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Pluto Portable Support

Many of the most common issues that arise when using Pluto Portable are addressed here. Please read through the various topics
to see if any of them address your question. You can also post a question to the Pluto Portable Development Test Thread.

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Pluto Portable-Specific Issues

Installing Pluto Portable

To install Pluto Portable, just download the portable package at the top of the Pluto Portable page and then double-click it. Select the location you wish to install to and click OK. An PlutoPortable directory will be created there and all the necessary files installed. That's all there is to it.

Using Pluto Portable

To start up Pluto Portable, just double-click PlutoPortable.exe where you installed Pluto Portable on your portable drive. Then, use it just like you would a local copy of Pluto. There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

  • Stay Safe - When using portable apps, it's always a good idea to practice Safe Portable App-ing.
  • Removing Your Drive - When you're done, exit Pluto and then wait for the activity light on your removable drive to stop flashing. This may take a minute or more on slow drives or computers. Then select the 'Safely remove [device]' option from the icon in the system tray. If you remove the drive while it is writing, you may lose data.

Upgrading Pluto Portable

To upgrade to a newer version of Pluto Portable, just download and install the new version of Pluto Portable to the same place.

Copying Your Local Pluto Settings

If you're using a local copy of Pluto, you may wish to just copy your local Pluto settings right into Pluto Portable. Your local Pluto settings are in the directory where your local installation of pluto.exe is. Just copy pluto.ini to the settings directory within Pluto Portable (PlutoPortable\Data\settings).

Running From a CD (Pluto Portable Live)

Pluto Portable supports running from a CD right out of the box, with only one modification. Start off by downloading and installing Pluto Portable to your hard drive... it doesn't matter where. Run it at least once to generate the default settings. Then, customize it as needed, being sure not to move PlutoPortable.exe or any of the other critical files. Next, copy Other\Source\PlutoPortable.ini into the directory containing PlutoPortable.exe, and modify the line RunLocally to "RunLocally=true". Then, burn the whole PlutoPortable directory to a CD and you're ready to go.

Known Issues

The following are known issues with this package:

  • Won't work on systems with a policy that denies registry editing, but that's probably what you'd expect. Windows' regedit.exe won't work in that situation, either.

Modifications

I made some modifications to the official version of Pluto to make it more USB key friendly (decreasing total install size). These changes are listed here so you'll know what they are, and so you can recreate the process, if so desired.

  • Pluto.exe Compressed - Pluto.exe was decompressed and then recompressed with the BRUTE setting using PortableApps.com App Compactor.
    This gets our installed size down to one that works on 16Mb drives. Additionally, it will speed up use when you're running over USB 1.1. The options used were: first DECOMPRESS, then BRUTE, as Pluto is packed by UPX for distribution, but BRUTE compresses further.

Version History

  • Pluto Portable 0.6b Development Test 1 - May 26, 2008
    Initial release. Contains a reworked icon, and was DECOMPRESSed and then BRUTEd with PortableApps.com App Compactor.