Opera Software, along with the release of Opera 41 to the Developer channel, released the new Opera Portable Installer to improve the process of installing portable versions of the browser.
It is not as if Opera Software’s installer did not support the portable installation of the Opera browser before.
The process was hidden under options but it was there. All you had to do was click on the options button when the first page of the installer opened to start the process.
There you had to change the install path to any other path, and switch the install for variable from “all users on this computer” to “stand-alone installation (USB)”.
Tip: The same page lets you block the sharing of usage data with Opera.
Opera Portable Installer
The new Opera Portable Installer offers two advantages over the built-in option to install Opera as a portable browser.
First, Opera is automatically installed as a portable browser. This means that you don’t have to dive into options and make changes there to install a portable copy of Opera.
The second advantage is that Opera detects USB storage devices automatically. The installer adjusts the installation path for the portable version of Opera automatically when it detects connected USB storage.
This means that you may not have to pick a custom path for the installation. This works only obviously if you want to run Opera from the USB device.
You may still change the path the browser becomes available under if that is not the case.
The options of Opera Portable Installer are identical to the options provided by the “real” installer. You may change the language of the browser there, and disable the importing of data from the default browser, and the sharing of usage stats with Opera.
It is still necessary to open that second page if you want to modify one or several of the settings displayed on it.
Opera Portable Installer is only available for the Developer edition of Opera. According to Opera, it is a new “revamped version of the Opera Network Installer”.
It is unclear if Opera will make the portable installer available for other channels, or if it will remain a Developer channel exclusive.
You can download the latest version of the portable installer for Opera from here.