Hi guys, basically as the title says I want to make external SSD drive with “Windows to Go” for the stuff that I really need Windows for unfortunately (proprietary CAD software) but there is no software for making this on Linux that I can find
Edit: typo
Windows To Go was discontinued back in 2019 so it’s not really something that has been maintained or updated for a long time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go#Discontinuation
Apps like Rufus (Windows only) are still able to create that sort of boot USB but it’s sort of a non supported feature, wouldn’t be surprised if it just stops working one day.
On Linux Ventoy is often used for this - it does have a persistence plugin but not for Windows https://www.ventoy.net/en/plugin_persistence.html
I haven’t tested this idea, but maybe you can run a Windows VM within Linux, enable USB in it, download Rufus in it, then you can create your non-official Windows To Go boot disk that way? Could be something to try if you never find another solution.
Thanks Yes this is what I was thinking to try next if I run out of options
You could just pull your drives, install a nvme and install windows. Then pull that drive and put it in an enclosure. Then choose that drive when booting. Idk if that works on modern windows but the install then pulling the drive used to work on 7-
At first I thought about this too. Didn’t work with either Windows 10 or 11 iso. It didn’t boot after I took it out and put in the enclosure
Oh, that’s weird. I just suggested the same thing up above with a bunch of extra explanation. I’ve done this exact thing twice. In that comment I talk about changing some registry settings, but like I said in the comment, I didn’t think that actually helped. So I dunno. This was with Windows 10 both times, and both USB devices boot on a laptop.
It might be have been my SSD it was old and faulty I bought a new one online but it hadn’t arrived yet to test it again
I can confirm M.2 to PCIe adapters work for booting Windows. Had both my Linux drive and Windows drive each in a separate one when I used to dual boot. Then I would swap out which adapter was in the computer to switch OS.
I haven’t plugged the Windows one in in a loooong time, but wanted to mention the option since it would do what you want.
Thanks but I should have mentioned It is a laptop I’m talking about here. If it was a PC there would be options like the adapter you mentioned
Cause u need if u are using grub use os-prober that it would add boot manager of windows on the list of grub
Yes I will update the grub for ease of use but first I need to get windows to boot when I choose it in BIOS boot menu
Why not just run Windows in a VM?
Unfortunately not everything works in a VM
This is probably an inefficient solution, but I just did this the other day using dockur/windows as a VM and passing through the drive. It’s really easy if you have docker experience.
Once the VM has installed Windows to the drive you can just boot from it as normal (whatever the VM does to Windows to make it wanna boot in a VM let’s it boot off the USB)
Here’s a link the docs for this: docker/windows
Let me know if you have any questions :)
Thanks I’ll look into it
I don’t think you need to involve Linux at all if you boot the official windows installer. I would just install the SSD as the only drive internally and install to it, then put it back in its enclosure.
I tried but it does not boot from it when I put it back. It should be Windows to go
If it still boots from the internal disk then you may just need to set the boot priority to prefer your external drive. That’ll be mobo specific unfortunately so I can’t give any tips. I’ve had systems set up to boot from external media when plugged in so it should work.
Back in the day there was also an issue with running full windows installs from USB drives where you needed to prevent it from reinitializing USB devices during bootup since that would interfere with itself, but I’m not seeing anything recent about that so hopefully that’s not an issue anymore.
Ventoy supports any iso, including Windows
Yes it does and it’s great but it does not support setting up “Windows to Go”
Sorry to almost have misled you
Someone already told you to use a vm. They’re right, but if you insist on booting to actual bare metal windows instead, consider devoting a handful of gigabytes to a dual boot setup. It’s really easy to do and will be much more reliable than the way out of service windows to go.
If you have a specific piece of software you need to run I may could help you figure out the vm setup for it. Windows VMs are my solution to running cad packages.
I want to dual boot but not on the same SSD it’s just trouble. Separate disk and efi partition for windows is the way but my device has no more spare connectors inside. That’s why I want to run windows in a external SSD connected via Thunderbolt.
As a longtime user of windows and linux dual booted from the same disk, former user of windows to go and current user of the windows pre installation environment who uses virtualized cad programs and has moved away from bare metal windows in the last two years: It sounds like you could be moving down the wrong path.
Windows to go will absolutely be more trouble than it’s worth. I used it for years before moving to vms and the pe or just dual booting for when I absolutely had to have bare metal (as it turns out on haswell + chips this is almost never). It was a headache then and it’s only gotten worse. If you’re not completely confident that you can be your own tech support without the help of the internet and successfully force device driver installation then I don’t recommend it.
You really don’t need to worry about windows causing problems because it’s installed on the same disk as linux. The bootloader is extremely easy to repair and there are very few windows updates that caused that problem in the past.
If you will not dual boot, give serious consideration and the ol’ college try to kvm virtualization. If you have thunderbolt then the device you’re using absolutely supports the x86 extensions to make kvm work perfectly.
Again, I have done what you’re doing and I think you could be making an error by pursuing usb boot over bare metal dual boot or virtualization.
I’m sure windows activation will complain, but you should be able to dd your windows partition (or disk) over to the external disk, set up a bootloader (windows can do this, but something like grub or syslinux I know would work to hand off to the windows bootloader)
I don’t know anything about bitlocker stuff, probably needs to be decrypted before this can work.
That’s what I would try, even though it’s not wrapped up in a single tool.
I have never used Bitlocker before and I’ll keep it off. Also yes some else mentioned I can just use dd I’ll look into it thanks
Are you planning to use the SSD across multiple computers?
No I read that it won’t work
You can use something like virt-manager to mount your USB as a hard drive within the VM then install it from an ISO file.
I would recommend something like Tiny11 for this, but make sure to install the appropriate drivers for your hardware first (or at least have the installers ready for when you reboot).
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I used Rufus to make Linus boot USBs for AGES
Your posts are a bit confusing to read because you don’t capitalize Windows To Go. Capitalizing it would make it easier to understand.
Fixed it
