Want Windows 8 Boot Manager after installing from USB

Risco

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Essentially I am looking for the Windows 8 boot manager, that will give me the advanced options and of course choice of OS when booting from USB, whilst allowing me to directly boot in to windows 7 when my USB HDD is not plugged in.

How do I do this? Currently it just boots straight in to Windows 8.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 64bit and Windows 8 Consumer Preview
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 L502X
    CPU
    i5 i2410M
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    8GB DDR 3 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GT 525M
I used that type of configuration. I installed Windows8 on a USB3 stick and also on a USB3 disk. Then I changed the BIOS boot sequence to boot first from USB3. When the stick or the USB3 disk were plugged in, it would load into Windows8. When they were not plugged in, the system would load from my internal disk which had Windows7.

Here is how I made the installation on the stick and on the USB3 disk: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5349-windows-8-go-setup-usb-flash-drive-usb-disk.html

Just a note of caution. If you only have USB2 material, it is quasi impossible to make that operate. It will work like molasses. USB2 is just too slow.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Hi there
I'll save the OP some time.

AFAIK it's IMPOSSIBLE to get W7 to boot AND RUN (not install) from a USB drive . The Boot commands that you use for getting a W8 Win to Go system just don't work for W7 -- if you use the W8 boot on a W7 system it will BSOD on boot.

If you use some type of Linux Boot Loader (GRUB) you MIGHT be able to get the system to start booting W7 after loading the Linux bootstrap but I don't think the effort is worth the candle.

W8 works fine (a USB stick isn't always too slow BTW although some updating won't work without a bit of get arounds). I installed to an old laptop usb drive I'd removed and swapped for an SSD. A USB drive connected to a USB slot with a USB==>SATA cable seems perfectly adequate enough even run on a small netbook.

I connect the old laptop drive via a USB ===>sata adapter cable. The W8 system works quite acceptably fast in this case and is a bit more useful as say with a 320 GB laptop drive you can install a whole load of useful applications too.

BTW XP can also "Sort of" run from a USB drive -- Hirens Boot CD has a "Mini XP" system on it and the whole kybosh boots from a USB drive. I think however that the XP system here is actually based on Bart's PE type of system so it's not a "True" XP system even though it has all the functionality of one.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
AFAIK it's IMPOSSIBLE to get W7 to boot AND RUN (not install) from a USB drive

You know it is possible :confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
To answer the original question:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I used that type of configuration. I installed Windows8 on a USB3 stick and also on a USB3 disk. Then I changed the BIOS boot sequence to boot first from USB3. When the stick or the USB3 disk were plugged in, it would load into Windows8. When they were not plugged in, the system would load from my internal disk which had Windows7.

Here is how I made the installation on the stick and on the USB3 disk: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5349-windows-8-go-setup-usb-flash-drive-usb-disk.html

Just a note of caution. If you only have USB2 material, it is quasi impossible to make that operate. It will work like molasses. USB2 is just too slow.

I can quasi disagree on the last point :)

The Windows 8 CP was too slow, but I have the RP running acceptably fast on a Sandisk Cruzer 16GB thumbdrive (USB 2.0) So far it has been fine on my netbook (Packard Bell dot se with Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz and 2 GB RAM, Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150), and my old Acer Travelmate 2340 - Intel Celeron M 1.50 GHz, 2GB RAM, Mobile Intel® 915 and 910GML Express Chipset Family. - so the hardware is not formula one either.

On the Packard Bell,the RP found and installed the Windows 8 Intel GMA 3150 driver, on the Acer, a generic VGA driver only, but working at full resolution for an attached 1440x900 LCD monitor with acceptable quality. Neither has stability problems. The Acer is so old, it does not even boot natively from USB - It has Plop Boot Manager to enable USB booting!*

So far the OS has 6.7 GB used on the stick, it shuts down & restarts to desktop in about one minute.

One way I have had "Windows 7" ("To Go") booting and running from USB was using a Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1 built OS with the USB boot feature and enhanced and file-based write filters, using the HORM feature, which seems to be like hybrid boot. That can run, at a slow speed similar to the CP, from a 4GB SD card! In a USB card-reader, that booted and ran on the Packard Bell dot se, an Acer Aspire 7520 and an Acer Extensa 4220. To all intents and purposes it did everything Windows 7 does.

The OP may find Plop Boot Manager useful to add a boot from USB option to the boot menu too. Plop - Home Ithink it can be found via EasyBCD too.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
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    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
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    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
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    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
Hi there
OK IMPOSSIBLE might be the wrong word -- with enough hacking most things can be done in a reasonable time frame.

BUT: I still maintain it's ALMOST impossible to get a W7 installation to boot and run from an external device -- WITH all internal disk devices disconnected at boot.

If you can get the W7 to boot and run in THIS scenario without having to use things like Windows Embedded standard then that's OK -- but I'd like to see a W7 (or a near enough one in functionality) that boots and runs totally from an external device and allows things like software etc to be installed on it and recognizes other devices when they are plugged in.

The other problems with a "Portable" W7 is that of activation when you plug the device into different hardware and dynamically installing device drivers. A "Sysprep" type of solution isn't actually a "Real" solution -- since all that is is a quick "pre configured" install on the target system.

The W8 feature avoids this (don't know how --I just know it does).

On a laptop split into two partitions "C" (Host Windows system) and say a "D" partition a Windows to Go W8 system will probably show these as E and F i.e totally separate data drives -- accessible via read / write etc etc --same for any network drives too.

I haven't seen an externally booted W7 system showing me the internal HDD's in this fashion.

Does the OP simply want to use the external device as a BOOT manager or does he actually want to he able to boot by menu choice one of two "TO GO" type of systems totally from the external device

The Linux solution will allow you to boot and select your OS from the USB stick but the actual OS will still be loaded and executed from the computers internal HDD's if it's a W7 OS.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
I can quasi disagree on the last point

The Windows 8 CP was too slow, but I have the RP running acceptably fast on a Sandisk Cruzer 16GB thumbdrive (USB 2.0)

That is good to hear. I have not yet tried the RP. My experience is from the CP. Main reason was because where I am right now, my system does not have a USB3 port and I am too lazy to take the box apart and put a USB3 PCI-e i

But maybe after what you said I should try on a USB2 port. I have a SSD in a USB2 enclosure lying around. That may be the appropriate device - although the Atto measurements on the USB2 were not really encouraging. The USB3 stick on my system in FL was way faster.

2012-06-02_1816.png
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Hi there
I can try and post my results of a W8 Win to go running from a Samsung 320 GB model HM321HI "cannabalized" laptop drive connected to a "bog standard" USB2 port on a small NETBOOK and response is fine. This was the drive I extracted from a laptop to replace it with an SSD. (One end of the adapter is a SATA connector and the other end goes into a bog standard USB2 port).

What do I need to run after I've booted up the system.

I see ATTO Disk bench mark -- can you provide a link

I use the Win to go quite a lot -- just used it recently to re-partition a laptop where the internal HDD was totally hosed up.

I could even run Photoshop on it as test.

cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Jimbo, Here is Atto: Disk Benchmark | ATTO

I always focus on the 4K blocksize because this is the predominent blocksize the system uses. As you can see my USB3 stick is nearly 4 times faster than my Mushkin SSD in a USB2 enclosure - and that Mushkin is really fast when attached to USB3 or eSata. Unfortunately my older Dell Inspiron 530 here does not have those connections.

Here is what I call fast - this is the real time boot in Virtual Box on my Florida Dell XPS 8300 with an M4: Start Win8 in vBox1.wmv - YouTube
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
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