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A portable copy launched immediately after creation now correctly uses its own configuration#18443

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seanbudd merged 4 commits intonvaccess:masterfrom
CyrilleB79:restartPortable
Aug 8, 2025
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A portable copy launched immediately after creation now correctly uses its own configuration#18443
seanbudd merged 4 commits intonvaccess:masterfrom
CyrilleB79:restartPortable

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@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 commented Jul 11, 2025 •
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Link to issue number:

Closes #18442
Fix-up of #16937

Summary of the issue:

When creating a portable NVDA and asking to launch it immediately after creation, the portable copy does not use its own config, but the one of the NVDA it had been created from.

In #16937, we propagate --disable-addons as well as -c / --config-path for security reasons so that an administrator can update from a user account using their own config folder, without risking to use malicious add-ons in the user's configuration (see GHSA-727q-h8j2-6p45).

Description of developer facing changes:

N/A

Description of development approach:

  • When creating a portable copy, do not pass parameters to the new instance. In any case, there is no UAC, so no risk of privilege escalation.
  • Parameters are still being passed to the new instance during an update.
  • When installing a new copy, I have kept parameters of original NVDA.

Testing strategy:

  • portable creation: uses its own configuration
  • portable update: uses the configuration of the previous portable, even, for example when using -c flag

Known issues with pull request:

None

Code Review Checklist:

  • Documentation:
    • Change log entry
    • User Documentation
    • Developer / Technical Documentation
    • Context sensitive help for GUI changes
  • Testing:
    • Unit tests
    • System (end to end) tests
    • Manual testing
  • UX of all users considered:
    • Speech
    • Braille
    • Low Vision
    • Different web browsers
    • Localization in other languages / culture than English
  • API is compatible with existing add-ons.
  • Security precautions taken.

@coderabbitai summary

@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 changed the title A portable copy launched immediately after creation now correctly use… A portable copy launched immediately after creation now correctly uses its own configuration Jul 11, 2025
@LeonarddeR
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LeonarddeR commented Jul 12, 2025

What will happen with a portable copy that updates itself? I think it is desirable that in that case, the portable copy keeps the command line flags.

@SaschaCowley SaschaCowley added the conceptApproved Similar 'triaged' for issues, PR accepted in theory, implementation needs review. label Jul 15, 2025
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CyrilleB79 commented Jul 22, 2025

How can I perform test with an NVDA generated from a dev branch? The update mechanism is disabled in this case.

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SaschaCowley commented Jul 22, 2025

@CyrilleB79 You'll need to set updateVersionType to stable, snapshot:beta, or snapshot:alpha, and spoof the version to an updatable version.

  • If you want to run from source, you can enable update check by changing updateVersionType in versionInfo.py (you need to do this in source because the update system isn't initialised otherwise). You will also need to spoof the version, which I find is most easily done by changing versionInfo.version from the NVDA Python Console before checking for an update.
  • If you're happy building a launcher or portable, you can pass updateVersionType and version to scons dist or scons launcher.

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CyrilleB79 commented Aug 7, 2025

OK I have finally been able to test portable update.

  • I have compiled a launcher with:
    scons launcher version_build=30000 updateVersionType=beta -j8
  • Then I have launched the launcher and created a portable from it.
  • I have launched the just created portable normally and set its config (OneCore Hortense (French))
  • I have then launched again the portable copy with an alternative config folder, using -c flag, and set a different config (OneCore Paul (French)).
  • Then I have made the update (to 2025.2rc1)

I can confirm that during the update and after it when NVDA portable is relaunched, the alternative config folder (with Paul) is still being used, what is expected.

@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 marked this pull request as ready for review August 7, 2025 21:27
@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 requested a review from a team as a code owner August 7, 2025 21:27
@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 requested a review from seanbudd August 7, 2025 21:27
@CyrilleB79
Merge branch 'master' into restartPortable
603a30d 
# Conflicts:
#	user_docs/en/changes.md
seanbudd
seanbudd approved these changes Aug 8, 2025
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Thanks @CyrilleB79

@seanbudd seanbudd merged commit 4be15f1 into nvaccess:master Aug 8, 2025
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@CyrilleB79 CyrilleB79 deleted the restartPortable branch August 8, 2025 11:21
@SaschaCowley SaschaCowley added this to the 2025.3 milestone Aug 18, 2025
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When creating a portable copy, the newly started copy does not start with its own configuration

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@CyrilleB79 @LeonarddeR @SaschaCowley @seanbudd