Watch what is next for Windows event on June 24, 2021

Edwin said:

They want you to sync your settings/services immediately!

Sync with what? I use Windows 10 on a single PC, why would I want to sync settings and most importantly, with what?

alphanumeric said:

Yeah I know, I'm more interested in the official version. I have access to it on Windows 10 and have legit keys to use it.
It may just be me, but any time I have tried to do an unofficial install it failed. Anyway that's a whole other topic that I'm not going to go into here.
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure Windows to Go (official one) was more relaxed about what hardware it could run on. It may be a way to run Windows 11 on hardware that doesn't have TPM 2. Assuming you have at least one working PC to set it up from. Just food for thought.

Hi there
I think that WindowstoGo has sadly been officially deprecated by Ms in spite of the fact it was (and is) very useful.

Of course a simple way of getting something like a normal Windows to run from a USB without using WindowstoGo is of course to install any Linux Distro on to an external (preferably SSD) device , install KVM, VBOX or VMWare (or all 3 if you like) and then create a Windows VM. Performance can still be very good if you create on external SSD connected via USB3->SATA connector.

Advantage of this method as opposed to the "physical Windows to Go" syatem is that you can have several versions of Windows as VM's on the external disk and you can even run them concurrently assuming your hardware is up to it. And of course Linux has no problems booting from an external device.

OK there are some limitations if you need to check / test actual hardware but for typical Windows uses this should be a perfectly acceptable alternative.

Note though if you want to test HYPER-V and create Virtual machines using this method it can be done but you need to ensure the VM system allows "Nested" levels of VM's. Performance won't be stellar but at least you can test it. There's usually some kernel module parameters that can be set to allow nested levels of Guest OS's (i.e a VM itself which acts as HOST for another VM created on the Guest). You need to check your Linux documentation for the distro you are using on how to set that up.

Cheers
jimbo

alphanumeric said:

That's a fair point, but some of us have multiple devices. I have a Laptop and Desktop PC. For the most part I only ever use the laptop in the summer. I like having it sync with my desktop on first boot up after being off for months on end. Same old some like it some don't.

I agree. That's why I think there should be an option to do what people might want to do. What there should not be is a "one size fit all" approach where Microsoft decides what's best for everybody.

unifex said:

I agree. That's why I think there should be an option to do what people might want to do. What there should not be is a "one size fit all" approach where Microsoft decides what's best for everybody.

However unless you have an OS that installs by compiling all its modules on people's PC's (and think what a nightmare that would be) you must for a system like Windows have a reasonably "Standard" Core system - especially given the typical applications most users work with these days and the level of expertise the users have with computers in general.

Ms wanting to ensure that its latest OS won't have to be bogged down too much by old outdated legacy hardware IMO is not a bad idea - remembering that current support for W10 is on for a few years yet. Security is also of real concern although hopefully forced encryption of the OS and local HDD's won't become mandatory.

Dropping 32 bit support is long overdue as well -- people wanting to run legacy hardware and applications can always (in most cases in fact) run VM's.

Cheers
jimbo

I also found this:
•PCIe Native Control must be enabled in system firmware

This is disabled in most motherboards and they have no option to enable it. At least asus and asrock haswell and skylake motherboards.
Some pcie to pci bridges for legacy pci devices want this disabled to work correctly.

alphanumeric said:

You can turn it off. And there are options to pick what gets synced on what device. Not a lot of options but some are better than none.

Yes, the whole installation process mostly amounts to turning things off, uninstalling unnecessary apps, blocking unnecessary connections. The only things I need to install are drivers.