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I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 10th 18, 10:20 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,356
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!

--
Cheers, Carlos.
Ads
  #2  
Old July 11th 18, 01:24 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Good Guy[_2_]
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Posts: 3,354
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 10/07/2018 22:20, Carlos E.R. wrote:

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?


Did you change the boot order in BIOS? Bios has a setting to organize
the boot order.




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  #3  
Old July 11th 18, 01:56 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
mike[_10_]
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Posts: 1,073
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 7/10/2018 2:20 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!

Not clear what your "exact case" refers to.
I've successfully used wintousb to create win7 bootable USB2 hard
drives. There may be licensing/activation issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwKp8E2xIAc

I never tried to boot from usb3, but I've read reports that it has issues.

  #4  
Old July 11th 18, 03:24 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!


Windows To Go is it.

The mechanism might be intended for an Enterprise class
customer, but the underlying mechanism is general
enough for people to hack it to work on other
SKUs.

*******

Back in WinXP era, people succeeded in booting from
a USB hard drive.

The issue if the OS wasn't properly prepared, was that the USB
bus is "commissioned" in the *middle* of the boot process.
By adding some configuration information to WinXP in
the form of "BootBusExtender" information, it was
possible to tell WinXP to figure out the USB hard drive
*before* the boot process gets rolling. The result then
is no interruption of the connection to the USB
hard drive, half way through the booting process.

There was a five page long script to make that work.

The USB boot procedure does not disable the Activation
and License key issues in WinXP. You couldn't take your
USB hard drive just any old place, and boot just any
old machine. The license would be "Not Genuine" or
whatever.

*******

Windows To Go is purpose built for the job. So
someone at Microsoft wanted it to work.

In an Enterprise situation, perhaps it's easier to
handle the license key issues (VLK???).

For a home user, using whatever "Windows To Go" hack
is available this week, the issue will still revolve
around that license key and activation. And that's a topic
you'll have to research if you plan on booting two PCs.
In the Enterprise case, a business user is supposed to be
able to carry a USB stick from PC to PC and use it.

Your case will be a captive setup, plugged into one
machine, as a "hardware extension". Maybe the licensing
will work out.

If you were Bill Gates and you had lots of money,
it would go like this:

1) Use some Windows To Go hack, to put a clean OS
on the USB stick.
2) Use Laplink Pro or Zemana??? to transfer the
Programs and User Files from the existing image
you want to use, to the WTG stick. Transfer software
costs around $50+ *per OS* transferred. Ridiculous,
but the claim is, it pays for tech support.
(The guy who tells you it's not going to work.)

I don't know if anyone has perfected a way to
"convert" an existing image to a WTG image.
That would likely be... complicated.
I'm sure at some point, the image is SysPrepped,
and how would you work around that ?

Good luck and report back if a miracle happens :-)

Paul
  #5  
Old July 11th 18, 10:29 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,356
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 2018-07-11 02:56, mike wrote:
On 7/10/2018 2:20 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another
OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external
drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html

How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!

Not clear what your "exact case" refers to.
I've successfully used wintousb to create win7 bootable USB2 hard
drives.Â* There may be licensing/activation issues.


I do not want to create a "win bootable USB2 hard drive". I want to boot
the hard disk that came inside the computer with Windows installed, but
connected outside instead. Simple.

I do not have a running Windows which I can migrate to an empty hard
disk on USB. I took the disk from inside and connected it outside.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwKp8E2xIAc

I never tried to boot from usb3, but I've read reports that it has issues.


As the disk starts to boot and shows the proper logo, that is not the
issue. It doesn't need extra drivers.


--
Cheers, Carlos.
  #6  
Old July 11th 18, 10:34 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Carlos E.R.[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,356
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 2018-07-11 04:24, Paul wrote:
Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another
OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external
drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html

How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!


Windows To Go is it.


Can't.

The procedure is designed to move existing and booting Windows on an
internal disk to another disk outside. I do not have two disks, I only
have one. And it doesn't boot, so I can not run anything on it. Can't
install any software, unless using some rescue USB stick.

I removed the disk from inside and connected it outside.

--
Cheers, Carlos.
  #7  
Old July 11th 18, 11:42 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
mike[_10_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,073
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 7/11/2018 2:29 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2018-07-11 02:56, mike wrote:
On 7/10/2018 2:20 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another
OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external
drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html

How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!

Not clear what your "exact case" refers to.
I've successfully used wintousb to create win7 bootable USB2 hard
drives. There may be licensing/activation issues.


I do not want to create a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwKp8E2xIAc. I want to boot
the hard disk that came inside the computer with Windows installed, but
connected outside instead. Simple.


Simple is not the word I'd use.

Thought experiment...
Take your SSD out of the laptop.
Put it into an external enclosure.
Does it boot your "other" OS?

If you're unwilling to change anything on the hard disk,
I think you're outaluck.

Another thought experiment...
Make a paper map. Plan a trip and mark the
path on the map.
Now, cut the map apart between source and destination.
Tape it back together in a random way.
Can you follow the map to your destination?


I do not have a running Windows which I can migrate to an empty hard
disk on USB. I took the disk from inside and connected it outside.


I took the engine out of my car and duct taped it to the roof.
Why won't my car go???

Based on your frequent participation in the newsgroups, I find
it surprising that you don't have at least one disk you could
use for the experiment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwKp8E2xIAc

I never tried to boot from usb3, but I've read reports that it has issues.


As the disk starts to boot and shows the proper logo, that is not the
issue. It doesn't need extra drivers.


You have what you consider to be a superior "other" OS.
Why would you even consider win10?
If GRUB can't boot it, it probably can't be done without changing
anything on the hard drive.
  #8  
Old July 11th 18, 01:09 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Carlos E.R. wrote:

Can't.

The procedure is designed to move existing and booting Windows on an
internal disk to another disk outside. I do not have two disks, I only
have one. And it doesn't boot, so I can not run anything on it. Can't
install any software, unless using some rescue USB stick.

I removed the disk from inside and connected it outside.


You would probably be disappointed anyway.

I took the first Windows To Go third-party program
that showed up in a search, and tested it.

It was a disaster. An "insult to programming".
It used a WinPE, to try and boot and do a
sector-by-sector copy. Which is ridiculous,
when about 20 different backup/restore programs
can do this "online" with VSS. When the WinPE
booted, it would black screen.

The developer was selling this product, too.
As well as offering a free version. I wonder
if anyone actually bought a copy...

I'm still trying to clean up the mess from
the experiment (nothing is damaged as such,
but I have rules about cleanup). Oh, well.

Paul
  #9  
Old July 11th 18, 02:55 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Frank Slootweg
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,226
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2018-07-11 04:24, Paul wrote:

[...]
Windows To Go is it.


Can't.

The procedure is designed to move existing and booting Windows on an
internal disk to another disk outside. I do not have two disks, I only
have one. And it doesn't boot, so I can not run anything on it. Can't
install any software, unless using some rescue USB stick.

I removed the disk from inside and connected it outside.


If you're willing to - temporarily - swap the disks back, or you can
temporarily use some other Windows system, you could download the
Windows 10 software and make bootable USB memory-stick or DVD Windows 10
Install media.

'Download Windows 10'
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
  #10  
Old July 11th 18, 03:06 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
tb
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 103
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On 7/10/2018 at 4:20:42 PM Carlos E.R. wrote:

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in
an external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to
boot, then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with
another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external
drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but
that is not my exact case:


https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!


I found this posting which might explain why you cannot do it:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2942314/booting-win-external-hdd.html

--
tb
  #11  
Old July 11th 18, 03:31 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Konrad
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Hi,

I did this with Windows 7 some years ago using this tutorial:
http://www.edv-abmayr.de/edv/service...B_clone_en.htm
This worked fine.

Regards
Konrad
  #12  
Old July 11th 18, 03:55 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
default[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 201
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 23:20:42 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
wrote:

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!


I've done that with earlier versions of Windows, but using an ESATA
drive not a USB drive.

But does the BIOS allow you to change the boot order to the USB
instead of the HDD? I'd try that first.... No experience with the
Yoga so I can't say what you can or cannot do in BIOS.
  #13  
Old July 11th 18, 09:17 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

default wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 23:20:42 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
wrote:

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?

I found info on how to install Windows 10 on an external drive, but that
is not my exact case:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to install Windows on an external drive

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/
Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10/8.1/8/7!


I've done that with earlier versions of Windows, but using an ESATA
drive not a USB drive.

But does the BIOS allow you to change the boot order to the USB
instead of the HDD? I'd try that first.... No experience with the
Yoga so I can't say what you can or cannot do in BIOS.


But that's an entirely different situation.

Booting ESATA externally is no harder to do than booting
SATA internally. You need a driver of course (and the ESATA
could be coming from a second chip), but other than
that, it should be easy to do. It should remain fine,
as long as the license and activation are for one machine,
not dragging the ESATA drive around and plugging it into
20 different machines.

The USB boot option requires help. In the old days that
was BootBusExtender. Today it's Windows To Go, for no
particular reason. It's just a Windows configuration
that supposed to support booting over USB. With an
Enterprise SKU, it's supposed to also take into account
the licensing and activation.

I also see reference in the articles above, to "booting VHD".
I tried that here (not as a part of the above referenced product),
and it got into a loop and wouldn't settle down. That
didn't involve USB at all, and was just a VHD staged
on internal storage. But it didn't work for me. And by
looping, that makes it pretty hard to debug. No nice
neat "crash" with an error number to use for guidance.

Paul
  #14  
Old July 11th 18, 11:59 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Lucifer Morningstar[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 368
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 23:20:42 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
wrote:

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?


It sounds like there is an internal reference to the C: drive.
Is it possible to make the external drive C:?

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This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

  #15  
Old July 12th 18, 01:13 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default I'd like to boot Windows from an external drive.

Lucifer Morningstar wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 23:20:42 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
wrote:

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 300-11IBR. It came with an internal 500GB
rotating rust hard disk. I played with it a few days, let its 2 year
Windows 10 update itself, then removed the hard disk, installed an SSD
instead (smaller), on which I installed another operating system.

I placed the original hard disk (that has the original W10 inside) in an
external USB3 enclosure and tried to boot it. It does start to boot,
then suddenly aborts and boots the internal disk instead (with another OS).

Is there something that can be done to boot Windows from the external drive?


It sounds like there is an internal reference to the C: drive.
Is it possible to make the external drive C:?

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


If you use Disk Management, it has labels such
as "System", "Boot", "Active" which are more important
in terms of declaring the role a partition has during
the current boot cycle.

The drive letter "C:" is in effect, proof of your
credentials as a Windows Administrator. DO you have the
right stuff ? If the drive letter is "D:", you'll never
get your CERTS.

And you can turn off that Avast advertising material,
if you put your mind to it. That's not actually a
signature, and isn't implemented as such. It's a setting
in Avast.

Paul
 




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