WinToUSB Pro is another way to create a Windows To Go drive -- alternatives include AOMEI Partition Assistant and Rufus. Basically it consists of the files Windows normally uses, *applied* to a [usually MBR] drive using Windows DISM [Deployment Image Servicing and Management], with a FAT32 boot partition added. The recovery partition is normally skipped. When run for the 1st time on whatever hardware Win10 & 11 will download and install the needed drivers, *as long as they're available from Microsoft* [not all drivers are]. WinToUSB Pro can also create USB sticks with WinPE without having to install the Windows ADK -- using the ADK to create bootable WinPE USB sticks isn't hard, but the ADK takes up 2.3GB. And WinToUSB Pro can create a bootable USB stick with Windows setup files, including bypassing Win11's hardware checks. So can the free Rufus, and Ventoy, which lets you put multiple OS setup files on the same USB stick, e.g., Win10 & 11. Note: Bear in mind that Microsoft is changing the way Windows boots, though they now say we've got about a year until it takes effect. When the change is complete most currently available bootable USB sticks will no longer work, while existing Win2Go drives may or may not be updateable to work with the new modifications.

support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb5025885-how-to-manage-the-windows-boot-manager-revocations-for-secure-boot-changes-associated-with-cve-2023-24932-41a975df-beb2-40c1-99a3-b3ff139f832d

IMHO it's worth creating a Windows To Go drive if you troubleshoot & fix Windows &/or PC/laptop hardware. It also works well in place of bootable USB sticks &/or portable apps, especially when whatever app's USB sticks don't work, or portable versions of software like partition managers aren't available. And it's a decent way to see how Win11 will behave on hardware running Win10 without going to the trouble of installing it. In some situations, running Windows off a USB drive might even be preferable, e.g., completely eliminating access to your stuff when using a shared computer. While it is possible to use a USB stick for a Win 2 Go drive, they're generally FAR too slow, making it painful to use -- use an SSD in an external housing. 120 & 240GB SSDs are incredibly cheap right now, and you can find housings on sale for $5 - $10. FWIW I like to use a Windows Enterprise ISO to create Win 2 Go drives, avoiding any complications regarding activation, effects on activation from changing hardware etc. The limitations from running Windows unactivated are really minimal. It is possible to create a dual or multi-boot Windows to Go drive -- create the individual Win2Go drive, perform a partition image backup, create a 2nd Win2Go drive, reduce the size of the partition, restore the backup to that now unallocated space, and use EasyBCD [or Windows BCDEdit] to add it to the boot menu.

Those are the pros. The cons include... sometimes the changes that are made to Windows to work with particular hardware will mean it won't work on any other hardware from then on -- I've run into this with an Asus motherboard -- so you really do need to have an image backup that you can restore to the drive if you want to use it on other hardware. The driver software that's automatically added can also sometimes cause problems with other hardware, as well as contributing to bloat. And you do have to update your Win2Go drive(s), just as you update regular copies of Windows.

mike  –  Last year  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+7)

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