VSCode Portable v1.142.0 released!

Visual Studio Code Portable

VS Code Portable is a portable version of the popular Visual Studio Code application.

Support

To recompile this PAF you must use my PortableApps Compiler.

Download

All downloads available in the Releases section. This portable application was packaged using a modified version of the PortableApps.com Launcher.

Features

  • Runs the full Visual Studio Code desktop app.
  • Completely portable - runs off a USB, cloud drive (DropBox, iCloud drive, OneDrive, etc) or hard drive.
  • No need for any external software - simply download extract and run!
  • Packaged in PortableApps.com format for easy integration.
  • User configuration file for advanced portable settings (See Configuration below)
  • Allows for some developmental environments to be recognized by Visual Studio Code across various devices (See Environments below)
  • Open with entries and an Open with Code (Portable) context menu while it runs, removed again on exit (See Associations below)
  • Installs bundled VSIX extensions, each one once. (See VSIX Installations below)
  • Self-sustaining; no need to update this package as it should update itself, showing the download's progress. An update that fails or is interrupted puts the previous version back.
  • Crash safe: everything the launcher changes on the computer is journaled and undone on exit, or on the next launch if it was interrupted.

System Requirements

Configuration

  • An optional user configuration file called VSCodePortable.ini is available in the VS Code Portable root directory (i.e. VSCodePortable\VSCodePortable.ini).
    • If this file somehow becomes corrupted or you just need to go back to a default state, there's a default user configuration file located in the Source folder located at .\Other\Source\VSCodePortable.ini
    • Copy this file to the root directory next to the launcher file (VSCodePortable.exe) to reset these options.
  • Refer to the Example section for a brief explanation for each user configuration option.

Example

[VSCodePortable]
AdditionalParameters=
RunLocally=false
Banner=true
FileAssociations=true
UpdateCheck=true
InstallVSIX=false

#= Environment Settings
; Uncomment the configurations below to use them
;GIT=%PAL:CommonFiles%\Git
;PYTHON=%PAL:CommonFiles%\Python
;NODEJS=%PAL:CommonFiles%\Node.js

#= Advanced Settings
; Uncomment the configurations below to use them
;GitHomePath=true
;PythonUserPath=true
;NodePrefixPath=true

#= Banner=
; Enable or disable the initialization banner.

#= UpdateCheck=
; Enable or disable automatic portable updating.

#= InstallVSIX=
; Enable or disable the installation of VSIX files found in
; .\App\DefaultData\code\extensions. Each file is offered once.

#= FileAssociations=
; Turn the Open with entries and the Open with Code (Portable) context menu
; on or off (true|false). Everything is removed again when VS Code closes.
; For more information refer to the ReadMe.txt file located at:
; .\Other\Source\ReadMe.txt

#= AdditionalParameters=
; Pass additional command-line switches.

#= RunLocally=
; Application is copied to & executed from $TEMP directory.

#= GIT=
; Path to the Git directory

#= GitHomePath=
; Change Git home path to "Data\Git\home"

#= PYTHON=
; Path to the Python directory

#= PythonUserPath=
; Change Python user path to "Data\Python"

#= NODEJS=
; Path to the NodeJS directory

#= NodePrefixPath=
; Change Node.js (npm) prefix path to "Data\Node.js\npm"

Environments

VS Code Portable has support for certain development environments (i.e. Git, Node.js, etc).

Preconfigured Environments

To set up your development environments, follow the steps below.

  1. Using your preferred text editor, open the optional user configuration file located in the base directory (i.e. VSCodePortable\VSCodePortable.ini).
  2. Underneath the comment line #= Environment Settings you'll find some preconfigured environment options you can set.
    • Uncomment the environments that pertain to you by deleting the semi-colon at the beginning of that line.
    • Add the path to that corresponding environment after the equals symbol (e.g. GIT=%PAL:CommonFiles%\Git).
    • If the path doesn't exist, then that option is simply ignored.

Adding Unsupported Environments

To add support for an environment that is not preconfigured already, follow the steps below.

  1. Using your preferred text editor, open the launcher configuration file located in the app directory (i.e. VSCodePortable\App\Launcher\VSCodePortable.ini).
    • Refer to the Launcher.ini documentation section for more information.
  2. Underneath the [Environment] section, add any necessary paths to your environment's applicable variables.
    • For instance, for JDK support, you could add JAVA_HOME=%PAL:CommonFiles%\jdk-21 which would point to X:\PortableApps\CommonFiles\jdk-21

VSIX Installs

  • To install bundled VSIX extensions, set InstallVSIX to true in the optional user configuration file located in the base directory (i.e. VSCodePortable\VSCodePortable.ini). Each file is offered once; the answer is remembered in .\Data\code\VSIXInstalled.ini, so a file added later is offered on the next launch.
  • Put any VSIX extension file in the default data directory under the extensions folder located at .\App\DefaultData\code\extensions
    • Any file with an extension of .vsix will be installed in the VS Code extensions directory for use with Visual Studio Code.
    • You can find this directory in .\Data\code\extensions

Associations

  • Associations are on by default. Turn them off with FileAssociations=false in the optional user configuration file located in the base directory (i.e. VSCodePortable\VSCodePortable.ini).
  • Nothing needs administrator rights. Everything is written for the current user only and removed again when VS Code Portable closes, or on the next launch if it didn't close properly.
  • Windows stays in charge of which program is the default: a file type that already has a default program only gets an Open with entry for VS Code Portable.

Setup

The file types and context menus are declared in the launcher configuration file:

  1. Navigate to: .\App\AppInfo\Launcher
  2. Open VSCodePortable.ini with Notepad or any text editor
  3. Edit the Extension list in [FileAssociation1], or add [FileAssociation2] and so on.

Example:

[FileAssociation1]
Extension=.txt,.ini,.xml,.js,.css
ProgID=VSCodePortable.SourceFile
Description=Source File
DefaultIcon=%PAL:AppDir%\VSCode\Code.exe,0
OpenCommand="%PAL:LauncherPath%" "%1"
IfExists=skip

Set IfExists=replace to make VS Code Portable the default for those types while it runs; the previous default comes back when it closes.

Attention:

Credits

By daemon.devin Development 6 min read