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can you run programs (like a downloaded game) from an external hard drive?

April 26, 2017Computers downloaded external hard drive Games Programs run

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can you run programs (like a downloaded game) from an external hard drive?

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As a rule, Windows – and AFAIK, Mac OS – does not care about the physical location of a program. You can usually install a program to any drive attached to your system, including an external HDD, flash drive, or a network drive, or even a mapped drive on another computer, and it will run. The problem comes when you remove the drive from the system or change its drive letter. Most programs have an entry in the Windows registry that identifies the physical location of the program, and if you break that linkage, the program will not run on the same computer any longer. It will likely not run on another computer at all. For example, if you install a program to an external HDD, then move that drive to another computer, it may need information and components recorded on the original system to work correctly. The main exception to this would be old DOS programs, which have no registry entries and can run on any computer that supports DOS. Some programs designed for Windows 3.x (16-bit) and Wi