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This tip explains how to install and run SecureCRT® for Windows® from a USB flash memory-based drive, providing highly portable security for the roving network professional.

Note: This tip is for use with SecureCRT for Windows.

Running SecureCRT for Windows from a USB Flash Memory Drive

USB flash memory drives are very handy portable storage media. Also known as flash drives and pen drives, these devices plug into any computer's USB port and are small enough to fit on a keychain or in a pocket.

To run SecureCRT from a USB drive, you create an installation for SecureCRT manually. This involves copying SecureCRT to the USB drive and creating a license key file for your registration information, with a few other minor modifications. The following instructions are generally applicable to removable USB drives. You may need to make some changes to suit your particular needs and hardware.

1. Copy the SecureCRT installation folder to the USB drive (C:\Program Files\VanDyke Software\Clients\SecureCRT by default). The top-level directory of my USB drive looks like this:



03/11/2021 21:27 <DIR>     SecureCRT


2. Copy your Config folder into the USB drive's SecureCRT folder. The location of the Configuration folder can be found in the Global Options dialog in the General/Configuration Paths category.

   The USB drive directory structure should now show a \SecureCRT\Config folder.
   

3. In Notepad or another text editor, create a text file named "SecureCRT.lic" containing your license information, and place that file in the newly-created SecureCRT folder as well. The format of the SecureCRT.lic file is as follows:



Name=<name from registration letter>
Company=<company name from registration letter>
Serial Number=03-xx-xxxxxx
Key=nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn nnnnnn
Issue Date=nn-nn-nnnn
Features=<features from registration letter>


The Features line should only be included in the SecureCRT.lic file if it is in the registration letter.

4. Finally, if you use public-key authentication with any of your sessions, you can place your public and private keys on the USB drive as well. If you only use password or keyboard interactive authentication, this step is unnecessary.
   
   After the USB drive is set up as described above, you can run SecureCRT by launching SecureCRT.exe from the SecureCRT folder on the USB drive.