Can you install Windows 8.1 on an external optical drive?

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DrTwinkie

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Oct 19, 2014
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I Just finished building my PC. I know you can install Windows 8.1 on a bootable USB. But I don't really want to do that. Is it possible to install Windows on an External USB optical drive? Thanks
 
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I want to install from, like Inserting the Windows 8.1 Installation disk into the external optical drive. But my computer has no OS yet. Will it work? (n00b question, I know)
 
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Well...if you have built the PC, and purchased a valid Windows 8/8/1 license and install disk.....yes, you can probably install it from the external DVD drive.
What happened when you tried it?
 
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I want to install from, like Inserting the Windows 8.1 Installation disk into the external optical drive. But my computer has no OS yet. Will it work? (n00b question, I know)
 
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Right.
Did you try it? What happened?

(assuming, of course, you have a full install, and not an Upgrade fromWin7)
 
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I'm also trying to instal 8.1 using an external optical. I loaded failsafe defaults in BIOS-> saved and exited-> ensured external was first boot device-> rebooted-> yields "Reboot and select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"-> ejected install disc and reinserted-> hit key after giving it time to spin up-> "windows failed to start. a recent hardwre or software change might be the cause. to fix problem: lost of useless options" Status:0xc000000f
Any su
 
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I plugged it into the front USB ports, which are 3.0 i believe? Should i try plugging into a back port or would that matter? (tried both fronts)
 
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Some options I found in my BIOS were ones like: whether or not the BIOS initializes all the usb devices when booting up, or just the mouse and keyboard, and i believe there was a setting to tell the bios to treat the usb like a hard drive (it was several months ago, so i can't remember it exactly). But the one about the USBs might be something to look into
 
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About the drivers... ive been using my keyboard on the 3.0's so from this i would guess they should work?

As for the usb boot as hard drive... Ive looked all over my bios options and i dont remember seeing that, however ill give it another go shortly, and may even try running OptDriv from rear ports while im at it.

Waiting on install disk to finish copying (was gonna give the flashdrive install a go)
 
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Ok so for anyone dealing with the same issues. My 3.0 ports did not work for the external optic, but after spending 3 hours trying 80000 different solutions, it was as simple as swapping to the rear 2.0 ports
 
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Just tried this yesterday. 03/16/16. (Win 7 Pro 64 btw...)

Windows kept prompting looking for drivers. I thought it meant the DVD drivers that came with my external... but it was the 3.0 USB drivers it was looking for.

Like a lot of others have said, you need to use the 2.0 ports. Which, on my rig, took a while to figure out how to do. I only had 2 - 2.0 ports working, and was using a USB keyboard and mouse. I used an adapter (under $10) on my front USB 3.0 ports and got them plugged into the 2.0 slot on the MoBo.

One of the drawbacks of using a cheap mATX board I guess.

After that, everything fell into place automatically, I didn't need to get into BIOS or anything.

 
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