The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Share program files across multiple installations of Windows 8?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by mckenziepiping, Nov 3, 2013.

  1. mckenziepiping

    mckenziepiping Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    107
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I'm wondering if it's possible to do the following:

    I have Windows 8 installed on my SSD.

    I also have Windows 8 installed on my HDD.

    Is it possible to install programs on only one of the instances of Windows 8 and access those programs from both instances of Windows 8? I was hoping to install programs on my HDD and then access them from both the Windows 8 running on the HDD and the Windows 8 running on the SSD.

    I'm simply looking to save time so I don't have to install my list of 30-40 programs twice. It's not a space-saving issue, because I know I could avoid wasting SSD space by putting program files on the HDD, but I'm wondering if I can actually just have a COMMON set of program files that is SHARED by both installations of Windows.....
     
    mckenziepiping, Nov 3, 2013
    #1
  2. Pirx

    Pirx Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    3,001
    Messages:
    3,005
    Likes Received:
    416
    Trophy Points:
    151
    No, that's not possible.
     
    Pirx, Nov 3, 2013
    #2
  3. ajnindlo

    ajnindlo Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    265
    Messages:
    1,357
    Likes Received:
    87
    Trophy Points:
    66
    It is possible, but not recomended, and not usually easy to do. It is usually simpler and safer to just install the program again. There are some special programs that will work without needing to be installed again. Do a search for Portable apps or programs. Like portable Firefox. These are designed to be put on a flash drive, then they can be run from the flash drive without being installed.
     
    ajnindlo, Nov 3, 2013
    #3
  4. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

    Reputations:
    7,588
    Messages:
    10,023
    Likes Received:
    1,077
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Steam also works alright: install steam on one, make a backup of the steamapps folder just in case, install steam on the other OS. It should work (did for me). I would however not attempt this with other programs like MS Office for example.
     
    tijo, Nov 4, 2013
    #4