I'd like to completely separate my Poser (PP-2014) and its runtime(s) from my computer by installing it on an external harddrive.

The goal is to be able to unplug it and use it with any computer I want.

Possible? What's the best way to achieve this? Any hints, tips or instructions?

Is there any part of Poser, data, files or folders that NEED to stay on the main drive?

Many thanks!

There are registry entries related to the license. You must have installed Poser previously on each computer you plan to use, using that drive letter.

The other alternative method is to install in a sandbox on the external drive, thereby making it portable. However, I am not sure that is in keeping with SM's end user license agreement

What is a sandbox? Are you speaking of a program that intercepts write commands to the hard drive?

Sandboxes come in different flavors. But they are all forms of virtualization. In this case, the sandbox will have its own copy of Windows OS (including registry). It will need network emulation also, since the program listens for other copies on the local network. If sandbox does not have proper networking capability, then you can just block program with windows firewall rule.

Again, I do not know if this conflicts with any end user agreements. These are procedures I take when making a program portable. I do this when a program requires a different version of the OS than I am using on host machine.

I also use this for untrusted code, which is everything until I find out different.

As I understand it Poser can be installed on up to 3 computers so you move between machines. Check your documentation for the official wording and licence agreement.,