Create a bootable Windows 10 installer on the second hard drive

Hello! I've been messing with my laptop for hours now and still doesn't work so here's my problem...

I have new m.2 SSD which I will use to replace my existing SSD on my laptop. Now I want to install an image of my OS on my new SSD but my problem was I don't have a working USB right now to make a bootable windows 10 installer. My laptop has a second mechanical drive here, so my question is can I make a new partition on the mechanical drive, make it bootable and then install a windows 10 installer there so I can use the tool where I can restore my OS image? Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!

I assume you want to clone your disk to the new one. You can use free cloning software on cd to boot from it and copy one disk straight to the other. depending on the disk type you will need to copy all the paritions not just one

As @Samuria eluded to... do you want to clone your existing Windows install to the SSD, or do you want to start with a new clean install of Windows to the SSD?

Sorry if my post was not clear but this is my situation:
1. Restore my current OS (m.2 ss, 128gb) on my new m.2 512gb using windows installer (restore image tool)
2. I only have 1 slot of m.2 on my laptop.
3. The system image is already saved on my second hard drive (1tb HDD)
4. Current I don't have a working USB drive or DVD/CD reader to used as a windows installer to restore the image
5. Can I like partition my 1tb hddto create a bootable windows 10 installer so I can restore the image?
6. Or any way to restore the image without using a external storage?

I would not trust Windows imaging to do what you want to do. I would use Macrium Reflect Free. And yes, it is very possible to create the bootable recovery drive to do it with on your 1tb HDD. Create a 9-10 GB fat32 partition on the HDD and extract either a Windows 10 installation ISO file to it, but I would highly suggest instead extracting Kyhi's Recovery Tools to it:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Then you can go into either your UEFI setup or UEFI boot override menu and it will show up as a bootable UEFI OS. Kyhi's Recovery Tools contains Macrium Reflect that you can use to make an image of your 128GB SSD, and then restore it to the new 512GB SSD.

This is my laptop with an internal m.2 SSD and SATA SSD (although SATA HDD would be exactly the same, no difference):



My recovery partition (R: drive) is actually a hybrid Windows setup/Kyhi's recovery tools. I extracted a Windows 10 installation ISO file to it. Then I replace \sources\boot.wim file with the boot.wim file from Kyhi's recovery tools ISO file. It boots into Kyhi's recovery tools which is fully functional. If I want to re-install Windows to the m.2 SSD, then I just run setup.exe from R: drive and Windows setup will run just like I booted into it.

NavyLCDR said:

I would not trust Windows imaging to do what you want to do. I would use Macrium Reflect Free. And yes, it is very possible to create the bootable recovery drive to do it with on your 1tb HDD. Create a 9-10 GB fat32 partition on the HDD and extract either a Windows 10 installation ISO file to it, but I would highly suggest instead extracting Kyhi's Recovery Tools to it:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Then you can go into either your UEFI setup or UEFI boot override menu and it will show up as a bootable UEFI OS. Kyhi's Recovery Tools contains Macrium Reflect that you can use to make an image of your 128GB SSD, and then restore it to the new 512GB SSD.

This is my laptop with an internal m.2 SSD and SATA SSD (although SATA HDD would be exactly the same, no difference):



My recovery partition (R: drive) is actually a hybrid Windows setup/Kyhi's recovery tools. I extracted a Windows 10 installation ISO file to it. Then I replace \sources\boot.wim file with the boot.wim file from Kyhi's recovery tools ISO file. It boots into Kyhi's recovery tools which is fully functional. If I want to re-install Windows to the m.2 SSD, then I just run setup.exe from R: drive and Windows setup will run just like I booted into it.

Ohh, I actually saw this already. I tried it but for some reason it didnt work. The boot record (idk what's the right term) which you will add using EasyBCD is saved on C: (m.2 ssd) right? So if I remove it my main drive and install the new m.2 ssd.. the record will be gone too. Im I correct?

What happened was when I booted with my original m.2, I can select the windows installer partition on boot menu, but when I installed the new m.2, the list was gone.. Since the boot record is in the original m.2 .

You were setting up a dual boot menu using EasyBCD. That's not what you want to do. You want to get into BIOS and the boot override menu. Power on the computer and at the first sign of life start tapping the F2 key until you get into BIOS. Then -> over to the save and exit menu, and there should be boot override options on that screen. NOTE: this is from a shutdown by holding the shift key when clicking on shutdown.

NavyLCDR said:

You were setting up a dual boot menu using EasyBCD. That's not what you want to do. You want to get into BIOS and the boot override menu. Power on the computer and at the first sign of life start tapping the F2 key until you get into BIOS. Then -> over to the save and exit menu, and there should be boot override options on that screen. NOTE: this is from a shutdown by holding the shift key when clicking on shutdown.

You are right sir. I was able to boot into recovery mode now. I'm currently restoring my image from old SSD. If this doesn't work ill use Macrium Reflect. Thanks!!