How to install windows10 to usb drive for testing purpose ?


  1. Posts : 282
    Nexus Windows 10 ENT LTSC 2021 64bit
       #1

    How to install windows10 to usb drive for testing purpose ?


    I wish to install full functionally windows10 to a usb drive for testing and review before installing to main drive.
    Are there better method than using rufus's win to go feature ?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,173
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #2

    Since you are not already running Windows 10 on this hardware, what is the OS that you are running? Depending upon what it is, what I propose below may not work for you.

    I'd like to propose another solution. First, Windows is not really intended to be run from a USB drive and it's simply going to slow things down. Microsoft no longer officially supports Windows to Go in current releases of Windows 10, and for me personally, I like to do my testing in ways that I'm confident will at least somewhat mirror my real life configuration.

    You might want to consider running Windows natively in a VHD. The nice thing about this method is that you are running Windows natively directly on the hardware in question (not in a VM). That will allow you to test all your drivers (video, networking, etc.) on the actual hardware in question. It's also incredibly easy to cleanup and remove when done testing.

    Here is the link to that tutorial:

    Native boot Virtual Hard Disk - How to upgrade Windows
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 282
    Nexus Windows 10 ENT LTSC 2021 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks for replying. My intention of using rufus's windows to go is just to check various modified slim down win10.
    Which i might use on my gaming computer Without any sofware or driver install. I will then install it after
    decided the win10 of my choice
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 4,173
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #4

    sportster said:
    Thanks for replying. My intention of using rufus's windows to go is just to check various modified slim down win10.
    Which i might use on my gaming computer Without any sofware or driver install. I will then install it after
    decided the win10 of my choice
    Understood.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #5

    sportster said:
    Thanks for replying. My intention of using rufus's windows to go is just to check various modified slim down win10.
    Which i might use on my gaming computer Without any sofware or driver install. I will then install it after
    decided the win10 of my choice
    Why would you not use Rufus for this? Although I am not a great Rufus fan, it does work well for WTG installations.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 282
    Nexus Windows 10 ENT LTSC 2021 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    cereberus said:
    Why would you not use Rufus for this? Although I am not a great Rufus fan, it does work well for WTG installations.
    I used rufus to do the job and got what i wanted.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #7

    sportster said:
    I wish to install full functionally windows10 to a usb drive for testing and review before installing to main drive.
    Are there better method than using rufus's win to go feature ?

    Yes and I've done it loads of times and got several versions of Windows on the external USB any of which can be booted direct from the boot menu on the USB -- even if the computers internal HDD is totally hosed up or even removed.


    1) on your USB drive create an EFI partition (size 100) , and a single NTFS partition
    2) on the NTFS partition create a vhdx file e.g w10.vhdx (use diskpart) of the size you want windows installation - Ive found 60 GB is big enough even for quite a lot of Windows apps.

    3)boot a w10 install disk into command mode
    4) using diskpart : select vdisk file=d:\w10.vhdx (assuming D is your external drive)
    5) attach vdisk
    6) list disk and select the vdisk -- should be easily seen as it's the one say with 60GB or whatever you gave as the size of the vhdx file when you created it.
    7) create partition primary
    8) format it (ntfs quick)
    9) list vol -- say it's now W.

    10) select the EFI partition on the external drive (it will probably be 100M hidden)

    11) assign as letter s.

    12) install windows to your "w" disk via dism /apply-image -- and the image file will be in the \sources\install.wim of the install dvd. If you downloaded a image from UUPDUMP there might be several different versions in the image so also use index=nn for the imgae file you want.

    13) now install the bootloader to your usb disk with bcdboot

    I've detailed this procedure many times on W10 and W11 Forums.

    No need for Rufus etc and this works every time e.g

    How to install windows10 to usb drive for testing purpose ?-multios.png

    The only disadvantage is that you can't update to a new release of Windows when using an external device -- cumulative updates work OK though and there are some "get arounds" -- e.g convert the Windows to a VM, update and then convert back to physical. Same restriction with Rufus which probably runs the same set of commands to create a WTG but as a program rather than the user having to do it all manually.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


 

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