Running from a USB drive


MultiPing can be run from a removable drive (like a USB key) without having to be installed, or modifying anything on the "host" machine where you're running MultiPing.  This is great if you administer a number of PCs and want to be able to run MultiPing without having to install it, and/or enter a license key.

There are several differences in operation when MultiPing is running from a USB drive in special USB mode.

  • The license key is stored on the USB drive, not in the system registry.  This means you don't have to enter the license key on each machine you're running on.
  • All MultiPing settings are written to the .ini file on the USB key (in .exe directory - so make sure it's writable!).
  • MultiPing does not check in the user's profile for override settings.

To run MultiPing in this special mode, follow these steps:

  1. Install MultiPing normally on your computer's hard drive (not the USB drive).
  2. Copy the entire directory where MultiPing is installed to your USB drive.  This should include all subdirectories that may exist.  You can put this in any directory on the USB drive, but we'll assume this is in f:\MultiPing for now.  The executable to launch MultiPing would then be f:\MultiPing\multiping.exe
  3. Uninstall MultiPing from your computer's hard drive.
  4. Create an empty file named "license.dat" into the directory where multiping.exe exists on the USB drive (in our example, this is f:\MultiPing).
  5. Launch MultiPing from the USB drive.  When prompted, enter your license key.  MultiPing will put your license information into the license.dat file.
  6. Create an Autorun.inf (outside this scope of this topic, but email us if you need help) or hook up the f:\MultiPing\multiping.exe file to your USB drive's menu system.