Software required to create external SSD or USB drive for Win10?

ineuw · 14 Nov 2022

NavyLCDR said:

Is the SSD that you installed connected via USB or is it plugged into a SATA port?

The SSD is now connected to an internal SATA port. I want to know how to apply current Windows installation requirements. My intent as a volunteer is to offer my audience of elderly users of public computers, to have their cake and eat it.

I provide computer support to a community hall of elderly users, for whom "public" does not offer a sense of privacy. Thus, I want to offer early next year, their own private persistent external drives to be used on "driveless" desktops.

I started with Linux Mint Cinnamon 21 persistent USB keys because of cost and it was easier to install and the software s free, but now, I purchased Windows license keys to create persistent Windows 10, which is most of my users want.

I spent that the last several months studying the use of USB3.1 or 3.2 keys versus external USB 3.2 SATA drives. My observations indicate that the users prefer a USB key, but an external drive may be acceptable due to the cost of USB 3.2-2x2 drives which also require a 3.2 version 2x2 card to take match the motherboard bus speed.

The final plan is that users provide the required hardware and the software license key wherever they want, and the community installs the OS without charge.

NavyLCDR · 14 Nov 2022

OK. You have several problems to overcome. First let us try to get you a USB SSD that will boot into Windows. You cannot create a Windows installation on an SSD installed in the computer and then move it to USB after Windows is installed. Windows will fail to boot (at least on the installs that I have tried.) The first thing you need to do is move the SSD to the USB adapter or enclosure and plug it into a USB port, not a SATA port on the motherboard. Then plug in Windows 10 installation USB flash drive into another USB port and boot the computer from it. Once you get to the first install blue install screen that asks for language, keyboard and time and currency, press Shift + F10. Shift+F10 will open a command prompt. Study the sequence of commands below. Note that your volume letters and disk numbers may be different, so be sure to adjust the commands that need adjusting to account for those differences. The index in the dism commands is how you choose which version you want to install. After the computer shuts down at the end, pull out the Windows 10 installation USB flash drive and boot the computer from the SSD connected to USB. Good Luck!

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.508]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

X:\Sources>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MINWINPC

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D   CCCOMA_X64F  UDF    DVD-ROM     5870 MB  Healthy

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          127 GB   127 GB

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> create part primary size=100

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=fat32 quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> assign letter=s

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> active

DiskPart marked the current partition as active.

DISKPART> create part primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> assign letter=t

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...

X:\Sources>D:

D:\>cd sources

D:\sources>dir install.*
 Volume in drive D is CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
 Volume Serial Number is D531-D2F9

 Directory of D:\sources

09/27/2020  01:06 PM     5,312,642,456 install.wim
               1 File(s)  5,312,642,456 bytes
               0 Dir(s)               0 bytes free

D:\sources>dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.wim

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.1

Details for image : install.wim

Index : 1
Name : Windows 10 Home
Description : Windows 10 Home
Size : 15,422,422,478 bytes

Index : 2
Name : Windows 10 Home N
Description : Windows 10 Home N
Size : 14,635,161,928 bytes

Index : 3
Name : Windows 10 Home Single Language
Description : Windows 10 Home Single Language
Size : 15,386,542,703 bytes

Index : 4
Name : Windows 10 Education
Description : Windows 10 Education
Size : 15,644,726,213 bytes

Index : 5
Name : Windows 10 Education N
Description : Windows 10 Education N
Size : 14,884,389,859 bytes

Index : 6
Name : Windows 10 Pro
Description : Windows 10 Pro
Size : 15,660,173,040 bytes

Index : 7
Name : Windows 10 Pro N
Description : Windows 10 Pro N
Size : 14,882,364,311 bytes

Index : 8
Name : Windows 10 Pro Education
Description : Windows 10 Pro Education
Size : 15,644,664,631 bytes

Index : 9
Name : Windows 10 Pro Education N
Description : Windows 10 Pro Education N
Size : 14,884,327,377 bytes

Index : 10
Name : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Description : Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Size : 15,644,695,422 bytes

Index : 11
Name : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations
Description : Windows 10 Pro N for Workstations
Size : 14,884,358,618 bytes

The operation completed successfully.

D:\sources>dism /apply-image /imagefile:install.wim /index:1 /applydir:T:\

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.1

Applying image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

D:\sources>bcdboot T:\Windows /s S: /f ALL
Boot files successfully created.

D:\sources>T:\Windows\System32\shutdown /s /t 00

ineuw · 15 Nov 2022

NavyLCDR said:

OK. You have several problems to overcome. .... SB. Good Luck!

Many thanks for putting to rest my concerns. This is what I considered, but needed your knowledge and approval, whether I was heading down the right road. Thanks again and will post the results.

- - - Updated - - -
@NavyLCDR: For safety, I disconnected my internal drives, leaving only the source USB and the target external drive. Everything went fine with Diskpart, It created the FAT32 100MB partition, Automatically added the letter C: and flagged the partition as boot. When I got to run the installation, it stalled at "dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.wim" because "install.wim" wasn't found. Much thanks and I will continue and redo it with the new drive. Good practice.

I also decided to replace the SSD drive to a larger one.

Drive X: was the drive indicated when I opened the terminal.

NavyLCDR · 15 Nov 2022

You may have install.esd instead of install.wim. That is the reason for the dir command before the dism command.

ineuw · 15 Nov 2022

NavyLCDR said:

You may have install.esd instead of install.wim. That is the reason for the dir command before the dism command.

Thanks again. While I am waiting for the delivery of a 512GB SSD from the supplier, my question is that for Windows 10, should I prepare the disk as MBR or GPT? Or is this determined by the installation process?

NavyLCDR · 15 Nov 2022

ineuw said:

Thanks again. While I am waiting for the delivery of a 512GB SSD from the supplier, my question is that for Windows 10, should I prepare the disk as MBR or GPT? Or is this determined by the installation process?

To maintain universal booting capability between both UEFI and legacy BIOS computers it should be MBR. Legacy BIOS computers can only boot from an MBR disk. UEFI computers can boot from either MBR or GPT.

ineuw · 23 Nov 2022

NavyLCDR said:

Is the SSD that you installed connected via USB or is it plugged into a SATA port?

I only have USB3. No external SATA connection.

I still didn't decide on the new SSD drive to order because of the cockamamie way my drives are organized. I have on hand a 64Gb SSD, or a fast 64Gb USB 3.2 version 1 key. I used them to test persistent Linux successfully, so I know what to expect. Would they be suitable just for testing Windows 20H2?

NavyLCDR · 23 Nov 2022

ineuw said:

I only have USB3. No external SATA connection.

I still didn't decide on the new SSD drive to order because of the cockamamie way my drives are organized. I have on hand a 64Gb SSD, or a fast 64Gb USB 3.2 version 1 key. I used them to test persistent Linux successfully, so I know what to expect. Would they be suitable just for testing Windows 20H2?

Yes

ineuw · 04 Dec 2022

NavyLCDR said:

Yes

Your instructions were 100%. I can't thank you enough.

I did two installations, the first was a standard install with the USB2 Windows 21H1 key to a new fixed Windows boot SSD, and then, using your DISKPART instructions, I installed the Home version to the portable 256GB SSD USB3.1.

Next project will be Windows on a 256GB USB3.2 2x2 key. Which I expect it to be different.

As a note to others:

When installing with DISM, there is no demand for the product key (which I purchased and was waiting to use), - but it forced me to create an account, (my second), which was confusing at the moment, but will learn more about it later.

In the instructions, the D:\sources folder may be a different drive letter. In my case it was G:\Sources. In any case it is not to be confused with X:\Sources of the command prompt window.

Thanks again!!!

ineuw · 06 Dec 2022

The purpose of this exercise is to to offer a community of retirees a couple of driveless desktops.

to which they can connect their own Windows 10 on 500Gb external drives or USB keys. This is sufficient persistent data storage, including space for Macrium mirrors.

It is intended for retirees who must use public workstations for personal and private use. Maintaining privacy between users is an ongoing concern. They forget to exercise proper privacy measures.