Is there away to share installed programs across OS?

Stildawn

Stildawn

New Member
Hi all.

Gonna do a duel boot Vista/7. Just wondering is there anyway to share a program.. say Photoshop over the two OS's?

Like use the installed files on one partition (say under vista) but able to load the program from Windows 7?

Cheers
 
I don't think so, because most programs (including Photoshop) install themselves into the registry as well. And I don't see how you could successfully get it to use the Vista registry while running Windows 7.

It would have to be some "self-contained" portable version of a program that keeps all its information in a single folder and requires no installation.

You can go to PortableApps to find free and legal portable software.

That also allows you to go to any computer and run the program without having to install anything. You can just run it directly from a usb drive.
 
Hmmmm. What about away to put the said programs registry keys into Window 7 reg... but linking to the actual files on the Vista partition?
 
Stildawn said:
Like use the installed files on one partition (say under vista) but able to load the program from Windows 7?
Click to expand...

Yes.

If you manually navigate to the install folder on the other partition, and click on the .exe, Photoshop will gladly run.

This doesn't work with all programs, but it does work for many of them.
Even games.

It works with Vista and XP anyway. I haven't tried it with Windows 7.
 
Stildawn said:
Hmmmm. What about away to put the said programs registry keys into Window 7 reg... but linking to the actual files on the Vista partition?
Click to expand...

For one thing - you would have to find ALL the registry keys - and that is not easy because they are spread all over and they are not all easily identified as belonging to a given program. And even at that, it doesn't mean it would work, because the registries are not necessarily identical in every aspect.

Along with that is that fact that programs often install other components and application data in other directories of the Vista C: drive.

Like I said, I think the task would be nearly impossible to do on your own (depending on the program you want to use). That's why there is software out there that will create a sandbox environment and during an installation, it will monitor every process of the installation and it will create installation locations within a single folder in the sandbox. That is how some portable versions of programs are created. But, they don't always run well (or they don't run at all) afterwards. It all depends on the program, and on how well someone creates the portable version. Some do a great job and others don't. And keep in mind, that depending on what program it is, it could be illegal to use a portable version.

So, other than using portable software, I don't see how you can use Win7 to run a program installed in the Vista partition.


Bodaggit23 said:
Yes.

If you manually navigate to the install folder on the other partition, and click on the .exe, Photoshop will gladly run.

This doesn't work with all programs, but it does work for many of them.
Even games.

It works with Vista and XP anyway. I haven't tried it with Windows 7.
Click to expand...

Really? That has never worked for me. I guess I have only tried it with programs that won't work that way. Hmm, interesting. I'll have to try it with other programs and see what happens.
 
Last edited:
PC Hobbyist said:
Really?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Here's how I found out:
I bought a bigger hard drive for my old pc.
I left the original in tact and made it the slave.
I reinstalled my OS on the new drive.
I wondered, basically the same as the OP, what happens if I click on the .exe
from the Program Files folder on the old drive? It works.

I have no technical explanation for why it works, but it does.
 
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