XBMC works perfectly in portable mode on any drive for me.
What aspect of 'portable' isn't working for you?
Please make sure you're running xbmc.exe -p
(-p = portable mode)
The entire function of XBMC will then work on ANY drive and can be moved from drive to drive without any problem, all your user data / config is stored under the XBMC folder making the installation 100% portable.
If you are talking about it being unable to find the 'media' - because the media has changed drive letter, then you're correct, it will not find the media.
You can fix this in a number of ways:
1) Make sure your media resides on a drive letter that's always available. Or use the 'Subst' command to map a drive letter to your media (e.g. Subst Z: F:\My Media)
2) Use symbolic links as I do (if you're using Vista or later).
Here is my portable XBMC script which you can use (XBMCPORTABLE.BAT):
Code:
@Echo off
Rem ****** Map X: to this folder *********
subst X: /D
subst X: "%~dp0."
Rem ****** Create Virtual Media Folders ********
rd /S /Q "x:\Virtual Media Folders"
mkdir "x:\Virtual Media Folders"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\Backdrops 01" "X:\Media Folders\Backdrops 01"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\Movies 01" "D:\Data\Videos\Movies"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\Movies 02" "\\COMPAQ-PC\Movies 02"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\Music 01" "\\COMPAQ-PC\Music 01"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\Music Videos 01" "\\COMPAQ-PC\Music Videos 01"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\TV Series 01" "\\COMPAQ-PC\TV Series 01"
mklink /D "x:\Virtual Media Folders\TV Series 02" "\\COMPAQ-PC\TV Series 02"
Rem ****** Launch XBMC ********
start /B x:\XBMC\XBMC.exe -p
Here's how I structure my installation:
D:\XBMC\
D:\XBMC\XBMCPRTABLE.BAT <--- the launcher!
D:\XBMC\Virtual Media Folders\
D:\XBMC\Virtual Media Folders\Movies 01 <------ VIRTUAL folders
D:\XBMC\Virtual Media Folders\TV Series 01
D:\XBMC\Virtual Media Folders\etc
D:\XBMC\XBMC <----- the REAL XBMC folder
Here's what the batch file does:
1) It ALWAYS makes sure XBMC is running from drive 'X' regardless of there it's physically located. This is done by mapping Drive X to the XBMC installation.
2) It then creates a folder called 'Virtual Media Folders', and within that folder creates VIRTUAL folders (via symbolic links) to my real media folders.
*** Critical note: you MUST setup XBMC sources to point to these folders (i.e. ALWAYS X:\Virtual Media Folders\xxxxxx)
3) It then launches XBMC in portable mode.
So why is this cool?
It's cool because you can move ANY of your real media folders to any disk drive you like, and all you have to do is update your VIRTUAL folders to point to the new location.
XBMC is 'fooled' because it always finds media via the X:\virtual media folders\xxxxx mapping. This way XBMC AND the media become truly portable.
If you don't understand any of the above, just let me know and I'll try to make it clearer.
Good luck!