Verdict: A relic of a bygone era. While it was once a popular solution for students and freelancers needing to work on multiple machines without installation privileges, it is technically obsolete, legally risky, and functionally dangerous for modern workflows.
No legitimate, pre-packaged "portable" version of any 3ds Max release exists. Here is why: 3ds max 9 portable
When you find a download labeled "3ds Max 9 Portable," it is almost certainly one of three things: Verdict: A relic of a bygone era
The short answer: A truly stable, fully functional "portable" version of 3ds Max 9 does not exist in the clean sense of the word. What exists are hacked, virtualized, or repackaged versions that break often. No legitimate, pre-packaged "portable" version of any 3ds