I want to install a browser in a different folder and use an encrypted profile. I thought the Brave browser was for advanced users, but when I tried to install it, it didn’t give me any options or let me choose where to install it. It just installed automatically. This makes me think it’s a browser for dummies. Is there an installer for more normal users? that allows me to choose where the browser is installed and where my profile data is stored? This is important for privacy and security on my Windows system, and as the admin of the system, I want to have control over where programs are installed.
See this thread: Locating the latest, stable zip/portable release
I don’t get how having bar or a checkbox in an installer, makes a browser ‘for advanced users’ seems like you want Brave to make is ‘simple’ for you, which is exactly what being a common and simple user means, you just want to be more picky and complicate things more for whatever reason.
But anyway.
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Brave doesn’t have a standalone version, what Brave has is a Zipped version, which can be found in Github.
what is the difference? well, if you use Zipped version of Brave, Brave won’t update it, unlike Opera and Vivaldi, which can do that since they don’t use chromium updater like Brave does, so it is your choice. -
You can use Brave as a standalone version, but you should do what Vivaldi and Opera do, what do they do? what is a standalone version?
well, it is a glorified ready to use ‘unzipped’ version with a ready to use shortcut/launcher.
How do they achieve that? well, by starting the browser with--user-data-dir=
which means any Chromium browser can do the same. You just create a shortcut or a bat file starting Brave with that command and done. -
Why do you want to install Brave in another folder? Brave’s information is in the User Data, what is the point of moving the whole thing? if you want to change the user data location to another drive, go back to point n°2, and use the
--user-data-dir
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If you want to place Brave in another drive or folder, this can easily be achieved by using symbolic links.
And the easiest way is to install Brave without admin rights, so it gets installed in%localappdata%\BraveSoftware\
everything, updater, application and userdata, then all you have to do is to move the folder to Z:\BraveSoftware and then create a symbolic link to the original location%localappdata%\BraveSoftware\
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Symbolic links should work better than using a zipped version that you have to manually update anyway.
All you need for symbolic links to happen is to have admin rights and done.
So, you already have the control do install any app wherever you want even if they don’t officially allow it. As you can see by my post, easy and simple.
Thank you for your answer.
It is a shame that Brave does not give the user a choice, and you have to use third-party solutions. I know that there are possibilities that this can be achieved by modifying the command line or using shortcuts. However, this takes time, it would be much simpler if it were implemented in the installer.
- I just want to have an encrypted folder for private data. No, Vivaldi does it differently.
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