Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2018-07-12 21:12, Paul wrote:
Carlos E.R. wrote:
I got mine working :-)
I saved this post and will try when time and hardware permits, thanks :-)
Does it has to be the enterprise version?
OK, I did some more testing.
The Windows To Go control panel (wizard) is available in
both Enterprise and Pro (I didn't test Home). In both cases,
when I tested, it insisted the OS it was willing to install
should be an Enterprise SKU. It's pretty weird for them to
"waste" a control panel on the Pro version, for a function
where the user is unlikely to have the materials.
Let's pretend that's a dead end. I only tested the WTG
control panel, in the interest of "seeing something work".
I didn't really expect Microsoft to make it easy.
*******
You still need to do this.
To be able to do this with Windows 10 running...
dism /capture-image /imagefile:F:\install.wim /capturedir:G:\ /ScratchDir:F:\Scratch /name:"AnyName" /compress:maximum /checkintegrity /verify /bootable
F:\install.wim # output of the command (used with any WTG programs etc)
F:\Scratch # A wee directory that holds assets while they're getting compressed
G:\ # A copy of the OS partition. Quiescent.
# No files busy etc. No VSS needed.
The steps I used we
1) Backup C: using Macrium Reflect Free (uses VSS to handle busy file problem)
2) Use the Macrium menu item that converts .mrimg to .vhd container.
Note: Use the "Reset Disk ID" box when making the .vhd container/partition.
That prevents the attached VHD later from going "Offline" on you
and defeating the whole purpose of these steps!
3) In Disk Management, there is a menu at the top with "Attach VHD".
You can leave the partition read/write. I didn't test what
happens if you tick the "read only" box. The result should be a partition
with the same label ("Win10RLS") as C: . Mine happened to mount with the
next available letter which was G: . So C: and G: have the same contents,
except G: "has no busy files".
4) Run the DISM command.
dism /capture-image ... [as above]
5) Go back to Disk Management and detach the G: VHD in Disk Management.
The output of the above step is F:\install.wim.
F: is a partition next to my Win10 C: or thereabouts.
The DISM command is super-slow. It seemed to be compressing on
only one core. It didn't always do that. I've done stuff before
where it uses two or three cores.
My 27GB C: partition, becomes an 11GB install.wim .
*******
Now, grab a copy of WintoUSB 4.1. You'll be installing this
on the currently running C: .
https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/index.html
Wintousb elevates to Admin level (in order to write
to the physical layer of the USB storage device).
Of the three icons on the left, click the top one.
You'll be asked for an install.wim source folder.
Next, the tool will ask for your USB device.
Note - Windows Defender will stick a fork in Wintousb
at around the 75% mark (I/O deadlock). Disabling
Windows Defender before the run starts, will fix this
(but means you've violated every security rule in the
book). In powershell, as Administrator...
Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 1
As you would expect Windows Defender is never really
disabled. All that setting does is stop scanning ****.
If an application tries to "hook" something it should not,
the heuristics still work on Windows Defender. That's
why it caused an I/O deadlock.
Once Windows Defender was neutered a bit, the transfer
completed.
If you want, the DISM command could be modified to
/compress:none
While compression is slow, pulling files from install.wim
is slow too. So this doesn't guarantee a speedy conclusion
to either of the two steps.
It was a "whole lot of work" to get here. Part of the
excessive work, was my insistence on being able to make
an install.wim while the main OS was running. Running
the command against C: would also work, if using the
WinPE Command Prompt of the Win10 installer DVD.
Here is the running Win10 Pro, sitting on an external
USB to SATA adapter plus a SATA SSD plugged into it.
https://s33.postimg.cc/c6e1jw91b/wtg_win10_Pro.gif
Paul