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I'm considering switching from Eclipse to Intellij. One thing I like about Eclipse is that the whole installation is just a folder, and I can put that on a USB stick and copy it to another computer if I want. All of my plugins, settings, and everything else come with me and all I have to do is simply copy a folder.

Is there any way I could do this with Intellij?

Community
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Kyle
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    Yeah, there's just a special procedure you'd have to take up, I suspect. Dunno how this would behave with licenses (no worries if you use the community edition, though). – Rafe Kettler Jan 26 '11 at 19:52

5 Answers5

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Yes, it's possible, just copy the installation directory to the flash drive, then edit IDEA_HOME\bin\idea.properties file, change the values of idea.config.path and idea.plugins.path to the relative location, like: ../config and ../user-plugins (locations are relative to IDEA bin directory).

Now copy your original settings and third-party plug-ins (if any):

  • ${user.home}/.IntelliJIdea10/config => usb:/IDEA_HOME/config
  • ${user.home}/.IntelliJIdea10/config/plugins => usb:/IDEA_HOME/user-plugins

Note that it's not recommended to change idea.system.path variable, so that it remains on the fast local drive, otherwise it could affect IDEA performance and occupy a lot of USB drive space.

CrazyCoder
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  • Thanks for your answer. The only problem is now it keeps my customizations, but not my "Activation" information. Everytime I should enter my License information to in order to use it. Is there a way to avoid this, too? – Yar Feb 03 '15 at 22:17
  • @Hooman if the license `.key` file is present in the [config folder](https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/entries/23379538), it should not ask for the license again. – CrazyCoder Feb 05 '15 at 22:11
  • that's odd because I have `idea14.key` in my moved config folder but it seems it doesn't recognize it at the startup. Anyway I don't mind typing it once a day! Thanks for your answer. – Yar Feb 06 '15 at 17:35
  • you have to remove # from begging of line. also i think it is better you change log path and plugins path. but remember remove # from begging of line. – Amir Feb 15 '16 at 20:19
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One thing you could also do is to use the ${idea.home} path variable. I described in an article how you can create a portable version of IntelliJ IDEA including a version of the JDK.

https://leolabs.org/blog/making-intellij-portable/

I hope it can help you, as this is my first article in English ;)

Regards leolabs

Leo Bernard
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    Welcome to Stack Overflow! Please note that you should post the useful points of an answer here, on this site, or your post risks being deleted as ["Not an Answer"](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259). You may still include the link if you wish, but only as a 'reference'. The answer should stand on its own without needing the link. – Andrew Barber Feb 04 '13 at 21:12
  • leolabs is marked by google chrome _and_ my antivirus as being unsafe and has been blocked. -1 – Pranav A. Sep 18 '17 at 13:40
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    that's weird. Could you give more information? I don't like my blog being marked as unsafe ;) – Leo Bernard Sep 18 '17 at 19:21
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In addition to the answer of CrazyCoder:

To copy the "system" folder of IntelliJ / PHPStorm to the usb memory stick is required if you want that IntelliJ / PHPStorm behave like a portable app.

To get the desired folders install IntelliJ / PHPStorm to your HDD and run it at least one time.

On Windows 7 the path is (copy the folders to your usb memory stick):

  • %USERNAME%\.WebIde10\config\ => usb:/IDEA_HOME/config
  • %USERNAME%\.WebIde10\system\ => usb:/IDEA_HOME/user-plugins

Note that user-plugins is not created at first start of IntelliJ / PHPStorm, so create it on your usb memory stick.

Edit the idea.properties as CrazyCoder told you and change all 3 values:

  • idea.config.path
  • idea.plugins.path
  • idea.system.path
DanielaWaranie
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open c:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3\bin\idea.properties

  • change # idea.config.path=${user.home}/.IntelliJIdea/config to idea.config.path=../PortableSetting/config
  • change # idea.system.path=${user.home}/.IntelliJIdea/system to idea.system.path=../PortableSetting/system
  • change # idea.plugins.path=${idea.config.path}/plugins to idea.plugins.path=../PortableSetting/config/plugins
  • change # idea.log.path=${idea.system.path}/log to idea.log.path=../PortableSetting/system/log

make PortableSetting folder in c:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3\

copy content of C:\Documents and Settings\User\.IntelliJIdea14\ to c:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3\PortableSetting\

copy c:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3 to USB and enjoy!

I wrote this answer for windows XP default directory.

for more information about default directory look at here.

I read other people answers and made an step by step answer.

Amir
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    For Windows 10, the app data is here: 'C:\Users\{your user name}\AppData\Local\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3' and also here: 'C:\Users\{your user name}\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 14.1.3' – VoteCoffee Apr 04 '22 at 16:07
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You can use portableapps platform for portable intellij. Details description is here.

Zahid Hasan
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