Not require admin privileges to install?
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I was just wondering if Vivaldi could be made so that it doesn't need to access the computer registry and that it could be installed without admin privileges. Google Chrome is one of the web browsers that do this and it's really handy at places (like my school) where I can get Chrome without admin passwords and such. Thanks for your consideration.
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Agree that it would be handy to do the portable install without admin privileges.
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Vivaldi have little to do with registry, just like most multiplatform programs.
Obviously are stored there the infos about the default browser and file association, but most of the settings are stored in a folder in the Unix way.
That said most of the programs can be installed w/o the Admin privileges, if placed entirely inside the user directory.
This is true for Vivaldi too (per user option is one of the three installation choices), but I believe sometimes the installer keeps asking about admin privileges even when not need.
In that case you can just unpack the installer manually (with 7zip/winrar…) and copy it in the intended location
C:\Users{your-username}\AppData\Local\Vivaldi
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I would certainly second this for the portable install…
At the moment, even though I can use Vivaldi from a USB stick at work, I can't update it there! Also, I can't update it at home where I have normal installations, since the installer refuses to do a portable install in that case. So I have to download the update, then go to a different PC where I have admin rights, where I don't have Vivaldi already installed, just to update the USB stick.
I've seen some people talk about unzipping the files from the installer... well I've tried a couple of zip programs but none of them could see the relevant executable and libraries (and again, I'm unable to install any particular unzipper for that purpose since I don't have admin rights).
So the installer needs improved options for portable installation, in my opinion:
- always allow the option for a portable installation, regardless of current set up
- request admin rights only when performing a normal install or update
- just do a simple "unzip" of the required files to the requested location in the case of a portable installation (no messing with registry or anything like that)
And some other points concerning portable installation:
- at the moment, the stp.viv file will point to a drive letter which may be incorrect if the USB stick is used on different machines
- running on USB stick is very slow due to caching etc. - for this reason I tend to delete stp.viv and let Vivaldi use the local profile instead... but then I have to copy the local profile to/from USB whenever I switch machines. This is also an extremely slow process due to the number of small files - but I discovered it goes a lot faster if I put it in a zip file on the USB stick.
So perhaps the following could be implemented:
Give an optional user data location (to set during portable install or when no user profile is detected):
- use program location (ideal for external drives)
- use path, default to local user profile (ideal for use as a non-standard browser)
- use temp directory, store as zip file in program location (ideal for USB sticks)
The last option will need an extra pop-up notification to let the user know that data is being unzipped during startup and repacked during shutdown - this will prevent data loss otherwise you'll tend to shutdown the PC or pull out the stick while things are still being transferred...
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I've seen some people talk about unzipping the files from the installer… well I've tried a couple of zip programs but none of them could see the relevant executable and libraries (and again, I'm unable to install any particular unzipper for that purpose since I don't have admin rights).
Just use a little mental elasticity.
If you don't have the usual shell extension to decompress the files, because 7zip is not properly installed,, just rename Vivaldi.1.0.xxx.y.exe as Vivaldi.1.0.xxx.y.zip then double click on it.
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That makes no difference… I still only see a 12.4MB file called setup.exe (tried with both packers available to me on this PC). There is another 23MB of data "hidden" in that installation file...
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for portable install - sure
for proper install - no way! (I'm not sure if it's even possible but if so - don't do it) -
That makes no difference… I still only see a 12.4MB file called setup.exe (tried with both packers available to me on this PC). There is another 23MB of data "hidden" in that installation file...
Then just use a decent/updated unzipper, as I said 7zip and winrar are working perfectly for the purpose, as they used to since opera switched to this kind of installer, say 7/8 years ago.
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for portable install - sure
for proper install - no way! (I'm not sure if it's even possible but if so - don't do it)I was clearly describing PORTABLE installation, mentioned several times
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That makes no difference… I still only see a 12.4MB file called setup.exe (tried with both packers available to me on this PC). There is another 23MB of data "hidden" in that installation file...
Then just use a decent/updated unzipper, as I said 7zip and winrar are working perfectly for the purpose, as they used to since opera switched to this kind of installer, say 7/8 years ago.
I already said several times that these are work PCs where I have NO ADMIN RIGHTS, so other packers are not (easily) available to me.
If I had the rights then I wouldn't need to try and unzip them would I !?!
(I would just bloody install it…) -
Thanks, but my point really was that the portable version should be easier to install. It's less trouble to do an update on my wife's profile at home than use an extra packer solely for the purpose of updating Vivaldi at work.
I know the standalone install has been mentioned before, but I thought of these (IMO) improvements wrt. the current thread, so why not discuss it here?
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for portable install - sure
for proper install - no way! (I'm not sure if it's even possible but if so - don't do it)I was clearly describing PORTABLE installation, mentioned several times
even this installations might be restricted (requiring admin rights) AFAIK (sorry if you told something different and I'm wrong)
With all respect, I react to the OP. Portable don't has to be an installation but might be (depends of distribution) so that's why I write about it as well.
I was more focusing about the "DO require admin rights for proper install". If you still disagree just do not let me know and keep it for yourself
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Thanks, but my point really was that the portable version should be easier to install.
Portable is something that is not yet provided by the the installer (you need to do it manually ATM)
Stand alone and single user shouldn't require the admin rights to be installed
The only option that must ask for admin rights is the All Users one.
The actual scenario is little different, and the installer may ask for righs even when it shouldn't.
That said is pretty easy to workaround the problem, and I explained how.
I already said several times that these are work PCs where I have NO ADMIN RIGHTS, so other packers are not (easily) available to me.
And I suggested, at least once, to use some mental elasticity.
What made you think that you can use a whole browser w/o the admin rights, but not a stupid unzipper?
Just use a portable version of 7zip.
Alternatively unpack the installer where you can and then recompress it as a plain zip, then put it on a pendrive or on a cloud drive or on a filelocker, to make it ready to install on your wife's PC.
Pretty easy.
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Sorry The_Solutor, but you still don't get what I'm saying:
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I use my wife's profile on my home PC to install the standalone Vivaldi on the USB stick (because it doesn't work from my own profile (it will try to update my main copy of Vivaldi on the PC))
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then I run Vivaldi from USB on work PCs where I do not have admin rights and do not want to leave any data or programs
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if there's a new version of Vivaldi while I'm at work I can't update it there so I just wait until I'm home again
I am not desperate to update it at work, I don't want to bother with unnecessary copies of 7zip etc…. I was just saying that it would be better if Vivaldi could update itself on the USB without admin rights, since that's convenient and since it should be able to do that anyway, in my opinion!
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Sorry The_Solutor, but you still don't get what I'm saying:
I got perfectly what are you saying, is pretty obvious that the installer needs refinements like the whole browser.
It was discussed over and over, and I'm sure it will be fixed in the near future.
That said we are talking about a solution to help the people that have your problem.
And the solution IS PRETTY EASY to accomplish.
Then is up to you to decide if use it or keep the browser not updated.
Surely is not a my understanding problem.
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And some other points concerning portable installation:
- at the moment, the stp.viv file will point to a drive letter which may be incorrect if the USB stick is used on different machines
Just curious whether you've tried the relative path option in the stp.viv file? (see discussion here) I think (but haven't tested thoroughly) this would eliminate any drive letter problems on different machines.
- running on USB stick is very slow due to caching etc. - for this reason I tend to delete stp.viv and let Vivaldi use the local profile instead…
Yes, in my very limited experience so far, it is very slow!!!! Not even remotely usable (e.g., 5 minutes or more to pull up the history list from the Speed Dial page; but also very slow loading web pages, which seems odd to me… ...I regularly use Olde Opera on a USB stick and most of the time I don't notice any slowdown at all... ...but I'm having some other problems on the machine I tested the Vivaldi USB stick on and I'm not 100% sure those aren't causing some slowdowns as well).
Interesting workaround using a local cache with your USB stick. (I'm thinking that probably wouldn't work with the relative path in the stp.viv file, though.)
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Just curious whether you've tried the relative path option in the stp.viv file? (see discussion here) I think (but haven't tested thoroughly) this would eliminate any drive letter problems on different machines.
I was thinking about it, but since it was so slow anyway I had already decided to let the program run off USB with the user data held temporarily on the local disk.
Interesting workaround using a local cache with your USB stick. (I'm thinking that probably wouldn't work with the relative path in the stp.viv file, though.)
Exactly. And that's why I was thinking that Vivaldi could have a system where USB installs use the %TEMP% area for user data, which would then be stored as a zip file on the USB stick on program shutdown.
I think the Chromium engine does a lot more disk writing than Presto did: more files and they seem to be much bigger as well. (Gut feeling, I haven't really looked into it much - but when I synchronise the zip file each evening it is packing a few hundred megabytes for one day's simple browsing of a handful of sites, which seems a lot).
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I think the Chromium engine does a lot more disk writing than Presto did: more files and they seem to be much bigger as well. (Gut feeling, I haven't really looked into it much - but when I synchronise the zip file each evening it is packing a few hundred megabytes for one day's simple browsing of a handful of sites, which seems a lot).
Yes, I was thinking I might try finding a portable Chrome option or try a Standalone Chropera installation on a USB stick to compare speed.
But I was sort of hoping someone might come along here who has already tried those options, as I already can't keep up with everything I want to check out just with Vivaldi.
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Yes, I was thinking I might try finding a portable Chrome option or try a Standalone Chropera installation on a USB stick to compare speed.
Chromium and derivatives aren't friendly with slow storage devices, no matter what flavour you are going to use.
Likely you can find better performance using an NTFS formatted pendrive and enabling the FS compression
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But I was sort of hoping someone might come along here who has already tried those options, as I already can't keep up with everything I want to check out just with Vivaldi.
Oh, yes, I forgot that I meant to come back here and mention that tardigrada posted some somewhat encouraging portable Chrome and portable Chropera results here.
Likely you can find better performance using an NTFS formatted pendrive and enabling the FS compression
Have you compared speed for any chromium derivative on FAT32 vs NTFS? If so, how much difference did there seem to be?
