The launcher sets temporary environment variables ( APPDATA , USERPROFILE ) to folders on the USB drive (e.g., F:\PortableApps\ArduinoIDE2\Data ). All cores, libraries, and settings stay inside that Data folder.
Consider these strategies to make your portable setup more reliable: arduino ide 2 portable
Open the YAML file and manually change the directories paths to point to relative or specific folders on your portable drive: data : Path for board packages. downloads : Path for staged files. user : Path for your sketchbook and libraries. The launcher sets temporary environment variables ( APPDATA
Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file directly into this new folder. You should see Arduino IDE.exe inside this directory. downloads : Path for staged files
This gives you full control and a smaller footprint.
The script will automatically generate the new data , sketchbook , and userprofile folders inside your main directory. Inside the IDE, navigate to .