Extracting a program?

K, so I'm not sure exactly how to word this question.

I have a friend that wants to format his computer, but he has some programs on there he wants to keep, but no longer has the install disk for.

Is there a way to take the program off the computer, compress it and save to disk or flash drive until after format to put back on computer?

Hopefully I explained that well enough.

Thanks!

 

Well if those programs need a serial key then i'm not sure how that can be done because for a program i think a serial key can only be used once. I thin you might have to ask your program vendor about that. =\

 

Well if I still have the serial? Or if it doesn't require a serial?
Is it possible?
My friend's computer got a bunch of adaware and trojans, so I cleaned his system for him, but it won't connect to internet. Well it connects but it only sends info, not recieve.
I've tried plenty of things to get it to work, and not looking for advice on how to fix it.
Anyways, going to format for him and start from scratch, but he has some old bible programs he still wants but doesn't have the disk for anymore.
Anyways long story short, can it be done?

 

If and ONLY if you could determine all of the DLL's and registry entries required by the app and those DLL's then you MIGHT be able to do this. But for all intents and purposes there is no way to do this.

Having said that there is one circumstance where this is possible. A small number of applications install EVERYTHING into a single directory and don't require any DLL's or registry entries. If your friends app is one that installs this way you could just copy the directory to the new machine. But I'll warn you in advance, FEW applications install this way. Most install as a "spider web" of DLL's, registry entries and the applications own directory.

Gary

 

Yes, as ScuderiaConchiglia said, only a handful of programs can be copied and run without installing. If they are small programs and if he already has serial numbers, then check in the official websites.

 

Zydan,

When you install a program, usually, you are actually running an installer. The installer is actually a program that creates folders, places files, sets permissions, creates registry key, and shortcuts.

What you see in the Program Files folder is only a small portion of most programs. There will usually be folders in Application Data or AppData and other places. Some of the larger programs have literally thousands of entries in the registry. Miss one critical entry and the program is useless.

Look around on the internet and/or the authors websites. Find the right files. Believe me, they are out there. If you are having problems finding on Google try Google Hacks.

This is a good time to point out something important. Everyone always talks about backups, but not often do we hear about backups for the installers of our programs.

I keep a separate partition (you can use a DVD, external drive, etc) with folders for every program I have. I keep the program serial, the latest version, and at least one earlier version of every program. At the least it saves hours of searching and downloading.