- Oct 13, 2022
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I have a 2 year old ultrabook where the M.2 NVMe drive slot or controller has gone bad (drives are not recognized by the BIOS). The M.2 drive itself is fine and fully functional. However, as this M.2 slot on the motherboard is the only one place to attach internal storage, the notebook is essentially rendered useless by this motherboard component failure. It is cost prohibitive to repair the notebook.
Rather than trashing the notebook, I could use it as a stationary PC for other purposes using an external drive. It obviously would be slower, but it would work. My overwelming preference is to use the existing install (i.e. simply move the M.2 drive from the internal slot where it had been to an enclosure).
I've read in places that this can be done and also that it can't be done due to Windows copying protections. So, my first question is:
Can I boot from and use an existing Windows 11 install from an internal drive in an external enclosure?
If the answer to above is, yes, what changes do I need to make in order for this process to work?
I have done the obvious and put my M.2 drive in a suitable enclosure, but get an "inaccessible boot device" stop error. I've also cloned the M.2 drive to a SATA SSD and tried it in other enclosures with the same result. The original M.2 drive is secured by Bitlocker while the clone I made is not. SATA is set to AHCI. Have tried with fast boot enabled and disabled and have set Secure Boot to the correct settings (enabled for the Bitlocker drive and disabled for the unlocked drive). I've basically tried every available setting in the BIOS to no avail.
If using my original install in an external enclosure is not possible, is it possible to do a fresh install of Windows 11 onto an external drive and use it in the same ways I could with an normal internal install?
Rather than trashing the notebook, I could use it as a stationary PC for other purposes using an external drive. It obviously would be slower, but it would work. My overwelming preference is to use the existing install (i.e. simply move the M.2 drive from the internal slot where it had been to an enclosure).
I've read in places that this can be done and also that it can't be done due to Windows copying protections. So, my first question is:
Can I boot from and use an existing Windows 11 install from an internal drive in an external enclosure?
If the answer to above is, yes, what changes do I need to make in order for this process to work?
I have done the obvious and put my M.2 drive in a suitable enclosure, but get an "inaccessible boot device" stop error. I've also cloned the M.2 drive to a SATA SSD and tried it in other enclosures with the same result. The original M.2 drive is secured by Bitlocker while the clone I made is not. SATA is set to AHCI. Have tried with fast boot enabled and disabled and have set Secure Boot to the correct settings (enabled for the Bitlocker drive and disabled for the unlocked drive). I've basically tried every available setting in the BIOS to no avail.
If using my original install in an external enclosure is not possible, is it possible to do a fresh install of Windows 11 onto an external drive and use it in the same ways I could with an normal internal install?
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