Make Atom Portable and make the portable version available to Github Desktop

portable-atom.md

Note: This is for windows.

The Easy Way:

• Repo to come.....

Atom Portable Install Way:

Create an atom folder (We'll call this the ROOT_FOLDER)

• This will house your settings folder and your actual atom files.
• inside this folder create a ".atom" folder (We'll call this the DATA_FOLDER) and an "atom" folder (We'll call this the PROGRAM_FOLDER) (or w/e name you want, I used "Atom x64")

Grab the app.ico file

• can be downloaded from https://github.com/atom/atom/raw/master/resources/app-icons/stable/atom.ico
• Drop the app.ico file into your [PROGRAM_FOLDER]

Edit Registry

• Save the below code as a .reg file inside your [ROOT_FOLDER]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\atom]
"DisplayIcon"="D:\\Tools\\Atom\\Atom x64\\app.ico"
"DisplayName"="Atom"
"DisplayVersion"="1.25.1"
"InstallDate"="20180405"
"InstallLocation"="D:\\Tools\\Atom\\Atom x64"
"Publisher"="GitHub Inc."
"QuietUninstallString"="D:\\Tools\\Atom\\Atom x64\\Update.exe\" --uninstall -s"
"UninstallString"="D:\\Tools\\Atom\\Atom x64\\Update.exe\" --uninstall"
"URLUpdateInfo"=""
"EstimatedSize"=dword:00023c3b
"NoModify"=dword:00000001
"NoRepair"=dword:00000001
"Language"=dword:00000409

• Replace "D:\Tools\Atom\Atom x64" with the folder path to your PROGRAM_FOLDER
• Replace DisplayVersion with the correct version
• Replace InstallDate with the current date
• NOTE: The Double atom folder is intentional.

Download Portable Atom Install

• Go to: https://github.com/atom/atom/releases/latest and download the corresponding portable version.
  • For windows 64 bit it's atom-x64-windows.zip
• Place the contents of the zip file into your PROGRAM_FOLDER
  • If the contents of the zip are a folder in depth (IE: "Atom x64") you will need to go one folder depth in the zip prior to moving the contents into your PROGRAM_FOLDER
• Once done you should now have a atom.exe file inside your PROGRAM_FOLDER

Open the portable atom.exe

• Once you have launched the portable version you will want to go to File => Settings => System and click "Register as a file handler"
  • The other two options are optional

Atom Install Way:

Install atom

Create an atom folder (We'll call this the ROOT_FOLDER)

• This will house your settings folder and your actual atom files.
• inside this folder create a ".atom" folder (We'll call this the DATA_FOLDER) and an "atom" folder (We'll call this the PROGRAM_FOLDER) (or w/e name you want, I used "Atom x64")

Grab the app.ico file

• Grab the app.ico file from the PREVIOUS_INSTALL_DIR
  • optionally it can be downloaded from https://github.com/atom/atom/raw/master/resources/app-icons/stable/atom.ico
• Drop the app.ico file into your [PROGRAM_FOLDER]

Edit Registry

• Edit the registry entries at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\atom
• Modify DisplayIcon to point to the PROGRAM_FOLDER app.ico
• Modify InstallLocation to point to the PROGRAM_FOLDER, take note of the value that was here prior to modifying (We'll call this PREVIOUS_INSTALL_DIR).
• Modify QuietUninstallString and UninstallString to have the correct path. Basically replace what was in InstallLocation with what is now in InstallLocation.
• Replace DisplayVersion with the correct version.
• Replace InstallDate with the current date.

Download Portable Atom Install

• Go to: https://github.com/atom/atom/releases/latest and download the corresponding portable version.
  • For windows 64 bit it's atom-x64-windows.zip
• Place the contents of the zip file into your PROGRAM_FOLDER
  • If the contents of the zip are a folder in depth (IE: "Atom x64") you will need to go one folder depth in the zip prior to moving the contents into your PROGRAM_FOLDER
• Once done you should now have a atom.exe file inside your PROGRAM_FOLDER

Open the portable atom.exe

• Once you have launched the portable version you will want to go to File => Settings => System and click "Register as a file handler"
  • The other two options are optional

Final Step to get Github Desktop to allow atom to show and work

• Go to the PREVIOUS_INSTALL_DIR and copy the "bin" folder into the PROGRAM_FOLDER
• Edit all the files and remove the section of code which is between "../" and "resources/" OR ".." and "resources"
• Restart Github Desktop and it will now properly detect your portable atom.
• Check the %PATH% variable to ensure that [PROGRAM_FOLDER]/bin is listed (IE: D:\Tools\Atom\Atom x64\bin)

Required files

• If you are installing from only a portable atom install than you will need at least the bin folder from https://github.com/CLDMV/github-desktop-portable-atom
• I have also included the .reg file and the .ico file for convenience