AIMP Portable

AIMP Portable v5.40.2722 released!

A portable launcher for AIMP, the music player with its own audio library, audio converter and tag editor, built with the PortableApps Compiler (PAC-MAN). Every change it makes to Windows is recorded first and undone when AIMP closes, or on the next launch if something went wrong.

AIMP isn't included: its license only allows AIMP's original installer to be passed on. You add AIMP yourself, once (see Adding AIMP).

System Requirements

Windows 7 or later.
PortableApps.com Platform (optional).

Download

Direct Link
Mirror

Adding AIMP

Download AIMP from aimp.ru.
Run its installer and choose the portable install, into this package's App\AIMP folder. Or copy the program folder of an AIMP that's already installed to App\AIMP.
Start AIMPPortable.exe.

Until AIMP is there, the launcher says which folder to copy and where, offers to open the App folder, and stops. It checks for AIMP.exe, AIMP.Runtime.dll and AIMP.Shared.dll, so a copy of only AIMP.exe is caught too.

An AIMP.ini that comes with the copied program is taken over the first time; from then on the one in Data is used, set to keep AIMP's profile in the package.

Configuration

AIMPPortable.ini, next to the launcher, holds the user settings. If it gets damaged, or you want to go back to the defaults, copy Other\Source\AIMPPortable.ini over it.

[AIMPPortable]
AdditionalParameters=
SystemIntegration=false

Key	Default	What it does
`SystemIntegration`	`false`	Let AIMP register itself with Windows. See System integration.
`AdditionalParameters`	empty	Extra command line switches passed to AIMP.

Data

AIMP keeps everything in its profile. With UserMode=0 in the AIMP.ini next to AIMP.exe, that profile is the Profile folder beside it rather than %APPDATA%\AIMP. Both live in Data and are moved into place while AIMP runs:

AIMP uses	Kept in
`App\AIMP\AIMP.ini`	`Data\AIMP.ini`
`App\AIMP\Profile` (settings, playlists, audio library, skins you add)	`Data\Profile`
Recordings	`Data\Recorded`

When the package moves (another drive letter, another folder), the paths stored in AIMP's settings, tag editor and converter settings are updated to match.

AIMP's audio library (Data\Profile\AudioLibrary\Local.adb) stores the full path of every file in it, in a format the launcher doesn't change. If your music is on the same drive as the package and that drive gets a different letter, rescan the library folders in AIMP.

System integration

In its settings AIMP can register itself with Windows: as the player for file types, in Explorer's right-click menu, as an AutoPlay handler, and in Default Programs. It does that through Elevator.exe, which asks for administrator rights and changes Windows for every user.

The launcher runs with your normal rights, so it couldn't undo those changes. That's why, with SystemIntegration=false (the default), Elevator.exe is set aside while AIMP runs and those options do nothing. It's renamed to Elevator.exe.disabled for the session and put back when AIMP closes; if AIMP updated itself meanwhile, the new Elevator.exe is kept.

With SystemIntegration=true, AIMP can make those changes, and they stay until you turn the options off in AIMP again.

What AIMP changes, and how it's undone

AIMP changes	Put back when it closes
"Run AIMP at Windows startup": the `AIMP` value in `HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run`	Removed, or put back exactly as it was (an installed AIMP's entry, for example)
`Elevator.exe` set aside (see above)	Put back

A portable AIMP can't start with Windows from a drive that may not be there, which is why the startup entry is removed.

Updates

AIMP can update itself in place; its update checker is in its settings. After each session the launcher writes the version of AIMP.exe to appinfo.ini, so the PortableApps.com Platform shows the version AIMP has updated itself to.

Moving from PortableApps.com's AIMP Portable

This package keeps AIMP.ini and the profile in Data the same way PortableApps.com's AIMP Portable does, so your settings carry over:

Copy this package's files over your existing AIMPPortable folder, and compile the launcher.
Your App\AIMP and Data stay as they are.

Installing this package with the PortableApps.com Installer over PortableApps.com's one keeps Data too. App\bin\sqlite3.exe from the older package is no longer used (it updated an audio library format AIMP 5 doesn't use), and can be deleted.

If something goes wrong

If AIMP Portable didn't close properly (a crash, a power cut, a USB drive pulled out), the next launch tells you and undoes what the last session changed. Start it again afterward.

When reporting a problem, please include an export of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\pac-man\Journal registry key and the contents of %LOCALAPPDATA%\pac-man\Journal.

Building from source

The launcher is built with the PortableApps Compiler, and needs the MissingApp segment. Its configuration lives in App\AppInfo:

File	Contents
`App\AppInfo\appinfo.ini`	Package details, version and file types. The launcher keeps the version current.
`App\AppInfo\Launcher\AIMPPortable.ini`	The launcher configuration: the missing program check, data moves, language and path updates
`App\AppInfo\Launcher\custom.nsh`	Portable mode, system integration, the startup entry and the version

Credits

AIMP is developed by Artem Izmaylov and the AIMP DevTeam.
The data layout, language mapping and path updates follow PortableApps.com's AIMP Portable.
PortableApps.com Platform by PortableApps.com.
PortableApps Compiler developed by daemon.devin.

By daemon.devin Music and Video 5 min read