Always attempting to protect my privacy, I prefer to run portable versions of sensitive windows client software using a USB flash drive over installing software directly on a computer. Using portable software on a flash drive has two advantages:
- You can take your software and associated data anywhere and run it on any computer simply by connecting your flash drive into a USB port.
- Truly portable software does not leave any data traces behind on your host computer – such as your computer’s registry.
Head over to PortableApps.com and you will find anything you need to get you started and a wealth of portable client software, which can be installed on a USB flash drive.
Sadly, I couldn’t find a portable version of the Bisq desktop client software so I spent some time to find out if there is any workaround to get Bisq installed on a USB flash drive.
Install Bisq on a USB Flash Drive
Here are the few simple steps you can follow to run Bisq for Windows on a USB flash drive:
Insert your USB flash drive into your computer’s USB port.
- Insert your USB flash drive into your computer’s USB port. I recommend that you use a dedicated, freshly formatted USB flash drive for your portable apps instead of sharing it with other storage.
- Go to Bisq’s website and download the latest version of the Bisq desktop client software.
- Start by installing the software directly on your flash drive. When prompted, change the proposed installation path to F:\Bisq. Replace “F” with your USB medium’s drive.
- If you have an existing installation of Bisq on your computer and you want to migrate your data to your flash drive, copy application data folder C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Bisq\btc_mainnet to your application directory F:\Bisq.
- Navigate to F:\Bisq and create a shortcut for program Bisq.exe. To create a shortcut, right-click on Bisq.exe and select Create shortcut from the menu. The shortcut is created inside folder F:\Bisq.
- Right-click on shortcut F:\Bisq\Bisq.exe – Shortcut and select Properties from the menu to edit the shortcut. Change field Target to F:\Bisq\Bisq.exe –appDataDir “\Bisq”.
Change field Start in to F:\Bisq. - For your convenience when starting Bisq, move the shortcut from your Bisq directory to the root of your flash drive, from F:\Bisq to F:\.
- Start the Bisq client software by double-clicking on your new shortcut F:\Bisq.exe – Shortcut.
- If you migrated your data from your computer, verify that your application data is complete, more specifically, the following:
- Your portfolio, if you have pending trades
- Your funds
- Your national currency accounts
- Your wallet password
- Your wallet seed
- After you have successfully verified your portable installation, make a backup using Account > Backup.
I hope this instruction is useful.
Stay safe, stay private!
The BKK Sledgehammer Messiah
