I'm quaking in my thumb drive

February 27, 2009 4:16 PM

How can I install firefox and Quakelive on a thumbdrive to play at work?

I need a way for me and a buddy to put firefox and quake live on a couple of thumbdrives so that we can play at work. Our work computers are locked down for installation.

If what I'm asking is impossible, does anyone have a suggested work around? Besides asking someone in IT to give us permission?

posted by tylerfulltilt to technology (17 answers total)

Firefox portable. Dunno about quake live.
posted by singingfish at 4:21 PM on February 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

If the network is locked down, it is locked down, the browser you use wont make a difference.
posted by BobbyDigital at 4:26 PM on February 27, 2009

the internet is unrestricted, but we can't install things to the computers. The computers have IE and we can go to anything we want, our access isn't restricted or filtered at all. We just can't install anything to the hard drives of anything on the network.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 4:33 PM on February 27, 2009

Have you tried using Microsoft's Remote Desktop to access your home machine from work? Depending on your work computers' configuration (i.e. how locked down it is) and the workplace network configuration, this may or may not be possible. You'll also have to enable remote access on your home machine. Then it's just a matter of remoting in and playing Live Quake via your home machine.

There's other remote access tools like VNC (free), GoToMyPC ($), and LogMeIn ($).

Hands down I think the best remote experience is through Microsoft's Remote Desktop, though.

Good luck!
posted by karizma at 4:37 PM on February 27, 2009

That might work, but If I could have some sort of protable installation that would be better.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 4:47 PM on February 27, 2009

Isn't this something that's better asked in the Quakelive technical support forum?
posted by JaredSeth at 5:09 PM on February 27, 2009

I asked this there too, but I'm not getting any responses.

Oh, and I tried karizma's suggestion, but the computer's here don't have remote access enabled and I don't have admin privileges to change it.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 5:13 PM on February 27, 2009

Hi.

I work as a computer technician in an office, and I know the way the computers are locked down.
I've been doing some doing research and tests to figure out how quakelive works.
Here's some of the info I got so far.

Most of the folders where quakelive installs stuff you have access to write to.
But quakelive requires you to copy files to the windows folder and the drivers folder and install services, which only an administrator can do.

This the main reason why you can't play quakelive at work.
posted by PowerCat at 5:55 PM on February 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

do you have any suggestions to work around it powercat?
posted by tylerfulltilt at 6:17 PM on February 27, 2009

Unfortunately there is no way you can create services without administrator privileges, even power user can't do it. I've tested it.

Make friends with the IT guy and ask him to do a RUNAS under his admin account of the install file.
posted by PowerCat at 6:39 PM on February 27, 2009

In particular, QuakeLive needs to install and set up PunkBuster, which monitors your computer for suspicious software that might tamper with the game (aimbots, etc). For this to work, it has to be running with elevated privledges, which you won't be able to work around.

Why not grab an old copy of Quake 3 and throw that on the flash drive?
posted by SemiSophos at 8:19 PM on February 27, 2009

semisophos, I had not thought of that, but it could probably work.
I'm gonna try it and let you know how it works.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 8:47 PM on February 27, 2009

Oh, and I tried karizma's suggestion, but the computer's here don't have remote access enabled and I don't have admin privileges to change it.

Do you mean that the Remote Desktop client is unavailable on your work machine? I'm assuming you're running Windows (XP?) so if that's the case, go Start -> Run -> type mstsc and see if the Remote Desktop client comes up. Does that still not work? Can you use the Run command at all or get to Task Manager? It might be totally locked down but it's worth a try at this point.
posted by karizma at 10:23 PM on February 27, 2009

Something to note: Remote Desktop will add more latency to your game, and it will be video and input lag rather than lag within a game engine where netcode tidily hides it in the background so that lag usually only exhibits itself as a hiccup. Unless it was very close to your computer on the network that is, as in, running on a laptop surreptitiously added to the company's network and hidden beneath your desk. But that's just getting more complicated, and if your company doesn't let you bring in a laptop or filters MAC addresses, then things are just going to get that much more complicated, especially if IT decides to investigate that new unauthorized machine.

I'd Nth running Quake 3 from a thumb drive. Or I remember many of my friends played Counterstrike somehow on the computers at my school that were otherwise very locked down. I once tried installing Steam on my account, and it got pretty close to running HL1 (I think...), although it stopped when it saw the computers didn't have DirectX installed. Your place is probably a bit more modern, though, and I imagine a non-steam variety of CS or another game based on that engine may be good. Quake Live has the benefit of being new and being actively developed, though.
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:43 AM on February 28, 2009

On the quake live tech support forums, they mention that they are developing a portable version.

Karizma, They have the computers configured in such a way that remote desktop can't access other computers beyond the network. I got the program to run, and I had my wife run through the process of configuring my home computer to allow remote desktop access, but the work computer wouldn't connect.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 8:41 AM on February 28, 2009

Bring your own laptops and plug them into the network. If you can get away with playing games at work, that shouldn't be an issue.
posted by wongcorgi at 10:06 AM on February 28, 2009

our laptops are macs and quake isn't supported on that yet. Based on all the research I've done I think the best option is gonna be for both of us to by a 16g flash drive and install Q3 on that.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 6:14 PM on February 28, 2009