[SOLVED] Move my current Windows 10 system to a USB disk ?

[Érica van Hellsing]

Hello,
I want to remove my current Win10 system from my computer, but I don't want to erase it.
Current system has a lot of applications installed, don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling them all

I bought an NVMe disk the same size as current (512GB)
- I tried cloning with HBCD/MediaCat
- I tried win2usb
- I tried just copying
- I tried disk2VHD on a Ventoy
- I tried a new VHD (made with VirtualBox) on a Ventoy
- I'm out of idea

When I boot from the USB disk, I see the Win logo, with a dot ring underneath which spins ... until freezing

What am I doing wrong ? What do I miss ?
There is no FStab on Windows

 

[USAFRet]

Why do you want to move this to the USB?
What is the ultimate goal?

 

[punkncat]

Normal Windows OS isn't going to run from a USB stick. There is a specific version called "Windows to Go" that would but I don't think it caught on in the consumer side of the market. It dates back to Windows 8 Enterprise.

I see posts indication Rufus has a tool to make it work. I never have. YMMV.

 

[Bob.B]

Hello,
I want to remove my current Win10 system from my computer, but I don't want to erase it.
Current system has a lot of applications installed, don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling them all

I bought an NVMe disk the same size as current (512GB)
- I tried cloning with HBCD/MediaCat
- I tried win2usb
- I tried just copying
- I tried disk2VHD on a Ventoy
- I tried a new VHD (made with VirtualBox) on a Ventoy
- I'm out of idea

When I boot from the USB disk, I see the Win logo, with a dot ring underneath which spins ... until freezing

What am I doing wrong ? What do I miss ?
There is no FStab on Windows

I don't think you can boot w10 from usb.

 

[cruisetung]

It will be free if you do it from the beginning (install Windows directly onto USB) using Rufus or WinToUSB

It will cost money to convert (or clone in Hasleo's term) your existing installation to USB, however.
https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/index.html

compare the free and pro version

Your USB flash drive must be fast enough or you will kill it. No worry if you use SSD/NVME

 

[USAFRet]

Performance will be on the order of watching paint dry.

Again...what is the desire for this?

 

[cruisetung]

Performance will be on the order of watching paint dry.

Again...what is the desire for this?

If you have a fast flash drive (Samsung BAR Plus USB 3.x for example), the performance actually is quite good. OP is using NVME so no worry.

 

[TerryLaze]

Why do you want to move this to the USB?
What is the ultimate goal?

What do you think that it is?
Windows 10 is getting phased out, they need to go over to win11 but their win10 is perfectly set up and they are afraid to just let go completely.

When I boot from the USB disk, I see the Win logo, with a dot ring underneath which spins ... until freezing

Erica your problem is that you want to boot it from usb, just make a virtual machine and use the clone of the disk inside of it, modern PCs are very powerful and have virtualization which means that running a VM is very easy.

If your installed drivers cause the issue you can use sysprep to clean it up for use on a VM.

Using Sysprep in Windows 10 - Petri IT Knowledgebase

Learn how to use sysprep in Windows 10 to automate the deployment of Windows operating systems.

petri.com

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

What do you think that it is?
Windows 10 is getting phased out, they need to go over to win11 but their win10 is perfectly set up and they are afraid to just let go completely.

Erica your problem is that you want to boot it from usb, just make a virtual machine and use the clone of the disk inside of it, modern PCs are very powerful and have virtualization which means that running a VM is very easy.

If your installed drivers cause the issue you can use sysprep to clean it up for use on a VM.

Using Sysprep in Windows 10 - Petri IT Knowledgebase

Learn how to use sysprep in Windows 10 to automate the deployment of Windows operating systems.

petri.com

That would mean I would need to keep having a win install on the drives to have a VM inside.
I would like to have win completely out of my computer, only accessed through USB ... no USB, no Win at all

Ventoy is booting just fine, no material problem, it'S inside the Ventoy that the VHD is not booting properly, while it's supposed to
And to rule out the disk2vhd potential problem, I've created a fresh VHD (using VirtualBox) which behave the same way ... So I'm wondering what's inside that VHD that prevent the boot sequence to go further, I'm thinking about (equivalent of) fstab

ISO are booting just fine from this Ventoy, but using ISO makes me lose the "live" capability (i.e: save current activity)

despare ...

 

[cruisetung]

"Windows To Go" - Window's ability to boot from USB is a specific feature of Win10 Enterprise, which actually has been discontinued by Microsoft. No other versions of Windows are able to boot from USB natively.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/p...o-go/windows-to-go-frequently-asked-questions

The ability to boot from USB now is always a hack.

Like I said earlier, you either install it fresh using Rufus / WinToUSB utility for free, or buy the Pro version of WinToUSB and convert existing installation.

 

[TerryLaze]

That would mean I would need to keep having a win install on the drives to have a VM inside.

You would need to have any OS installed inside any drive in this system.
You want your system to not have any drives/OS inside?!

Ventoy is booting just fine, no material problem, it'S inside the Ventoy that the VHD is not booting properly, while it's supposed to

Look at sysprep that I told you about before, even if the windows inside the vhd is from the same machine just going from a m.2 or sata to the simulated vhd can cause enough of an issue for it to not boot, sysprep will remove all drivers so that it will load new ones, that will be compatible, on first boot.

 

[Moonstick2]

The way I read this, the OP wants Linux on their PC (they mention fstab a couple of times) and not have Windows on a drive in the PC, but they'd occasionally still like to run their current Windows configuration for some programs.

@Érica van Hellsing You can't run Windows from an external USB drive. You either install it on an internal drive that you manually disconnect/connect with the motherboard when you want to use Windows or not, or you get something like this hot-swap bay and install Windows on a 2.5" SSD that you can keep out of the bay when you don't want it and place it in there when you do (not hot swapping of course).

 

[cruisetung]

There are a lot of tutorials on youtube teaches you how to install Windows 10/11 on a USB using rufus.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rufus+windows+to+go

I personally create Windows to Go installation on USB flash drive/HDD/SSD/NVME several times already. And as I said earlier, you need a fast flash drive. Cheap/slow flash drives will take more than 15 minutes to boot and die very soon. Even a 2.5" mobile HDD is better than slow flash drive.

And as suggested, OP definitely only want Linux on his internal drive, not Windows,

 

[USAFRet]

What do you think that it is?
Windows 10 is getting phased out, they need to go over to win11 but their win10 is perfectly set up and they are afraid to just let go completely.

"I would like to have win completely out of my computer, only accessed through USB ... no USB, no Win at all"

This is why I never assume...always ask.

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

The way I read this, the OP wants Linux on their PC (they mention fstab a couple of times) and not have Windows on a drive in the PC, but they'd occasionally still like to run their current Windows configuration for some programs.

@Érica van Hellsing You can't run Windows from an external USB drive. You either install it on an internal drive that you manually disconnect/connect with the motherboard when you want to use Windows or not, or you get something like this hot-swap bay and install Windows on a 2.5" SSD that you can keep out of the bay when you don't want it and place it in there when you do (not hot swapping of course).

TY, but these are 3,5'' so for a desktop, not a laptop (I didn't mention it's a laptop because the question is only about USB)
The swap thing would then be about getting my keyboard out, removing the current NVMe, inserting the Win10 NVMe, running it, and swap back when I use the day to day OS ... not what I planned for, but indeed a possibility (I would just ditch the NVMe USBc case then)

Or I would drill in the back carter to get an extension wire hanging out, plugged to the NVMe slot, with direct-access to plug either NVMe without having to open everytime ... solution for last option if I can't make the VHD work

Win should be running from Ventoy in a VHD format, but for some reason it doesn't work in my set up, and not knowing why really frustate me :/

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

"I would like to have win completely out of my computer, only accessed through USB ... no USB, no Win at all"

This is why I never assume...always ask.

Not all girls have hidden meaning or uses periphrases 😛 by removing Win and running it out of USB I mean removing Win and running it out of USB 😉

 

[USAFRet]

Not all girls have hidden meaning or uses periphrases 😛 by removing Win and running it out of USB I mean removing Win and running it out of USB 😉

Right.
And I get that. The underlying reason was not apparent initially.

Still not getting the 'why', but no worries.

I also get that Windows may not be the OS you want to use for this.
Linux does FAR FAR better at running via USB.


As above suggestions, there are a few ways to do this.

 

[JeffreyP55]

Hello,
I want to remove my current Win10 system from my computer, but I don't want to erase it.
Current system has a lot of applications installed, don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling them all

I bought an NVMe disk the same size as current (512GB)
- I tried cloning with HBCD/MediaCat
- I tried win2usb
- I tried just copying
- I tried disk2VHD on a Ventoy
- I tried a new VHD (made with VirtualBox) on a Ventoy
- I'm out of idea

When I boot from the USB disk, I see the Win logo, with a dot ring underneath which spins ... until freezing

What am I doing wrong ? What do I miss ?
There is no FStab on Windows

External M.2, connector USB3 External case. I'm keeping 10 on a PC but it will be offline. Time to upgrade for somebody.

 

[USAFRet]

External M.2, connector USB3 External case. I'm keeping 10 on a PC but it will be offline. Time to upgrade for somebody.

And it boots and runs like this?

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

There are a lot of tutorials on youtube teaches you how to install Windows 10/11 on a USB using rufus.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rufus+windows+to+go

I personally create Windows to Go installation on USB flash drive/HDD/SSD/NVME several times already. And as I said earlier, you need a fast flash drive. Cheap/slow flash drives will take more than 15 minutes to boot and die very soon. Even a 2.5" mobile HDD is better than slow flash drive.

And as suggested, OP definitely only want Linux on his internal drive, not Windows,

Yes, TY for bringing that back, I looked at it in the early stages of this project, but discarded it as the project is to keep the current system as-is not going through the hassle of reinstalling everything (all applications, some are no longer supported)
hence moving focus to VHD on Ventoy
But yes, that would be a fall back option if I can't make VHD work (but why ? as it does work for others . why not me ?!)
Thks again !

 

[JeffreyP55]

Hello,
I want to remove my current Win10 system from my computer, but I don't want to erase it.
Current system has a lot of applications installed, don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling them all

I bought an NVMe disk the same size as current (512GB)
- I tried cloning with HBCD/MediaCat
- I tried win2usb
- I tried just copying
- I tried disk2VHD on a Ventoy
- I tried a new VHD (made with VirtualBox) on a Ventoy
- I'm out of idea

When I boot from the USB disk, I see the Win logo, with a dot ring underneath which spins ... until freezing

What am I doing wrong ? What do I miss ?
There is no FStab on Windows

NVMe is the controller used on other application other than a M.2 connector setup.

 

[JeffreyP55]

And it boots and runs like this?

Got me. I thought I added the same question. My magic delete fingers at work.

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

You would need to have any OS installed inside any drive in this system.
You want your system to not have any drives/OS inside?!

Look at sysprep that I told you about before, even if the windows inside the vhd is from the same machine just going from a m.2 or sata to the simulated vhd can cause enough of an issue for it to not boot, sysprep will remove all drivers so that it will load new ones, that will be compatible, on first boot.

Looking at https://theitbros.com/sysprep-windows-machine/, it does indeed looks like what I'm looking for, as it addresse GUID and such, which I'm conviced is the problem.
It doesn't talk about transforming a current system though, only about a fresh install ...
I'm going to give it a try, TY ! (At this point, I'm ready to try anything anyway)

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

NVMe is the controller used on other application other than a M.2 connector setup.

Both the current (in the laptop) and the new one (In the USBc case) are the same drive (NVMe Gen3x4 M.2 2280), same size, same brand
Initially, I tried (yeah, don't laugh 😛 ) to just swap and plug the internal one into the USB case, of course it didn't work
EDIT: But maybe if I run sysprep on my current system and then swap it will work ? (I'm scared I'm going to messup my current system)

 

[Érica van Hellsing]

External M.2, connector USB3 External case. I'm keeping 10 on a PC but it will be offline. Time to upgrade for somebody.

hum ...
I assume you mean an NVMe M.2, not a SATA M.2 ?
Go on, I'm intrigued, the tease got me