For example, if the files are on the CD-ROM drive, open the D: drive or letter of your CD-ROM drive.
- In the drive that contains your files, locate either the executablesetup (i.e. 'setup.exe') or install file. Double-clicking on this file starts the installation process. If you see multiple setup or install files, try to locate an executable file or double-click each of the setup or install files until you find the file that starts the installation. Many times the icons associated with the installation files have the same name.
Install a CD on a computer with no disc drive
Some of the new computers may no longer have a disc drive. If your computer does not have a disc drive try installing what is on the CD from the Internet. Computer drivers, software for hardware devices, and some games and other programs are available for downloaded and can be installed from a download.
If the program is not available for download, copy the contents all of the CD or DVD to another drive on another computer. For example, you could copy the contents of the disc to a USB flash drive and then install the program from the USB flash drive.
How to install from a Download
TipIf you need help with downloading a program see our how to download page.
- Download the program from the website providing the program.
- Open the download folder.
- If the file you downloaded is an executable file, double-click the file icon to start the setup process. If the downloaded file is compressed (e.g., .zip), you must extract the file's contents before setup can begin. Fortunately, this function is built into most versions of Windows.
- Once the files are extracted, double-click the setup to install.
How to install from a USB flash drive
- Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and find the USB drive that is often the last drive letter.
- Once the drive is opened find the setup or executable file, double-click the file icon to start the setup process.
Installing from MS-DOS or the Windows command line
Users installing a program from Microsoft DOS should have a basic understanding of the MS-DOS commands. If you are unfamiliar with any of the commands listed below, click the link to get additional information on that specific command.
- Before installing a program in MS-DOS, you must switch to the drive or directory that contains the installation files. If you are installing a program from a CD or diskette, switch to that drive. If the installation files are located in a different directory, use the dir command to list the directories and the cd command to switch to the appropriate directory.
- Once you are in the directory or drive that contains the installation files, run the executable for setup. Many times this can be done by typing setup or install at the prompt to start the installation. If both of these commands give a bad command or file name error message, type dir *.exe or dir *.com or dir *.bat. These commands list any executable files found in the directory or drive. If any files are listed, execute these files to run the installation or setup of the program. If no files are listed when typing all three of the above commands, you are in the incorrect directory or drive letter for that program.
Additional information
- See the software definition for further information and related links.
Is there any difference between the portable and desktop install versions of software or an application?
For example, I have both portable and install versions of Google chrome.
Difference Between Download And Install For Kodi
Are they the same? Do they function the same?
fixer12342 Answers
A portable program largely has to do where the data is saved for that program. Usually user data is saved in the usernameAppData folder as per Windows policy. However, it doesn't make it very portable as you would lose all of your settings/user data associated with that program if you were to blindly just copy the program files from their folder in program files.
Another problem is that a program may choose to store settings and information in the registry. If you were to copy the program files to another computer there would be no registry entries to read from, so the program would likely just fail.
One last problem is that a program may choose to use shared libraries that will not be present on the system that it is copied to, thus making the program fail. Often times, especially with some open source software, an install of a program warrants an install of another program such as the GTK runtime environment or DirectX. If GTK/DirectX wasn't installed (or even if the correct version was installed!) on the copied to OS, then the program will fail.
So, for a portable release to exist, it must combat all of these deficiencies. Usually the settings are saved locally to the same folder as the program, there are no registry entires (say, they use the same folder for those settings as well with a SQLite database which is what Chrome uses). Also, programs that require an install of other software aren't likely to be made portable unless there is someway to include the installed software and the libraries in a portable manner.
For more information visit Wikipedia.
NitrodistNitrodistA portable install means you can copy the folder, where the program is installed, to a storage device (like a USB flash drive or HDD), and then you can run the program on another computer without having to run an installer.
On the other hand, you cannot just copy the regular install folder of a program to another computer. It might work with some programs, but it's not recommended, because there are other types of files and registry entries too, which the program uses. These are not copied over just by copying the install folder, and thus the program may not run properly elsewhere.