Permanently disabling writing to the Windows registry

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:09 am

The portable version is what made me love Atlantis. Unfortunately, every time I copy it to C:\ or even D:\, Atlantis thinks it has found a permanent home and starts using the registry - blatantly ignoring all portable settings and customisations. Is there a quick way to permanently disable this behaviour?

Post by **Robert** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:16 am

Hi,
You could launch Atlantis with the following command-line parameters:

Code: Select all

Atlantis.exe -ssi -lsi

-ssi means Save Settings To Ini
-lsi means Load Settings From Ini

The initial “Atlantis.ini” file should be the one saved from your portable copy.

HTH.
Cheers,
Robert

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:40 am

Thanks for the tip! I created a shortcut to Atlantis with -ssi -lsi as you suggested - it has been posted before somewhere here, I believe. It doesn't seem to work in Windows 7 though, Atlantis will still write to the registry... Isn't there another way to do this?

Post by **Robert** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:10 am

In which hard drive folder did you place your “Atlantis.ini” portable file?
Did you place it in “C:\Program Files\Atlantis”?
If so, try moving it to your “My Documents\Atlantis” folder.

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:58 am

Thanks Robert, bu that's not really where I want to go

To summarize, I have learnt that the ideal definition of "portable" means:

It must run without installation.
It must run on older versions of Windows which might not have been updated.
It must not have any coupling with Internet Explorer, audio/video codecs, DirectX etc.
It must not write settings to the registry or local filesystem.
It must not leave any trace on the host machine at all, even when the app crashes (hereby referred to as "stealth").
It must run with guest access rights.
It must be able to compensate for USB memory stick drive letter changes.

http://www.portablefreeware.com/about.php

Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:44 pm

Terrine wrote:I created a shortcut to Atlantis with -ssi -lsi as you suggested

What is the command-line ("target") of your shortcut?

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 3:26 pm

Running

"C:\Atlantis\Atlantis.exe" -ssi -lsi

makes Atlantis write to the registry, when running from Micro SD

"D:\Atlantis\Atlantis.exe"

it does not.

Post by **Robert** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:39 pm

If I am not mistaken “Micro SD” is a Flash Memory Card? Right?
If so, how can you have it plugged into a computer and have it assigned the “C:” drive letter?

The “C:” drive letter is normally reserved for the drive hosting the Windows system.

Do you have your Windows system installed on a hard drive? Or on the “Micro SD” Flash Memory Card?

Also note that Atlantis is no longer installed to the “C:\Atlantis” folder. This is most unadvisable, if at all possible on Windows Vista+ systems.

The standard install folder is “C:\Program Files\Atlantis” or “C:\Program Files (x86)\Atlantis” on these systems.

Which Windows system are you running? How did you manage to install Atlantis to “C:\Atlantis”? Did you use the official standard setup file?

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:03 am

Robert wrote:If I am not mistaken “Micro SD” is a Flash Memory Card? Right?

Yes it is!

Robert wrote:The “C:” drive letter is normally reserved for the drive hosting the Windows system.

Indeed. So the Micro SD, or Flash Memory Card, is D.

Robert wrote:Also note that Atlantis is no longer installed to the “C:\Atlantis” folder. This is most unadvisable, if at all possible on Windows Vista+ systems.

This is a somewhat contradictory statement. It is definitely possible, even advisable: After all, in this case we don't want to *install* ( which implies writing to the Registry) Atlantis, we want it to be fully portable.

The other issue is that Windows 7 will nag about a program not being properly installed when you simply copy & run a program file into any of these two folders, even if it is fully portable and needs no installation. That is the rationale for having all portable programs directly under C:\.

All I want now is to be able freely copy the program folders and use it on my other computers without either losing my settings or being forced to always run it from a thumb drive. So that means telling Atlantis to stop writing to the Registry once and for all.

Post by **Robert** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:57 am

Hi,
I misunderstood your previous posting. As I get it now, you can run Atlantis as a “stealth” application from your SD card, but not from “C:\Atlantis”.

2 reasons for this.

1. As explained at http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en ... _5_008.htm, the “C:\Program Files” folder is a “protected” folder on Vista+ Windows systems. It is no use trying to make an application read/write to such a folder. Most of the time, Vista+ Windows systems will “sandbox” the related files to a special "Virtual Store" folder. This will invariably create problems for both the application and the end-user who won’t know where to find their documents.

Reading/writing to any folder under the “C:” drive like “C:\Atlantis” will most likely result in the same mishaps. The “C:” drive is a “system” drive under Vista+ systems. As such, it is a “protected” drive. Ordinary applications have no business meddling with the Windows system drive. On Vista+ systems, the only folder where applications can safely be installed to is the “C:\Program Files” system folder.

2. Taking this into account, version 1.6.5.8 of Atlantis installs by default in the “C:\Program Files\Atlantis” folder, and won’t allow you to store your “personal” documents in any other folder than your "My Documents\Atlantis" folder if Atlantis is installed on a hard drive. This is by design. So Atlantis won’t be able to work properly if you try to make it work from “C:\Atlantis” on your hard drive, even if you try to launch it with the “-lsi” command-line switch.

Atlantis will behave as a truly portable and “stealth” application only if you use it from your SD card or any other removable drive.

Note that I have personally installed Atlantis to my “D:” hard drive. And I launch it with the “-lsi” parameter. Atlantis does not use my registry. But the Atlantis special folders for spellcheckers, etc. are stored under “My Documents\Atlantis”. This is unavoidable.

HTH.
Cheers,
Robert

Terrine · Post by **Terrine** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:57 am

Robert wrote:Atlantis will behave as a truly portable and “stealth” application only if you use it from your SD card or any other removable drive.

Thanks for the explanation, Robert

Hopefully this can be fixed in a future release of Atlantis, after all software is supposed to make people's lives easier, not more difficult. There are many ways in which it could be implemented; Piriform for example - CCleaner, Defraggler - uses a simple text file to tell the portable versions of their programs not to write to the registry. It's called portable.dat and simply says #PORTABLE#.