A portable install of REAPER puts all the necessary files in one folder. With that you can bring REAPER with you anywhere with all your optimizations and custom settings. It’s also a great way to troubleshoot things outside of your main install.

TLDR:
Download REAPER
(Windows) Simply [✓] Portable option in the installer
(OSX) Put REAPER64.app in a folder
(OSX) Put a blank plain text file named “reaper.ini” in the same folder


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10 responses to “Quick Tip: Portable Install”

  1. Flavio Avatar
    Flavio

    …and also a great and fast way to have different kinds of system configuration !

  2. ntnsystems Avatar
    ntnsystems

    What is the benefit of doing the normal install versus always using the portable install? It would seem preferable to have everything in a single folder, even if you are installing on a non-portable desktop computer.

  3. Flavio Avatar
    Flavio

    As introduced with my comment, one big benefit I have with the portable installation is the possibility to have multiple configurations.
    I do voice over and record my wife who is a voice talent. I have one ‘usual’ voice over configuration with a specific GUI, shortcuts, specific plug-in in the folder (not needed plug in are not loaded), and many other system configuration for this purpose.
    Then I have a very simple GUI configuration that allows my non-expert wife to record by her own.
    Last I have another specific configuration for music where VST instruments and other appropriate plug in are loaded.
    I find this great.

  4. Eat This Podcast (@EatPodcast) Avatar

    I already have a good setup that I like on my desktop. How would I go about creating a portable install from that, rather than starting from scratch, which is what this tip seems to involve?

    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      just take the contents of your existing reaper install (reaper resources folder) and copy it to the other location, put the reaper64.app in the same place.

      1. Flavio Avatar
        Flavio

        If I am not wrong you can also export the complete configuration and import it into the new portable installation.
        Isn’t it?

        1. Admin Avatar
          Admin

          I think the outcome will be the same but I have not tested.

      2. GS Avatar
        GS

        On OS X with REAPER 5, I moved the folder “REAPER” from Application Resources into the same folder as the REAPER64.app. It doesn’t like that. Wanted my reg key again. Since really want all 18 items from that folder cluttering up my REAPER folder, I’m wondering if there is a way to redirect REAPER to it’s resource folder. I just put a symbolic link in the original position using ls -s from the Terminal. I know you can add paths to the VST plugin location list, but what about all of the rest of the items? Do they have to all sit out in the same folder as the REAPER64.app, or is there a more graceful way to do it? Right now, I’d either have to either create a symbolic link on the new host computer, or move everything up one level.

        I’ve looked in the Info.plist file in the REAPER64.app, and the com.cockos.reaper.plist in the ~/Library/Preferences folder, and there’s nothing there that tells REAPER where to look. And what about the com.cockos.reaper.plist? Seems you’d need to move that somewhere other than the Preferences folder if you wanted to make a mobile install. Does that have to be in the same folder as the app, too? And what about non-standard AU plugins? I’d assume they get installed in the same place as all the other AUs, not in REAPER’s UserPlugins folder. Am I wrong? I haven’t installed any new ones on this Mac yet. (Was using REAPER 4.75 on a G5, then tried in Windoze, but that was more work than it was worth. Now have a MacBook Air with a brand new install.)

        With Windoze, it seems you could just do a fresh Portable install and overwrite the preferences files into that install folder. I don’t know where they live in Windoze, though. I have a Windoze install, so I guess I could hunt them down, but I’m more concerned with the OS X behaviors.

        Are there any other files other than the ones I mentioned above about which we need to concern ourselves when wanting to create a portable REAPER folder? And does anyone know a way to tell REAPER to look anywhere other than the default install locations or the same folder as the app for the Application Support and .plist files?

        Thanks!

        1. G S Avatar
          G S

          Okay, I just gave in and moved everything into the same folder, including the com.cockos.reaper.plist file. Now, if I make any changes to preferences, either in the Preferences dialog or in the menus, nothing gets saved. REAPER doesn’t even create a new .plist file in the default location upon quit, which is the norm for every OS X app. I own all the files, though the reaper.ini and reaper-reginfo2.ini files belong to the admin group instead of staff, like the rest. i have write permissions for all of the files. But it still doesn’t save changes to the .plist file. It would seem important to have that file if you wanted a portable install, and it’s not really portable if you have to copy and put that into the ~/Library folder everywhere you take it. Am I missing something? Maybe this is a question for the forums at the REAPER site.

          1. Admin Avatar
            Admin

            I think posting on the forum would be best. You shouldn’t need to do any of that, just importing your license should have worked.

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