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Using the portable MIRA .zip on Windows (no installer)

This guide is for advanced Windows users who cannot install programs with an .exe installer and need to run MIRA from the portable .zip package.

Target result

At the end of this guide you will have:

  • The portable MIRA files extracted into a stable directory that is unlikely to be deleted by accident.
  • A desktop shortcut to quickly open MIRA.
  • (Optional) A Start Menu entry for easier launch.

1) Download the portable .zip

  1. Open: https://mira.bmogroup.solutions/releases/
  2. Download the latest Windows portable archive (the .zip artifact).
  3. Do not run the file from Downloads directly.

2) Choose a safe extraction folder

Avoid temporary or auto-cleaned directories such as:

  • Downloads
  • Desktop (if your organization auto-cleans profiles)
  • %TEMP%

Recommended stable location:

  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MIRA\

Create the folder if needed and extract the .zip there.

Example final executable path:

  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MIRA\MIRA.exe

3) Launch once to validate

Double-click MIRA.exe from the extracted directory.

If Windows SmartScreen appears:

  1. Click More info.
  2. Click Run anyway.

4) Create a desktop shortcut

  1. Open the extraction folder.
  2. Right-click MIRA.exe -> Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut).
  3. Rename shortcut to MIRA if desired.

This gives non-admin users a convenient launcher without installing software system-wide.

5) Optional: add a Start Menu entry

You can add a per-user Start Menu shortcut (no admin rights needed):

  1. Press Win + R, run:

text shell:programs

  1. In the opened folder, create a shortcut pointing to:

text %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MIRA\MIRA.exe

  1. Name it MIRA.

MIRA should now appear in the user Start Menu search.

6) Update workflow for new versions

Because this is a portable install:

  1. Download the new .zip release.
  2. Close MIRA.
  3. Replace the files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MIRA\.
  4. Re-open from the existing shortcut (desktop and Start Menu shortcuts continue working if MIRA.exe path remains the same).

Troubleshooting

  • Shortcut does not open MIRA: verify Target points to the current MIRA.exe path.
  • App disappears after cleanup: move installation from volatile folders (Downloads/Desktop/temp) to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MIRA\.
  • Blocked by policy: some organizations block unsigned binaries; request IT allowlisting for MIRA.