Windows 8 To Go - Setup on a USB Flash Drive or USB Disk

How to Setup "Windows 8 To Go" on a USB Flash Drive or USB Disk in any Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to manually setup Windows 8 To Go from any Windows 7 or Windows 8 (except Windows 8 RT) to be able to install and run Windows 8 from a USB flash drive or external USB disk. The procedure for the USB stick is discussed in Chapter A, the procedure for the USB attached disk is shown in Chapter B.

You should expect the whole process to take about 3 hours elapsed time if you do not have the WAIK on your system and about 1 hour if the WAIK is installed on your system.

If you install on a stick, it is very important to choose a fast USB stick of at least 16GB size. For the USB attached disk it is preferable to use a USB3 attachment, but USB2 should also work. In addition, you need a program to create a virtual CD and the Windows 8 .iso. The rest is done in Command Prompt.

For more information and details about Windows To Go workspaces, see: Windows To Go: Feature Overview

   Note

Those of you who have an Enterprise edition of Windows 8, you can also explore this option which is built into the Enterprise edition.

How to Create a "Windows To Go" Workspace on a USB Flash Drive in Windows 8 Enterprise

   Tip

It is highly recommended to use a USB 3.0 flash drive or disk. Otherwise it will run like a snail from it.

Chapter A - Installation on a stick


Step 1 - Check the speed of your USB stick


To measure the speed of your stick I recommend Atto Disk Benchmark. It will produce a benchmark result like this picture.




It is the example of a 32GB USB2 stick that is not very fast. Especially the 4K read/write speeds are pretty slow. It is important to focus on the 4K size because that is the blocksize that the system uses most of the time. The large blocksizes are unimportant.

Loading the system (appr. 600MB to 1GB) at boot time will take over 3 minutes at a read speed of 4.7MB/sec. But, since there are also other activities going on at this time, the boot is even longer.A stick with characteristics like this one is not recommended.





This is a USB3 stick which runs Windows 8 fluently. The initial system setup still takes a bit more time than on a fast disk, but it is not really out of the ordinary.

On this stick I have loaded the 64bit Windows 8 and I am very pleased with both the boot time and the execution of programs and system facilities.


Step 2 - Download the WAIK and extract the imagex file

If you do not have the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) on your system, then you have to download from this Microsoft site. This will be a bit lengthy because the WAIK is 1.7GB - figure a 2-hour download.

When you are done downloading the KB3AIK_EN.iso file, mount this .iso, open and run the StartCD.exe file to install WAIK on your system.



Then you have to copy the imagex.exe. You find that in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools. There is a 32bit version and a 64bit version.





You choose 32bit when you install a 32bit version of Windows 8 on your stick - 64bit when you install the 64bit version. Copy the one that corresponds to your Windows 8 .iso to the desktop. You can copy it to any other folder, but then you have to change the path in the installation command that we will run later in Command Prompt.

I have tried both the 32bit version (on the slow USB2 stick) and the 64bit version (on the fast USB3 stick). Both work as far as I can tell although there is a significant difference in performance.


Step 3 - Mount the Win8 .iso in a virtual BD ROM

We first have to create a virtual BD ROM with theVirtual Clone Drive Program. Download, install and run this program. It is very simple. When you start the program, you get this window. Just click OK and you are done.

You then go to Computer and you find your BD ROM.

Note: If you are working in Windows 8, you can mount the .iso directly from File Explorer. Just right click on the .iso and you will find a mount option. See: ISO Images - Mount or Unmount






To mount the .iso in the BD ROM, follow the instructions in the next picture. Make sure you remember the drive letter of the BD ROM (in my case 'H:') because you will need that later.







Step 4 - Prepare your USB stick

We now have to define a primary active partition on the USB stick. For that we open an elevated Command Prompt (run as administrator). Type or paste each of the following commands (one by one) and hit Enter after each command.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your stick in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary
Format fs=ntfs quick
Assign
Active
Exit

Your stick is now ready for the installation of Windows 8.


Step 5 - Install Windows 8 on the stick

This is very easy now with a command in Command Prompt. It may take a little while to transfer the whole system, so be patient. The Command is:

"C:\Users\Your Name\Desktop\imagex.exe" /apply H:\sources\install.wim 1 F:\

Your Name is the name of your system. H: is the letter of my BD ROM (step 3). If your BD ROM has another letter, you have to change that accordingly. F: is the drive letter of my stick (step 4). Here you also have to replace it if your stick is on another letter.

As last step you have to run a command to install the boot files. If you are installing on a Windows 7 system, use this command. You have to be aware that this installs a Win7 BCD which works but is slower than the Win8 UEFI BCD.

bcdboot F:\windows /s F:

If you are installing on a Windows 8 system, use this command below. This is the preferred BCD because it is faster for boot and shutdown. You can rerun this command in a Win8 system even if you already installed the Win7 BCD in a Win7 system. It will 'upgrade' the BCD to the Win8 (UEFI) level.

bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

Here again F: is the letter for my stick which you may have to adjust.


Step 6 - Run Windows 8 from your USB stick

You are done with the installation and can now run Windows 8 off your stick. For that you have to change the boot sequence in the BIOS pointing at the USB stick as first boot device.

I run the stick version on my laptop and have made the USB #1 in the boot sequence. That way it loads Windows 8 from the stick when the stick is plugged in and Windows 7 from the SSD when there is no Windows 8 stick.

As I said earlier, a USB stick is no SSD - although the technology is similar. So be patient, especially with the initial setup where the system has to do a lot of write operations which are slow on a stick. But once the system is in full swing, it is quite some fun.

Warning: In Windows 7, I usually keep my bootmgr on the C: partition. With that setup I had some problems running Windows 8 from the stick. Each time it would corrupt my bootmgr. I then created a separate 400MB partition and moved the bootmgr there. That seems to cure the problem.

Chapter B - Installation on a USB attached disk


The procedure is very similar to what I described for the USB stick with a few exceptions.

Step 1 - Check the speed of the USB attached disk

This is the HDD I run in a USB3 open enclosure. It is a 5400RPM disk that I had recovered from my laptop when I installed the SSD.

The R/W speeds at the 4K blocksize are very similar to my USB3 stick. The R/W speed at the bigger blocksizes is slower because the disk can only spin so fast.

Performance wise it felt slower than the performance on the USB3 stick but was still very acceptable.






Step 2 - Download the WAIK and extract the imagex file

This step is exactly the same as described for the stick.

Step 3 - Mount the Win8 .iso in a virtual BD ROM

This step is exactly the same as described for the stick. Make sure you apply the correct device letters for the BD ROM and the HDD.

Step 4 - Prepare your USB disk

Here I went a different route. I used Partition Wizardon my Windows 7 system to define a primary active partition on the HDD. That is easier than working with Command Prompt on a multi partition disk.

Note: There have been reports of problems when using Partition Wizard - although I did not encounter any problems myself. The report was that the final system did not boot. In such a case you might want to go back and use Command Prompt as the safer method.

Step 5 - Install Windows 8 on the disk

That is again the same procedure as for the stick. I did the installation step on my Windows 7 system but copied the BCD on my Windows 8 in Virtual Box.

Step 6 - Run Windows 8 from your USB disk

Change the boot sequence in the BIOS to boot from USB and off you go. The setup of Windows 8 took appr. 20 minutes (in the USB3 enclosure). During that setup, there is one reboot where you have to change the boot sequence again - else the system will boot into the first boot device it finds which is probably your default OS. When that was done, operation was as one would expect from a slow HDD.

I then tried it on my desktop in an eSata enclosure. The system first made some automatic adjustments for the different hardware. Then it ran flawlessly. The performance was about the same as from the USB3 enclosure. But both are slower than my USB3 stick.

If you have a USB disk with 20 to 25GB of free space lying around, it is certainly an alternative to run the Windows 8 CP from that. If nothing else, it is a lot of fun making the installation and seeing that it works.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a "Windows To Go" Workspace on a USB Flash Drive in Windows 8 Enterprise
• How to Enable or Disable Store on Windows To Go Workspaces
• How to Hide or Unhide Drives from Host Computer on "Windows To Go" Workspace
• How to Create a Bootable USB or DVD with a Windows 8 ISO
• How to Mount or Unmount ISO images in Windows 8
• How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in "Windows To Go" Workspace
• How to Enable or Disable Sleep in "Windows To Go" Workspace
• Enable or Disable Always Automatically Boot PC from USB Drive in Windows To Go Startup Options
• How to Create a Windows To Go Startup Options Shortcut in Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[ecurb]

On pretty much a whim I once again rebuilt the SanDisk Extreme using the VHD and PWBoot. Now it boots happily on every PC I tried it on (Dell D2400, Dell XPS420, Shuttle SH67H3, various gigabyte mobo builds GA-H81M-DS2V, GA-G41M-ES2H, an ASRock 970 Extreme3 box, etc.) My oldest PC an HP a720n errors out on boot but that was the only failure so far.

I think my SanDisk Extreme is somehow on the ragged edge of what Win8.1 enterprise can boot with. I did order another SanDisk Extreme to see if I can find another that works reliably and with native boot as my first one did before I broke it. I stuck with the SanDisk Extreme based upon some of the performance reviews I've read (Tom's Hardware, etc).

I haven't been able to successfully run windows update yet with this configuration so it may still have issues. I still see it as an interim solution until I can get a pure Win8.1 enterprise W8TG up and running again. Since I'm using Win8.1 Enterprise I'll also try to build the USB using the built in W8TG builder.

So much to try. So little time. ;-)

 

[adamf]

4.) I then looked at another idea which gets you the new darling exe "DISM" file by a very clever trick. The Dism exe creates and loads up for you the proper large Wim file. Perhaps others can perfect this method. Apparently you need two flash drives. I did not try it. See DISM.exe Replaces ImageX.exe - My Thoughts On IT?

This sort of worked with a ten preview ISO.. You don't need two flash drives - just unzip the ISO to get at the wim. Prepare your USB with dispart and then

dism /Apply-Image /imagefile:C:\Users\adam\Desktop\install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:F:\

bcdboot.exe F:\Windows /s F: /f ALL

It boots OK (on a mac) but I only had USB2 thumb drive and after a couple of hours "setting up" I gave up - it seemed too slow. Will try with USB HDD instead. Certainly though the DISM works for the copy.

 

[whs]

Best is to use a USB3 attached SSD or a flash drive like this one.

 

[salmanr86]

Hi,
yesterday i installed Windows to Go Pro Version on my 1TB WD Ultra External USB Drive through AOMEI Partition Assistant Wizard and it installed fine.
Now i can boot fine into my Inspiron 1560 , however when i try to boot into HP Probook 4530s or Elitebook 8460p it says "Disk Read Error, Please Ctrl + Alt + Del to Restart"

Can anybody guide what am i doing wrong ? i am using only 1 partition of 1TB Size to install windows and also will be using it to hold my other files.

 

[antares]

Windows to Go in a removable USB3 flash drive

If I folllow this method to create a Windows to Go USB flash drive, can I use one that Windows sees as "removable" instead of "fixed"? The original Windows 8 Enterprise requirement is a "fixed" drive for WIndows to Go
Also, will that method create a Windows to Go flash drive as is done with the WIndows to Go feature included in the Enterprise edition?
Thanks

 

[whs]

I have no idea how the Enterprise edition works. But with this method I have created a portable Windows 8 on a flash drive. You need a very fast flash drive or a SSD for it to work conveniently. If the access time is short (under 0.5ms) then it will even work on USB2. Only the booting is a bit longer.

 

[KYHI]

WinToUSB - How to use WinToUSB?

http://www.winntsetup.com/

 

[whs]

WinToUSB - How to use WinToUSB?

http://www.winntsetup.com/

This is probably an easier method. There is this tutorial by Shawn:

USB Flash Drive - Create to Install Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

[KYHI]

NaH..

I use Diskpart, DISM and Bcdedit.. (just like you)
All windows programs, just a pain to explain..

so the > do it all for you < programs work better..

I forgot Rufus does it now too..
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

 

[antares]

Hi guys, thanks for your replies. This is what I need to know: in Windows 8 Enterprise, if you want to create a Windows to Go USB flash drive, the requirement is that the flash drive must be seen as "fixed" and not "removable" by Windows, that's why only certain USB flash drives are compatible. So my question is, for the "Windows 8 to Go" procedure outlined in this tutorial, can I use ANY USB3 flash drive? Or I can use only "fixed" USB3 flash drives? Thanks

 

[KYHI]

I can not speak for what is the how to.. But yes there are many ways to install windows to go on a "removable" drive

 

[antares]

But I was not asking that, my question is if the procedure outlined in this tutorial will be successful in any USB3 flash drive, or if I'm restricted only to "fixed" USB3 flash drives like in the Windows Enterprise "Windows to Go" feature.

 

[whs]

You can use any USB flash drive. But you will only get satisfactory performance with USB3 flash drives that have an access time of less than 1ms. Access time is much more important than data transfer time. You have to measure the flash drive with HD Tune. HD Tune website

The so called 'fixed' flash drives show like disks. But that is not a requirement here. Good examples of fixed drives are these. But for the price of these drives you are better off to use an external SSD.

 

[KYHI]

But I was not asking that, my question is if the procedure outlined in this tutorial will be successful in any USB3 flash drive, or if I'm restricted only to "fixed" USB3 flash drives like in the Windows Enterprise "Windows to Go" feature.

Try it and find out - on your USB drive

We call that testing - because if you are looking for a guarantee that any usb3 will work, your not going to get one..

 

[antares]

The so called 'fixed' flash drives show like disks. But that is not a requirement here. Good examples of fixed drives are these. But for the price of these drives you are better off to use an external SSD.

Good to know that being "fixed" is not required here. I found out that flash drives that are certified to work with Windows to Go are ridiculously expensive, might be that they are aimed at the corporate market.
Are any of these 2 good candidates for this:
Amazon.com: PNY Turbo 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - P-FD128TBOP-GE: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Silicon Power 128GB Blaze B30 USB 3.0 Swivel Flash Drive R/W upto 200/80 Mb/s, Black (SP128GBUF3B30V1K): Computers & Accessories

I wonder if an m.sata SSD with a USB3 enclosure can be used as a Windows 8 to Go?

But I was not asking that, my question is if the procedure outlined in this tutorial will be successful in any USB3 flash drive, or if I'm restricted only to "fixed" USB3 flash drives like in the Windows Enterprise "Windows to Go" feature.

Try it and find out - on your USB drive

We call that testing - because if you are looking for a guarantee that any usb3 will work, your not going to get one..

Thanks KYHI anyway. The whole purpose of asking was to save time and money on purchasing a flash drive that might not be up to the task. I was asking something very specific, i.e., the "fixed" requirement for WIndows to Go, but whs answered that and luckily it's not required.

 

[KYHI]

I told you several times it was not..

yes there are many ways to install windows to go on a "removable" drive

Here is the Issue - you can not partition "removable" drives
so if your windows installation requires partitions, then you can not do it on a "removable" drive

But the are several ways to do > windows to go < on a usb drive

I wonder if an m.sata SSD with a USB3 enclosure can be used as a Windows 8 to Go?

Yes.. or even an old HDD in an external enclosure will work..
The HDD would have a higher power requirement, so a SSD would be better..

You want to avoid an "external" storage device as they too are sometimes flagged as removable..

So you want an "internal" device in an external adapter..

 

[alphanumeric]

Creating a Windows To Go install on an external hard drive is not an issue. Not when using the official Utility in the Enterprise version. It will let you use an external USB hard drive. I've done it several times. SSD's and old laptop drives in USB external enclosures. It might be an issue when rolling your own though. USB thumb drives can be an issue as KYHI explained. You cannot partition removable USB thumb drives. That's why certified Windows to Go drives are flagged as fixed disks. Some Sandisk thumb drives are too. I had some that were, but they were too small to install Windows to Go to. A large capacity Sandisk thumb drive may work even if it isn't a certified drive.

 

[whs]

Good to know that being "fixed" is not required here. I found out that flash drives that are certified to work with Windows to Go are ridiculously expensive, might be that they are aimed at the corporate market.
Are any of these 2 good candidates for this:
Amazon.com: PNY Turbo 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - P-FD128TBOP-GE: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Silicon Power 128GB Blaze B30 USB 3.0 Swivel Flash Drive R/W upto 200/80 Mb/s, Black (SP128GBUF3B30V1K): Computers & Accessories

I wonder if an m.sata SSD with a USB3 enclosure can be used as a Windows 8 to Go?

That PNY is a good one and for an excellent price. I own one myself and use it for this OS. You can see there how snappy it is - and that is with the screen recorder running. And see the performance measurements below.

The other stick I really don't know. But it looks OK. An external SSD is the fastest option because the SSD has the shortest access time. I have done one of those too.

Here is my HD Tune measurement of the PNY stick.

 

[whs]

KYHI & Alphanumeric, Non-fixed flash drives can be partitioned. You just need to do it the right way (see Create a Data Partition).

 

[alphanumeric]

KYHI & Alphanumeric, Non-fixed flash drives can be partitioned. You just need to do it the right way - not with Disk Management.

View attachment 60491

Yes, correct, but I think another complication is windows won't see the second partition? I had a handle on this at one time but haven't messed with it for a while now so I'm forgetting all the ins and outs already..