Can I run games from an external hard drive? [closed]

Only in certain games. Some games require a complete installation, but there are some which not, namely DRM-free/portable games that you can run on the go. Most of the times these are independent games. Judging by your original tags, you won't be able to do that with those games.

Also, given that you have a laptop, and considering that you need both computers to be connected to Internet you could buy a cheap RJ45 LAN Ethernet Splitter(about 5 bucks), or a 5 port switch (about 10-15 bucks), two extra cables, and split the incoming signal so it can be used on both computers, that is, if the company you work for is not static IP's for the computers. Also note that they might not like it if you connect extra hardware to the network.

Now, for other DRM games, there are workarounds. The following it's a bit tricky and you cannot play high demanding games, and you need administrator rights. But might still be of use.

What I mean is to have portable virtual machine, A virtual machine is basically a big file containing all the data a machine requires to run. This file is launched by the use of Virtual Machine programs, such as VirtualBox. Now there are several of these programs around, but you need one specifically, a portable one. And a good example of one of those would be Portable VirtualBox.

With that program you will be able to install games and anything you want into your virtual machine, from your home, and then in the office you plug in the hard drive, and launch the virtual machine where all your stuff was installed.

Now there are three important cons of this approach.

• You need administrator rights.
• Virtual Machine programs require to install drivers and others, there's no way around this, however, in the case of Portable Virtual box, those drivers are uninstalled when you are done with the virtual machine, that is if you properly exit virtual box, before disconnecting the external device.
• As virtual machines are fully virtual, the graphing capabilities are limited, and so you cannot run high demanding games.

In case the above is of any use, here is the link to a full tutorial of Portable VirtualBox.

This would depend on the game, but the answer would usually be no.

Even ignoring the fact that you need internet access to play the games you tagged, most games need to be installed to run. This isn't an issue of not having the files, it's about the program registry. The PC needs to know where the game is installed. There are exceptions to this but most are DRM-free indie games or older titles.

You might be able to get around this by installing the game on the PC but setting the install path to the removable hard drive but it will show up in the registry. I'm assuming you're not allowed to do that, so this would be a bad idea.

Answering your question, based on its previous edits:

If I install a game on an external hard drive, can I run it on a computer without leaving a footprint, and without internet access?

and the previous tags of: world-of-warcraft, league-of-legends and dungeons-and-dragons-online

Otherwise, see https://gaming.stackexchange.com/revisions/210603/1.

No, you WILL NOT be able to play any of those games as they require a constant internet connection as they're multiplayer-only.
League of Legends for instance is a multiplayer-only game, meaning that you HAVE to be connected to the servers to play.
This also applies to World of Warcraft, unless it is the other standalones RTS (such as Warcraft III).

My answer (one of the many correct ones):

If you're using Steam, then Steam itself is a very portable application. The reasons for it being that:

• Client credentials, settings, content, etc. are stored within the Steam folders.
• All components of Steam do not need to be installed as it runs straight from the contents of the folder itself.
• Once you have your credentials loaded, you can play offline without an internet connection.
  Provided you installed the games while online...

However, being said all that... Steam only works if you have Administrative Privllages as it runs a service that requires elevated permissions.

When playing on any computer, once everything is setup, simply login and when it asks for an internet connection, select "Play Offline".

The gist of installing games and playing it that way is very simple:

1. Install Steam to your Hard Drive and give it its own folder. (You do not need to define another SteamLibrary folder)
2. Login for the first time on a computer with an internet connection.
3. Ensure the computer you're playing the game on has all the software libraries/pre-requisites installed already, or have them installed in the game's folder. (If not, I'll walk you through how to do so)
4. Don't forget to copy any save files that the game may create (varies from game to game).
5. Run from Steam
6. Don't forget to close Steam and the game before you unplug.

If you do not want anything to be installed to the computer (ie. the pre-requisites and libraries), there is a method to do that too.

Getting a game ready to be played

This method is relatively easy, as the download process stores everything in the Steam\SteamApps\downloading\... folder.

1. Select your game you want to play from your library.
2. Wait for the download to complete.
3. Press 'Play'.

If you do not want to install anything onto the computer you're using... Then don't hit play. Instead, once your download is complete do:

Note: This step requires some technical knowledge, in particular, the way installers are packaged.

1. Go to the folder that the game is saved into.
2. Delete any installscript.vcf files.
3. Using any archive program such as 7-Zip, open your installer's cabinet files (.cab) or extract your installer's .exe/.msi package and search for the appropriate .DLLs that the game uses.
4. Instead of installing them to your system32 folder (which most installers default to doing, and cannot be changed), Copy the .dll(s) file straight into your game's folder.
   Ensure it is in the same folder as your game's executable!
5. Run the game through Steam.

If any errors come up such as: "d3dx9_20.dll is missing", it means you have installed the wrong library into the game's folder (or that your computer does not have it already installed).
In this example, d3dx9_20.dll contains the libraries for DirectX 9, Release 20.

Once installed properly (runs perfectly for the first time), it'll run on any computer (provided you didn't simply install the libraries through the installer and used the manual extraction method instead).

If you do not know how to extract .dll(s) from their installers, there is a second option... But it requires installing things to the computer this is performed on. Once working properly, you do not need to install anything onto future computers it is played on.

1. Run all the installers and follow through the installation process.
2. Go to your C:\Windows\system32\... folder.
3. Look for the appropriate .DLL in that folder, whenever a "[something].dll is missing" message pops up.
4. Copy the DLLs that it is looking for to the game's folder (ensure it is in the same folder as the executable).
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until it runs properly.
6. Now it's ready to be played on any computer.

For the most part, many games will not work when just copied from a PC to an external HD or USB drive.

However there are some PC games that you can run from a USB stick or external hard drive available from PortableApps.

All of the games available are free or open source, so none of your big Steam titles are there, but most genres of games are covered including FPS (AssaultCube), arcade (Scorched3D), puzzle (2048), RTS (Warzone 2100) and racing (SuperTuxKart).

The games come in the form of an installer with a paf.exe file format. You can install them to any folder on your removable media, and as long as they are run from the AppNamePortable.exe, they will run portably. You could also install the PortableApps Platform, which will automatically update all of your apps as new versions are released.

Note that if your work PC is heavily locked down some games may not function, as the PortableApps way of making an app portable is to allow the programs to make changes to the PC as they normally would, and then revert those changes after the app has been closed. On a heavily locked down system some of these changes may not work as intended.

Disclaimer: I am a developer at PortableApps, and a couple of the games are packaged by myself. I'm not making any money from actually letting you know about them though, I'm just a volunteer.