Support Checker¶
Support Checker shows what the suite's apps need on this handheld besides themselves: whether Windows is up to date, whether the tools and runtimes the apps use are there, and whether each app is the version the portal brings. It only looks: it installs and changes nothing.
Support Checker is on the portal's Utilities tab: A on its tile installs it, and once it is installed, A opens it. It is also in the Start menu (Windows Portable Suite, Support Checker). It opens full screen; B goes back and ⧉ (View) exits it.
The screen¶
Three cards on the left, each with its pane on the right: Windows, Tools and Apps. The card with the focus shows its pane; A on Tools or Apps goes into its list, where the row with the focus says more under the list. Y Check again runs every check again (it takes a few seconds: Windows lists its updates slowly). ☰ (Menu) opens the information of the pane that shows.
Windows¶
Windows' name, version and build, whether an update waits for a restart, and the newest update Windows installed. The card says:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Up to date | No update waits, and Windows installed one within the last 40 days. |
| Restart to update | An update is installed and takes effect at the next restart: restart the handheld. |
| Update late | The newest update is more than 40 days old (Windows brings one every month): open Settings, Windows Update. |
| Unknown | Windows did not say which updates it installed. |
The app reads this from the registry and from Windows' list of installed updates; installing updates stays Windows'.
Tools¶
What the installed apps need besides themselves, and which of them uses each:
| Tool | Used by |
|---|---|
| Windows PowerShell | The portal: it runs every app's installer. |
| Microsoft Visual C++ runtime | RPCS3, shadPS4, Vita3K and Xenia: the emulators do not start without it. |
| Windows' tar (with 7z) | The managers of PCSX2, RPCS3, Vita3K and Xenia: it unpacks the emulator's archive; a .7z needs Windows 11's. |
| Steam | The game managers, Remote Play and the portal's RT; without it a game manager starts a game itself. |
| XBOX app | The XBOX menu, which the portal's installer adds the suite to. |
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Available | Found; the line under the list says where. |
| Missing | An installed app needs it, and it is not there. The line says how to get it. |
| Not installed | Not there, but the installed apps that use it work without it. |
| Unsupported build | There, in a form the apps cannot use: a tar that cannot unpack a .7z (Windows 10's). |
| Not needed | No installed app uses it. |
Apps¶
Every app the portal lists, with the version installed against the one the portal brings: Up to date, Update in the portal (an older one: the portal's Y updates it), Version unknown (there, but not installed by the portal) or Not installed. Each app is a program with what it needs inside, tested with it, so an app is brought up to date as a whole, by the portal.
Install it on its own¶
The portal installs it. To install it on its own, download wp-support-v<x.y.z>.zip and SHA256SUMS from its release,
then in PowerShell, in that folder:
(Get-FileHash wp-support-v<x.y.z>.zip).Hash -eq (-split (Get-Content SHA256SUMS))[0] # True: the download is intact
Expand-Archive wp-support-v<x.y.z>.zip . -Force
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File wp-support-v<x.y.z>\install.ps1
Installed on its own, it gets a Start-menu entry and a Desktop shortcut. Afterwards the installer asks whether to remove the download.
| Option | |
|---|---|
--no-desktop-shortcut |
the Start-menu entry only |
--uninstall |
remove the app; the settings and the log stay |
--uninstall --purge |
also remove the settings and the log |
Files¶
| Where | What |
|---|---|
%LOCALAPPDATA%\windows-portable-suite\windows-portable-support\app\ |
The program, Support-Checker.exe |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\windows-portable-suite\windows-portable-support\windows-portable-support.log |
The log |
%APPDATA%\windows-portable-suite\windows-portable-support.ini |
The settings |