While is outdated and not officially supported as a portable app, you can create a semi-portable version that runs from a USB drive on Windows XP/Vista/7 (and partially on Windows 10/11 with compatibility settings).
Create StartVS2008.bat in your portable folder: visual studio 2008 portable
@echo off set VS2008_ROOT=%~dp0 set PATH=%VS2008_ROOT%\Common7\IDE;%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\bin;%VS2008_ROOT%\Common7\Tools;%PATH% set INCLUDE=%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\include;%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\atlmfc\include set LIB=%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\lib;%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\atlmfc\lib set LIBPATH=%LIB% set DevEnvDir=%VS2008_ROOT%\Common7\IDE\ start "" "%VS2008_ROOT%\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" From a system with VS2008, copy: While is outdated and not officially supported as
Then use a batch build script:
E:\PortableApps\VS2008 Also copy these folders (if they exist): %PATH% set INCLUDE=%VS2008_ROOT%\VC\include