Issues running Chrome Portable in a VC container
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After hearing how I should install a portable browser inside a VC container to keep my browsing data private, I've done that, but keep running into problems. On top of Chrome losing autofill and passwords and not keeping me logged into accounts after unmounting and then remounting, I also can't readily open an office app called LibreOffice by simply clicking on a document that should be able to be opened in it. I have a portable version of LibreOffice in the same container as Chrome. I end up having to open LO manually, then open the document which contains my web links. When I click a link, it would normally open the website in Chrome. Now it usually doesn't.
I would just like to be able to run Chrome privately without all my data and history being accessible. I like the idea of it all being contained in a container I can dismount and be private. But if it keeps losing my autofill info, my logins and everything else, it's like having to start over every time I want to use it. I do have Chrome set enabled to store autofill info, so I don't understand why it doesn't. I don't understand how my browsing data could be lost when I dismount if everything about Chrome Portable is contained within the VC container. I've never lost any other data such as photos, documents or videos after dismounting a container.
EDIT: Looking back at the advice about putting a portable brower in a VC container, someone mentioned using a portable version of VC as well. Is that necessary to make this work? I'm using the regular version of VC. It opens more easily.
Last edit: Neil - 2025-10-30
What operating system/version are you running? And are you using 'Portable Apps' versions of Chrome and Libre Office?
I may be able to help troubleshoot this by experimentation - seeing if I can reproduce your issues, and what steps might resolve it. I have run almost my entire computing activites for years now using portable software installed in VC container files. I use Firefox as a browser, but have Chrome available to test; I use LibreOffice.
My first thought is, W11 is much more 'hostile' to portable software than W10 was, in lots of trivially annoying ways. W11 can also make it quite difficult to use anything other than its preferred apps for doing stuff eg opening web links in anything other than MS Edge (this is a well documented issue).
I'm actually using 2 different laptops. The Dell uses Win10 (and has been having other issues) and my Lenovo was upgraded to Win11 a few weeks ago. I have them both set up the same way and have actually had better results with the Lenovo. It seems to retain autofill and passwords better than the Dell does. And yes, I'm using the portable versions of Firefox. I tried it originally with Chrome when I wrote the OP, but was having even worse results.
One issue is being able to get it to recognize LibreOffice, which is also running as a portable in a VC container with Firefox. I click on a .docx file, and I'm prompted to choose an app to open it with. LibreOffice is never on the list. When I go into settings to set the default apps to use with different file types, LibreOffice isn't offered as an option--even if LO is already opened. It's as if the computer doesn't even recognize it. But when I used the Dell as my main computer, it worked normally, but I was using the non-portable version at the time.
I can't reproduce your issue with LibreOffice Writer.
I created a 25GB test VC volume on a secondary W11 PC that has no 'Office' sofware on it at all, on the E: drive, and mounted it to H:, and installed LibreOfficePortable to folder 'LibreOffice'. (Note: I never accept the pointless default behaviour of 'Portable Apps' installers - .paf.exe files - of installing the sofware in a subfolder of the folder I say I want it installed in, using the apps name ie 'LibreOfficePortable' in this case.)
I then attempted to open a .docx file on my desktop; see attached screenshots:
LibreOffice Writer launches OK whenever I click on the .docx file now. I wonder whether your issue may be something to do with where LibreOffice is installed?
This behaviour persists after an unmount/mount of the the VC volume, and a shutdown/start of the PC, and mount of the VC volume.
Strange.
It just so happens that I mount my volume for portable browsing on the H drive as well.
I even tried the experiment on my Win10 laptop with the same setup. It still doesn't recognize LO. Firefox also doesn't keep me logged in. I was logged in here before unmounting and shutting down before, and had clicked on "remember me". I was logged out when I came back.
Would you happen to have experience with Linux? I've been getting so fed up with the way things work with Microsoft lately then I'm starting to consider going to Linux. I have no experience with it though.
I have to say, I was surprised that my test on the 'clean' secondary PC worked OK first time; I remember it being quite difficult to set up my personal default apps on my main PC a while back. You have my sympathy!
Are you running the very latest versions of W10 & 11? As I said initially, W11 was heavily criticised on release for its clear attempts to prevent users from setting anything other than MS default apps; I wonder if one of the reasons I found it easy with my test is because later versions of W11 have resolved that issue.
Re Linux, can't help with that, I'm afraid. I was a Linux guru years ago, but now don't use it regularly for general computing purposes, and have forgotten most of what I used to know! I have a Linux PC running a simple server, and for occasional test purposes, particularly if I might be able to help with simple VC/Linux issues. However, I have an issue with running VC on that PC, one another user on this forum highlighted, that I can't reliably mount on it VC volumes stored on NAS devices.
Yes, I'm using the latest version of Windows 11. But now it looks like I'm going to have to give up on using a portable browser inside of a very crypt container. I just tried to open the container that contains my portable Firefox browser, and I'm not able to do so anymore. I'm entering the correct password for the container but it's being rejected every single time. Looks like I'm going to have to start from scratch once again. Either that or I'm just going to have to use a regular browser in the open and forget about privacy. It seemed like the good idea at the time. I have the same exact same setup with my Windows 10 computer which is older, and I'm able to log into my Veracrypt container there. With my Win11 computer, I'm able to open a different container that contains my personal files. I don't know why why it won't let me into my container with the portable browser, but it looks like a lost cause from here. I used to be able to trust Veracrypt with Win10, but if Win11 is going to make everything unusable, I may have to either forget about privacy, or just scrap Windows and go to Linux.