Will Win 10 pc boot from usb?

HP Pavilion Desktop PC 570-pOXX. Windows 10 Home (X64) Version 1703 (build 15063.483)

I downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect Free and made a disk image of my drive c:\. It appears to be all there. At Macrium's suggestion I rebooted with the drive attached but the system booted to the hard drive without offering an option. A quick Google search https://blog.macrium.com/techie-tues...e-e6be74abb089 states that a clone disk will not boot from usb but is not specific about disk image.

If it is true that win 10 will not boot from usb, how would usb versions of Win 10 be installable?

Perhaps I should have reformatted the usb drive to NTFS from Fat32?

tcebob said:

HP Pavilion Desktop PC 570-pOXX. Windows 10 Home (X64) Version 1703 (build 15063.483)

I downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect Free and made a disk image of my drive c:\. It appears to be all there. At Macrium's suggestion I rebooted with the drive attached but the system booted to the hard drive without offering an option. A quick Google search https://blog.macrium.com/techie-tues...e-e6be74abb089 states that a clone disk will not boot from usb but is not specific about disk image.

If it is true that win 10 will not boot from usb, how would usb versions of Win 10 be installable?

Perhaps I should have reformatted the usb drive to NTFS from Fat32?

At the HP Splash Screen, press ESC to invoke the 'One Time' boot menu, then choose the flash drive and press Enter.

I don't believe I have ever seen an HP Splash Screen. I hit ESC throughout the boot, just to be sure. How would I activate the screen? What does it look like?

tcebob said:

I don't believe I have ever seen an HP Splash Screen. I hit ESC throughout the boot, just to be sure. How would I activate the screen? What does it look like?

Some BIOSes can be set to not display the brand logo, show more of the onscreen text of the booting process. Sometimes immediately upon hearing a faint beep one can start pressing a key to enter the BIOS setup to make changes but it depends upon the BIOS or brand that implemented it. The computers I have problems with [usually because I'm in a hurry] are those that I fail to look up on the 'net to see the manual as to the basics.

"But Windows cannot boot from a USB connected drive; this is a restriction imposed by Windows."
"If you clone your system disk to a USB connected external drive then, to boot your clone the physical disk must be removed from the USB caddy and attached to your Motherboard SATA port." That is included in the Macrium article you looked up.
I use Macrium Free and have cloned to USB external drives but afterward removed the installed HDD and then installed the cloned drive and attached it to the Motherboard SATA port.
Are you trying to keep your original HDD installed and have the cloned drive available for when you want to replace the the original HDD?

tcebob said:

HP Pavilion Desktop PC 570-pOXX. Windows 10 Home (X64) Version 1703 (build 15063.483)

I downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect Free and made a disk image of my drive c:\. It appears to be all there. At Macrium's suggestion I rebooted with the drive attached but the system booted to the hard drive without offering an option. A quick Google search https://blog.macrium.com/techie-tues...e-e6be74abb089 states that a clone disk will not boot from usb but is not specific about disk image.

If it is true that win 10 will not boot from usb, how would usb versions of Win 10 be installable?

Perhaps I should have reformatted the usb drive to NTFS from Fat32?

Lets clear up one thing...

Are you trying to create a bootable installation usb or a portable "Windows To Go" usb?

Edwin, I was hoping that the Macrium disk image would be the right thing for booting in an emergency. It seems to say so in the Macrium program.

I believe I am, after all, seeing the Hp Splash screen but it is white on black instead of white on blue as depicted on some sites.

Here goes another try -- with the usb plugged into a port on the back of the pc. I'll try esc and F12 as possibilities.

tcebob said:

Edwin, I was hoping that the Macrium disk image would be the right thing for booting in an emergency. It seems to say so in the Macrium program.

Yes..., but, for running Windows or installing Windows?

tcebob said:

I believe I am, after all, seeing the Hp Splash screen but it is white on black instead of white on blue as depicted on some sites.

You're seeing the Diagnostic Screen, here's how to disable it and get the Splash Screen:

I think there is some major confusion here that should be cleared up.

If you made an image of your hard drive for backup purposes - that image is just a single file (or broken up into 4GB chunks if you saved it to FAT32). It is not bootable. It is just a backup image file.

In order to restore the image, you need to create the bootable Macrium Reflect rescue drive, usually a USB flash drive (also known as thumb drive or memory stick). You would boot your computer from the rescue drive, and then restore the backup image to wherever it needed to be restored to.

Macrium Reflect also allows you to browse the saved backup image file and just copy over individual files from it if desired.