Why am I able to run programs from a different computer?

[Don Goffe]

Hi, I'd like to understand a little bit of logic behind this.

My laptop that had Win 7 x64 installed died. So I took the drive out of it, put it in a case and connected it to my Desktop that also runs Win 7 x64.

The drive shows up exactly as it would of the laptop, and if I directly run any of the installed programs then most of them actually run directly of it.

How does that work? I always thought that there are compatibility issues?

It doesn't work in every case. For example, for Revo Unsinstaller it said "Automation Object Not Found"!.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting, because the programs did not install themselves on the desktop or anything, so basically does the OS think this drive is a part of the existing computer? And is this the normal way applications would behave where there are no compatibility issues?

 

[Reyaz123]

The reason why the programs are able to run in the other hard drive, is because when you run a program, it uses the files in the setup folder in order to run it. The setup folders must be located in that other drive, why is why it is working.

You were probably using an uninstaller for a program that is not installed on the first drive (you use to boot to windows).
It is like uninstalling a program from a computer that doesn't even detect it as installed.

 

[Don Goffe]

The reason why the programs are able to run in the other hard drive, is because when you run a program, it uses the files in the setup folder in order to run it. The setup folders must be located in that other drive, why is why it is working.

You were probably using an uninstaller for a program that is not installed on the first drive (you use to boot to windows).
It is like uninstalling a program from a computer that doesn't even detect it as installed.

Hey bud. I wasn't using an uninstaller. I just plugged in my hard drive from my dead laptop, to move data and format it to use it as an external for the desktop. But just out of curiosity I decided to run the programs that were installed on it and they worked. I thought that was pretty neat since they programs don't show up as installed programs in the Desktops Control Panel.

 

[Reyaz123]

Its a great method to use especially if you are playing games through the external especially since you wouldn't have to wait through an installation for a 8gb game for example. Although there are certain programs out there that don't work this way so it isn't 100% reliable to work. Its good to know though.

 

[Don Goffe]

Its a great method to use especially if you are playing games through the external especially since you wouldn't have to wait through an installation for a 8gb game for example. Although there are certain programs out there that don't work this way so it isn't 100% reliable to work. Its good to know though.

Right, it's just a neat thing I was totally unaware of. And yeah, I read somewhere else that for programs that require registry entries / changes, there will be issues.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

It's very simple. You were able to successfully run those programs because either they don't rely on registry entries or the presence of specific files in directories on the system volume. Not a habit you want to get into as you will eventually run into one that will corrupt your system.

 

[Don Goffe]

It's very simple. You were able to successfully run those programs because either they don't rely on registry entries or the presence of specific files in directories on the system volume. Not a habit you want to get into as you will eventually run into one that will corrupt your system.

Hey, yeah, thanks for that. I already noticed that it can be a bit dicey to do that. I was just surprised to see that this is even possible!