How to Install/Run Applications from an External Hard Drive (New Method)

When your C drive is out of space, or you just want to store some apps on an external device, Windows can help. You can use built-in settings to install all new programs to an external drive or secondary internal drive. Here're the steps to install/run Windows 10 apps on an external hard drive or second drive.

Part 1: Install Windows 10 Apps on an External or Second Drive

Connect your external hard drive to your computer. Follow the detailed steps below to < strong>install new programs on the external hard drive.

Step 1: Click the Start menu, and then select “Settings” (the gear icon).

Step 2: Go to Settings > System > Storage > Change where new content is saved.

Installing Apps from an External Hard Drive - 2

Step 3: Use the “Save new documents to” dropdown to select your external drive.

Part 2: Running Applications from an External Drive

You already know how to install new apps on an external drive or second drive. But what about apps that are already installed? How can you move them and run them from an external hard drive?

The purpose of this section is

• Recommend a Windows Easy Transfer Software called Todo PCTrans.
• Emphasize its reliable feature of being able to transfer programs to external storage devices.
• Persuade most Windows users to try this function since accumulating data and programs are consuming hard drive memory and space, thereby slowing down computer performance and making it run extremely sluggish.

Implementation of the solution

On your old computer, download and install the Todo PCTrans tool. Get a USB external hard drive, flash drive, or memory card that you can use.

Tip: If the external storage device has enough capacity, you can transfer a large number of executable programs from a Windows computer to it.

First, move your application to an external drive.

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer. Launch Todo PCTrans and select “App Migration > Start.”

Select App Migration

Step 2: Find and select the app(s) you want to transfer (labeled “Yes”). You can choose multiple apps.

Click the triangle icon, then select your external hard drive as the location to save the application.

Step Three: Click “Move” to shift the program to the external hard drive.

Second, reconnect the external hard drive to your computer.

• The location of the application has changed. It is no longer on your computer's local drive. • On the day you want to use the app, bring the drive with you and reconnect it.

Third, get ready to run applications from an external drive.

1. Open File Explorer on Windows, then open the external storage device. 2. Double-click the app's .exe file. 3. You'll see that the app is now preparing to install. 4. Enjoy! You can run the app from the external hard drive just like you would from a local hard disk.

Conclusions

That's all there is to it for installing and running apps from an external drive. If you want to free up space and change the install location, choose Part 1. If you want to move an already installed app to an external drive, refer to Part 2.