Easiest Way to Install ComfyUI Portable + Manager

Tutorial · AI Image Generation

How to Install ComfyUI Portable
& ComfyUI Manager on Windows

Get the most powerful open-source Stable Diffusion GUI running on your machine — no Python experience needed.

Unreal Fusion · March 2026 · ⏱ 10 min read

ComfyUI is one of the most powerful node-based interfaces for Stable Diffusion — and the Portable version is the easiest way to get started on Windows. No Python installation, no complicated setup. Just download, extract, and run. In this guide we'll also install ComfyUI Manager, which gives you a one-click system for adding custom nodes and models.

// Part 01

What is ComfyUI Portable?

ComfyUI Portable is a standalone, self-contained Windows package for ComfyUI. It ships with its own embedded Python runtime (python_embeded), so you don't need to install Python globally or wrestle with virtual environments. Simply download one archive, extract it, and double-click a batch file to start generating images.

It currently supports two modes of execution — via Nvidia GPU (recommended for performance) or via CPU (slower but works on any machine).

💡

The portable version is ideal for beginners or anyone who doesn't want to manage a Python environment manually. For advanced setups with multiple ComfyUI versions, consider the manual install method instead.

// Part 02

Step 1 — Download ComfyUI Portable

Head over to the official ComfyUI documentation to grab your download. Choose the version that matches your GPU:

⚡ Recommended

Nvidia GPU (CUDA 12.8)

For all modern Nvidia cards — RTX 20xx, 30xx, 40xx, 50xx series

🔁 Legacy Support

Nvidia GPU (CUDA 12.6)

For older Nvidia cards — GTX 10xx series and earlier

🧪 Experimental

AMD GPU

ROCm-based support — results may vary on Windows

🐢 Fallback

CPU Only

Works on any machine, but image generation is very slow

Find all downloads on the official docs page:

→ Official Download Page

Extracting the Archive

The download comes as a .7z compressed file. You'll need 7-Zip (free) to extract it. Once extracted, you'll find this folder structure:

📂 ComfyUI_windows_portable
  ├── 📂 ComfyUI // Main program
  ├── 📂 python_embeded // Self-contained Python
  ├── 📂 update // Update scripts
  ├── README_VERY_IMPORTANT.txt
  ├── run_cpu.bat // Launch with CPU
  └── run_nvidia_gpu.bat // Launch with GPU ⚡

// Part 03

Step 2 — Launch ComfyUI

Starting ComfyUI is as simple as double-clicking a file. Choose the right launcher for your hardware:

1. Navigate to your extracted ComfyUI_windows_portable folder
2. If you have an Nvidia GPU, double-click run_nvidia_gpu.bat
3. If you only have CPU, double-click run_cpu.bat
4. A command prompt window will open — wait for it to finish loading
5. When you see To see the GUI go to: http://127.0.0.1:8188, ComfyUI is ready!
6. Your browser should open automatically. If not, visit http://127.0.0.1:8188 manually

⚠️

Do not close the command prompt window while using ComfyUI — that's the server running in the background. Closing it will shut down the entire application.

// Part 04

Step 3 — Install ComfyUI Manager

ComfyUI Manager is an essential extension that adds a full GUI for installing, updating, disabling, and removing custom nodes. It has over 14,000 GitHub stars and is maintained by the official Comfy-Org team.

For the portable version, the easiest method is Method 2 from the official docs:

Method A — Easy Batch Install (Recommended for Portable)

1. First, install Git for Windows — download the standalone version from git-scm.com. During install, choose "Use Windows Default Console Window"
2. Go to the ComfyUI Manager GitHub page and find the file scripts/install-manager-for-portable-version.bat
3. Right-click the link and choose "Save Link As..." — save it directly inside your ComfyUI_windows_portable folder
4. Double-click the downloaded install-manager-for-portable-version.bat file
5. The script will automatically clone ComfyUI Manager into the correct location
6. Restart ComfyUI — you should now see a "Manager" button in the top menu bar

Method B — Manual Git Clone

If you prefer the terminal approach:

Command Prompt / Terminal

cd ComfyUI_windows_portable\ComfyUI\custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/ltdrdata/ComfyUI-Manager comfyui-manager

Then restart ComfyUI.

📁

The Manager files must end up at the path ComfyUI/custom_nodes/comfyui-manager/. If you extract a zip manually and the folder is named differently (e.g. ComfyUI-Manager-main), it won't work correctly. Always use the git clone command to be safe.

// Part 05

Step 4 — Using ComfyUI Manager

Once installed, ComfyUI Manager integrates directly into the ComfyUI interface. Here's what you can do:

Installing Custom Nodes

1. Click the "Manager" button in the top toolbar of ComfyUI
2. Select "Install Custom Nodes" from the Manager dialog
3. Browse or search the registry — it lists thousands of community-made nodes
4. Click "Install" next to any node you want
5. Restart ComfyUI when prompted

Installing Missing Nodes

If you load a workflow and some nodes are missing (shown in red), Manager can detect and install them for you automatically via the "Install Missing Custom Nodes" option.

Keeping Everything Updated

Use "Fetch Updates" to check for new versions of all your installed custom nodes, then apply them with a single click. Manager also supports snapshot saving — so you can roll back your entire setup if something breaks.

comfy-cli alternative (advanced)

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install comfy-cli
comfy install

// Part 06

Optional — Shared Model Paths

By default, ComfyUI looks for models inside ComfyUI/models/. If you already have models from another tool like Automatic1111 (WebUI), you can tell ComfyUI where to find them without copying files.

1. Find the file ComfyUI/extra_model_paths.yaml.example
2. Copy and rename it to extra_model_paths.yaml (same folder)
3. Open it in Notepad and set the base_path to your existing model folder
4. Save and restart ComfyUI

extra_model_paths.yaml example

a111:
    base_path: D:\stable-diffusion-webui\
    checkpoints: models/Stable-diffusion
    vae: models/VAE
    loras: models/Lora
    controlnet: models/ControlNet

// Part 07

Keeping ComfyUI Up to Date

The portable version ships with batch scripts for updating. Inside the update folder you'll find:

📂 update
  ├── update_comfyui.bat // Latest commit version
  ├── update_comfyui_stable.bat // Latest stable release ✅
  └── update_comfyui_and_python_dependencies.bat // Fix broken environments

Run update_comfyui_stable.bat periodically to stay current.

You're All Set! 🎉

ComfyUI is now installed and ready. Start by loading a checkpoint model into ComfyUI/models/checkpoints/ and run your first generation.

📖 Official Portable Docs ⭐ ComfyUI Manager on GitHub

Written by Unreal Fusion · @unrealfusion1 · Tutorial based on official docs at docs.comfy.org