Portable version of program 'invisible'

I tried to put the portable version of PDF-Xchange Viewer program (see
link) on my Vista Biz


http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/

When I unzip the thing into a folder (say, C:/Program Files/PDF-XViewer)
I can actually launch the program and it works well...

....however, when I try to associate all .PDF files with the program by:
<right click> > 'Open With..' > <select> (on any existing PDF file)

....I cannot see PDF-Xchange Viewer as a viable alternative program. I
have tried to 'browse' my way there and select the PDF-XViewer.exe, but
it refuses to register, i.e. it never appears in the list of possible
alternative programs. Why is this?

How can I force a portable program to become part of the approved set of
progrms offered under 'Open With'?

(PS- the installed version of the same program has no problem. The issue
arises with the /Portable/ (uninstalled) version of PDF-XChange Viewer.)

thanks

occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>...I cannot see PDF-Xchange Viewer as a viable alternative program. I
>have tried to 'browse' my way there and select the PDF-XViewer.exe, but
>it refuses to register, i.e. it never appears in the list of possible
>alternative programs. Why is this?

Probably because Windows has no record of it ever having been
installed. All that you've done is unzip it to its present location.

Big D wrote:
> occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>> ...I cannot see PDF-Xchange Viewer as a viable alternative program. I
>> have tried to 'browse' my way there and select the PDF-XViewer.exe, but
>> it refuses to register, i.e. it never appears in the list of possible
>> alternative programs. Why is this?
>
> Probably because Windows has no record of it ever having been
> installed. All that you've done is unzip it to its present location.

That much I grasped.
How can I link '.PDF' with the program.

(This is no problem with XP Pro, where you go into 'Folder Options' and
assign any program - installed or uninstalled - to a file type.

I am missing this facility in Vista.

Solutions?

occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>Big D wrote:
>> occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>>
>>> ...I cannot see PDF-Xchange Viewer as a viable alternative program. I
>>> have tried to 'browse' my way there and select the PDF-XViewer.exe, but
>>> it refuses to register, i.e. it never appears in the list of possible
>>> alternative programs. Why is this?
>>
>> Probably because Windows has no record of it ever having been
>> installed. All that you've done is unzip it to its present location.
>
>That much I grasped.
>How can I link '.PDF' with the program.
>
>(This is no problem with XP Pro, where you go into 'Folder Options' and
>assign any program - installed or uninstalled - to a file type.
>
>I am missing this facility in Vista.
>
>Solutions?

I just downloaded the program and unzipped it to Program Files. I had
no problem setting it to be the default reader of .PDF files.

I merely right-clicked a .PDF file, chose to "Open With" and browsed
to the .EXE file - selected the file and made sure the tick-box was
ticked to make it the default.

Closed that. Opened several others without a problem.

Big D wrote:
> occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>> Big D wrote:
>>> occam <occam@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ...I cannot see PDF-Xchange Viewer as a viable alternative program. I
>>>> have tried to 'browse' my way there and select the PDF-XViewer.exe, but
>>>> it refuses to register, i.e. it never appears in the list of possible
>>>> alternative programs. Why is this?
>>> Probably because Windows has no record of it ever having been
>>> installed. All that you've done is unzip it to its present location.
>> That much I grasped.
>> How can I link '.PDF' with the program.
>>
>> (This is no problem with XP Pro, where you go into 'Folder Options' and
>> assign any program - installed or uninstalled - to a file type.
>>
>> I am missing this facility in Vista.
>>
>> Solutions?
>
> I just downloaded the program and unzipped it to Program Files. I had
> no problem setting it to be the default reader of .PDF files.
>
> I merely right-clicked a .PDF file, chose to "Open With" and browsed
> to the .EXE file - selected the file and made sure the tick-box was
> ticked to make it the default.
>
> Closed that. Opened several others without a problem.


Hmm... you are describing exactly the same sequence I went through,
except Vista appears to ignore my selected .exe completely.

I am wondering if this is because I have disabled one of the default
services (I have been playing with run > services.msc recently)

Thanks in any case.