How do Microsoft Word and Excel run without any installation?
Solution 1
VMWare ThinApp is what you are seeing. I've done some testing while it was still called Thinstall and then VMware bought it. It's nice because it allows you to use Office 2003 / Office 2007 / Office 2010 and many more applications like IE6, IE7, IE8 next to each other.
Basically procedure to create it looks like this:
- You install yourself a clean system. (VM machine is perfect for this)
- You run Thinapp do to a system snapshot. Then you install application
- You run Thinapp again and it finds the changes with last snapshot and packs it up.
This even gets better. You can install NET, Java
after the first snapshot and then application that uses NET
or Java
. And then use the application created with ThinApp on system that doesn't have NET
or Java
Installed.
Just to add the size difference is because Excel will use Word packed files. If you move away Word application Excel won't work.
Solution 2
Though my suggestion was originally denied ;), based on your observations I was probably correct after all: your friend must have had a copy of Microsoft Office which has been virtualized with VMware ThinApp.
First, I verified that a copy of the regular winword.exe
and excel.exe
would not work by themselves. I installed Office 2003 in a Windows XP VM, then copied them over to a different VM which had never had Office installed. Both applications failed to run.
Based on your comment that "there is Thinstall\Office 2003
under Application Data
", it seems most likely that this is the explanation. Here is how you can check:
- Remove the directory
%APPDATA%\Thinstall\Office 2003
- Run the Office executable that your friend sent you
- Check back in
%APPDATA%\Thinstall\
and see if the Office 2003 folder has reappeared. If it has, the application is definitely using ThinApp.
We use a ThinApp-wrapped version of MATLAB at my university; it has to have a .dat file present with all of the program contents. Depending on the requirements of the application though, this may not be necessary, which appears to be the case with these office programs before.
Essentially, what ThinApp does is it virtualizes the entire directory structure and registry for the application. This allows for the application to be portable and to run without interfering with the system. ThinApp also supports network licensing, so if you have an application (like MATLAB in our case) that your organization has a finite number of licenses for, it can check in with the licensing server before launching the application, and only launch it if it successfully acquires a license.
That directory in %APPDATA%
contains the folders which ThinApp virtualizes for the application. Anything that would normally be in Word's %APPDATA%
folder, like personal settings, gets saved here instead. Because of this, no matter where you launch the executable from on your computer, the settings will be preserved on that machine. They do not get transfered with the packaged application itself however. This becomes relevant when trying to reset the settings for an application which is packed with ThinApp, as the usual method of deleting its folder in %APPDATA%\Program Name
doesn't work - you have to find its virtualized folder.
Solution 3
It's not because the application is called WINWORD.EXE and the icon is the same that it is the exact same application that is shipped in Office. All Office applications have a digital signature. Right-click the winword.exe and excel.exe files and check if there is a Digital Signatures tab. You will notice those applications don't have a signature at all let alone one from Microsoft.
The applications you have are probably self-extracting executables, which contain modified files of Word 2003 so it will run without being installed. If you have 7-zip installed you can try to unpackage winword.exe and see for yourself.
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100rabh
Updated on September 17, 2022Comments
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100rabh almost 2 years
I was having a discussion on bookmarks in Word with a friend, and he suggested me to check out his implementation of a query in Word. Since I did not have Microsoft Word installed, I told him I don't have Word so I won't be able to test it.
To this, he mentioned that he'll send the executables and it will work - I argued that without an installation this will fail.
I was rather shocked when he sent me the standalone executables and on running them, Word actually launched and I was able to use almost every functionality o_0
How's this possible? I've never installed Microsoft Office on my system, this isn't any "portable" app or VMWare ThinStall ( thanks nhinkle, didn't know about this).
There are absolutely no Microsoft Office related files - except for
winword.exe
andexcel.exe
.Curiously even Microsoft Excel works fine with just the standalone executable.
winword.exe
size is about 39 MB, andexcel.exe
size is just 35kb, which makes it even more strange.I'm running on Windows XP, the files were from Office 2003.
I was discussing this on Chat prior to posting, here's the conversation
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Admin over 13 yearswere you also able to create new documents ?
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Admin over 13 years@Shark yes, was able to create new documents, save documents, edit existing ones
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Admin over 13 years@Sathya then I guess thats very charitable of MS :) Can you ask your friend how did he make the executable ? I have office 2010 and would like to try this
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Admin over 13 years@Dennis - No, no online/Live365 versions - just standard Office 2003 install
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Admin over 13 years@Shark - he didn't do anything - he just sent me the
winword.exe
andexcel.exe
files to me, I double clicked them and it ran - no office installer popups et al -
Admin over 13 years@Sathya - Did you see any Thinstall-related folders anywhere in the /Documents and Settings/Local Settings or /Application Data folders? I've seen similar versions for even something like Photoshop CS3 as small as that winword.exe file.
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Admin over 13 years@lsxek there is
Thinstall\Office 2003
under `Application Data` -
Admin over 13 years@harpo even more impressive is that Excel is just 35kb
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100rabh over 13 yearsyou're right about it not having a digital signature tab - though extracting it using 7zip fails.
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100rabh over 13 yearsInteresting - @nhinkle had mentioned about ThinApp but I had dismissed it earlier. Thanks for the nice explanation
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MadBoy over 13 yearsYe it's nice but you need to pay for ThinApp licenses and Office licenses too ;-) So double costs
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MadBoy over 13 yearsThis is not ordinary packed application. ThinApp doesn't work that way.
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100rabh over 13 yearsThat's a pirated version
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powtac over 13 yearsI didn't saw that! Sorry! Changed the link.
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nhinkle over 13 yearsWish I hadn't had school all day, else I would've posted this and could've gotten all those upvotes ;). @Sathya does it look like it is indeed ThinApp? Every time I've used it before it's taken a few minutes to open and seen a little window pop up saying "Launching application name... Powered By VMware"
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Prerak Diwan over 13 years@Sathya, actually technically your version you received from your friend is pirated as well. Also I believe that starter version are open to the public, but could be wrong.
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Prerak Diwan over 13 years"Office Starter is available only as preloaded software on select new PCs with the option of upgrading to the full Office suites at any time." Actually I was wrong. Ref site
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MadBoy over 13 yearsThat window can be turned off with configuration (at least while i was testing Thinstall.
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100rabh over 13 years@nhinkle yes, indeed - but as I had mentioned to you on chat - there were no popups whatsoever. Accepting this answer. Thanks @Madboy!
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100rabh over 13 years@KronoS I very much doubt it is pirated - but then I could be wrong
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Prerak Diwan over 13 years@sathya I'm not saying that yours friends software is actually pirated but more rather the fact that HE sent you copies to use for free becomes a violation of the EULA I believe.
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100rabh over 13 years@KronoS Of course, that goes without saying :)