ClickOnce trouble when offline

Today I was building a ClickOnce demo for a conference when I had to find out (bad surprise!) that deployment from a web page (the default "publish.htm" on localhost, e.g., that Whidbey generates) does not work if the machine is not connected to a network. You get an "Activation of ... failed. ..." error, and the log states that deployment is not possible if the machine is offline. From a practical point of view this makes sense, but when presenting at a conference you can't make sure they have a network available for you to connect to...

I wonder what technology behind ClickOnce requires a network? I tried a few things, like activating the loopback adapter, or connecting to a standalone hub (such that at least the network adapter is busy), but that did not help.

If anyone has a workaround or an explanation, please let me know, I'd be grateful for any info.