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

 

[whs]

Hi there

Great Tutorial -- but can you alter one little piece in it.

W8 can mount an .ISO file directly via Windows explorer -- either just double click on it or right mouse (context ==> mount).
No need for Virtual drive software. Saves using Daemon tools or other 3rd party stuff for this.

When you've finished with the device just use the Standard EJECT (right mouse (context ==>eject).

(I assume you are running this from a W8 OS. If you are using W7 and running the bcdboot command to create the W8 boot from a "mounted" W8 install disk then you still need the Virtual mounter -- but it's much easier to create the Win to go from within a running W8 system).

Cheers
jimbo

Understand what you are saying. But most people (like me) will probably make that installation on a Windows 7 system. But I will add it as an option. I will use your verse - OK?

Update: Just wanted to put the verse into the tut and saw that it was already in. I think Shawn put it in. Thank you Shawn.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Great Tutorial -- but can you alter one little piece in it.

W8 can mount an .ISO file directly via Windows explorer -- either just double click on it or right mouse (context ==> mount).
No need for Virtual drive software. Saves using Daemon tools or other 3rd party stuff for this.

When you've finished with the device just use the Standard EJECT (right mouse (context ==>eject).

(I assume you are running this from a W8 OS. If you are using W7 and running the bcdboot command to create the W8 boot from a "mounted" W8 install disk then you still need the Virtual mounter -- but it's much easier to create the Win to go from within a running W8 system).

Cheers
jimbo

Understand what you are saying. But most people (like me) will probably make that installation on a Windows 7 system. But I will add it as an option. I will use your verse - OK?

Hi there
Fine.

Great tutorial -- much easier to follow than all the Video stuff -- with this type of tutorial you can go back and re-read what you might not have understood properly the first time - or google and search extra info while reading the tutorial.

I HATE the modern tendency to put everything as a Video on YouTube -- you have to absorb info at the Video's pace and it's difficult to pause and go back to points you can't grasp the first time through.

Video has its place but people seem to be OBSESSED with it -- and it's not the most efficient medium of teaching students either unless it's broken down into chunks with Feedback from the student.
Good luck

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

Yeah, I am a culprit myself. I like to make video tuts. For one they are a lot less work than the written tutorials and also there are subjects that lend themselves better to video than to text.

Right now I make a whole series of tutorial about Windows 8 for the people of my computer club. I think a new system like /8 is better presented in videos than in writing.

 

[whs]

Just for fun I made another 'to go' installation. This time on a fast 7200RPM HDD attached via eSata. Boy is this thing fast. If you have an eSata connection and a spare disk, you should try it.

As usual I did the whole installation on my Windows7 system. But the very last step (copying the bootmgr), I did on my Windows8 that runs in Virtual Box. You can, of course, do the whole procedure in Windows8.

 

[MrAustinFTW]

Does this work to install windows 8 onto an SSD via USB stick or only if you want to boot from USB?

 

[Brink]

Hello MrAustinFTW,

This is to boot from and run Windows 8 from the USB flash drive instead. It does not install Windows 8 from the USB. For that, you would want to see the tutorial below if you like.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-usb-dvd-windows-8-consumer-preview-iso.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[whs]

Does this work to install windows 8 onto an SSD via USB stick or only if you want to boot from USB?

Not sure what your question is. If

1. Your SSD is in an external exclosure (USB3 or eSata attached) and you want to run it from there, then you use the same procedure as described for the HDD (section B)

2. But if you just want to move the .iso to a USB stick because e.g. you have no CD/DVD reader, do this.

2.1. Mount your .iso with Virtual Clone Drive - that is very easy. See Step3 of the above tutorial.

2.2. Format your stick with these cmd commands

diskpart
list disk
select disk n (insert the number shown for the USB stick)
clean
create partition primary
active
format fs=ntfs quick
exit

2.3. Move the .iso to the stick. d: is the address of your clone drive, e: is the address of your stick. If you have different addresses, modify the command accordingly. The command is:

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

 

[sskassam]

i follow the instructions to the "t" with an AData 16GB S102 USB3.0 stick and 32-bit Windows 8 CP. I tried using the BCDBOOT from Windows 7 and the BCDBOOT from the Windows 8 installation on the USB stick.. When I boot from the USB stick, I get an eventual error UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.

what can i do??! I see the fish and the spinning wheel for a few minutes but then it crashes to either of those two messages.

 

[whs]

The only thing I can imagine is that you mixed 32bit and 64bit. There were problems with the 32bit CP version. I suggest you retry with the 64bit CP and install the bootfiles from Windows 8 with this command:
bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

 

[sskassam]

The only thing I can imagine is that you mixed 32bit and 64bit. There were problems with the 32bit CP version. I suggest you retry with the 64bit CP and install the bootfiles from Windows 8 with this command:
bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

i'm positive i used all 32-bit components. i wish i could try the 64-bit version, but my current windows 7 OS is 32-bit (eventhough my laptop has a 64-bit proc!) so I don't think I can execute those commands.

grrr!! maybe it's the flash drive i'm using?

 

[whs]

As I said, there were problems with the 32bit. Why don't you install a 64bit Win8 in Virtual Box and go from there. You will need a Win8 installation anyhow to transfer the bootfiles. You can still make the setup in Win7, but the last step with the above command you'll have to do in your Virtual Box Win8. That's how I do it. All you have to do then is to enable the stick for the Virtual Box.

 

[sskassam]

As I said, there were problems with the 32bit. Why don't you install a 64bit Win8 in Virtual Box and go from there. You will need a Win8 installation anyhow to transfer the bootfiles. You can still make the setup in Win7, but the last step with the above command you'll have to do in your Virtual Box Win8. That's how I do it. All you have to do then is to enable the stick for the Virtual Box.

but i can't run a 64-bit Virtual Box when my host OS is 32-bit. ugh! maybe i'll just try this on a USB hard drive instead of a flash drive.

 

[Night Hawk]

When finally cleaning off all of the 8 files from a 32gb flash I have been using to back things up from the direct install to drive copy I went for the Virtual CloneDrive only to find you need a downloader installed first. Once that was seen to the download of the V CD program didn't download and install by itself! 4 other programs like toast went on despite unchecking all of the addons for toolbars and other things!

You might want to update the download link for the Virtual CloneDrive with the home site's own page seen at SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive

Not having any USB 3.0 flash drives quite yet as well as not having a 3.0 hub to use rather then reaching around the back of the cabinet to reach in or squeeze by the side of the case to reach around back to feel for the two 3.0 ports on the main board I am using the 32gb 2.0 flash drive to see how that will perform since not too many will have 3.0 FDs at this due to the high prices seen.

For anyone looking for any 32gb flash drive I can add here I found a bargain on Kingston DT 32gb models at buy.com when checking prices all over. They ran about $20-$30 less there then at other sites. 11% after 10min. from entering the install command to be followed by the last step of making the flash drive bootable by creation of the BCD store for a go. oops! 15% while typing that!

VM Player 4.02 for the W8 CP or create a VHD and install it there! VBox isn't suitable for the CP I found when first downloading it. Plus VBox generally runs the 32bit.

UPDATE: So how did the USB 2.0 Flash drive install go? All went sssslowww.. as you might expect taking some 75min. 25sec. to unpack/transfer files over to the 32gb Kingston Data Traveler 160 but also to see a surprize of dual wallpapers on each monitor as the user files and settings went along too!.

Problem? Upon starting the install of various things like the MS optical software which failed to install lacking certain files until Windows updates are gathered up the startup today resulted in the first 'Windows 8 CP Blue Screen of Death"! The 45min "Getting Devices Ready, Getting System Ready" process had all gone well along with seeing the Start menu 7 app applied along with a few other things.

The next startup however ran right into a hardware code error. No known hardware issues detected but have to review the memory dump file on that.

Second Update: Apparently that was only to happen when first going to power up the system. Upon a reboot out of the 7 host later on the CP install loaded right up as if nothing had happened with no memory dump file to find. Some more fresh starts and reboots into that install should reveal if any actual problems are present.

 

[jimbo45]

As I said, there were problems with the 32bit. Why don't you install a 64bit Win8 in Virtual Box and go from there. You will need a Win8 installation anyhow to transfer the bootfiles. You can still make the setup in Win7, but the last step with the above command you'll have to do in your Virtual Box Win8. That's how I do it. All you have to do then is to enable the stick for the Virtual Box.

but i can't run a 64-bit Virtual Box when my host OS is 32-bit. ugh! maybe i'll just try this on a USB hard drive instead of a flash drive.

Hi there
provided you have the Intel / AMD Virtualisation feature switched oln in the BIOS - YOU CAN (at least in vmware) Run a 64 BIT Virtual machine on a 32 bit Host. (one of the wonders of virtualisation).

However your VM plus HOST RAM will not see anything over 4GB (might be enough for testing anyway).

I've run a 64 bit W7 VM on an XP Host !!.


Another thing also W8 supports .iso files directly in Windows explorer -- no need for "Virtual clone drive" etc in W8 any more.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

I believe that is the same in Virtual Box.

 

[Night Hawk]

When trying out VBox with the 64bit 7 RC at the time you could only run a 32bit XP, Vista, or 7 RC VM. VM Player allows for the 64bit Guest OS as it is referred to.

This was confirmed lately with the W8 CP x64 VM on the 64bit 7 host here. I gave up on VBox when after some time when going to start a VM it would simply fail to load requiring a totally VM for the same thing while VM Player not only maintains the VMs but offers a far better set of tools for mounting external HDs and flash drives.

The flash drive install was first mentioned in one blog awhile back after the DP was first out. When an install to a VHD failed running into a familiar error seen with the DP previously the flash drive install was the next step here which ran into a fluke of some type not seen since. So far the boot up time is reasonable on the USB 2.0 flash drive while not the ideal.

 

[whs]

Windows 8 in vBox is currently my main W8 system. It runs great and is sooo convenient.

I am not sure I understand what your problems were.

 

[Night Hawk]

It also depends on whcih VBox you go with. The full version is the Oracle VirtualBox while the freebie most see would be the Portable VBox which is limited on what it supports.

With VM Player while you commonly see the freeware most go with you can also get a full paid version which offers quite a bit more support and features. The main difference I found when working with the VMLite workstation for the XP Mode and later the VM Player over VBox is the instant usb support while VBox was having problems simply accessing the dvd burner if not booting to set up a new VM there.

With VM Player I can instantly mount either or both the drive in a fan cooled usb enclosure or any flash drive as well as disconnect from the VM back to the host OS with ease. In fast the XP Mode is running on the VMLite Workstation on the CP while the VPC of course was written strictly for 7 following the VPC 2007 mainly for Vista.

I had VBox on here for the longest time from the 7 RC releases until the continuing loss of VM after not loading them for so long and the need to keep reinstalling each OS all over again. A clean install once in awhile is no biggie while only having each VM last a week or two and fail to load afterwards?

When replacing the VM Player 4.0 version Dec. 2011 for the newer 4.02 Feb. 2012 release I still was able to run the Linux VM having saved that one while needing a fresh CP install due to the 4.0's coding error problem for the VM Tools not connecting online. Despite that issue others were running into as well all other VMs worked out well and last. Simple formula if it's broke from the start replace it like I did with VBox.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
just my experience -- If I'm using Windows on the HOST then VMware is my choice of Virtualisation. I use VMware workstation but the free VMware player is probably enough for most people. I tried VBOX but for various reasons just didn't like it -- I had to fiddle around too much -- VMware (usually) ran ist time.

For Linux HOSTS then the free VBOX seems to possibly be a better bet -- especially if you like using the latest kernels etc since you can compile the modules into the latest sources. Sometimes VMware takes a little while in catching up with the latest Linux releases.

However with Windows 8 I've been looking at and testing HYPER-V. This seems to run VM's just fine and efficiently but tends to have some side effects on the HOST machine when you want to play DVD's / other VISUAL multi-media --- audio is fine.

I've temporarily abandoned HYPER-V until I can get the video issue sorted out. This won't be a problem if using HYPER-V on a server but this feature was offered on a DESKTOP OS and these days running a desktop OS without decent multi-media support is like Fish'n Chips with no chips or finding a pub with no beer.

(Symptoms were VLC player on HOST just gave BLANK screen on DVD playng -- Audio worked fine even on DVD's. Uninstalled HYPER-V - DVD playing etc worked just fine again. I did try all the de-interlace etc type of options too on the video streams -- no joy).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

From what I was running into with VBox and the Portable VBox was the same for any Linux VMs as well as the ones for XP, Vista, and 7 while running the RCs. With the free VM Player each new VM simply lasts and can still unused for as long as that version of the player is being used without the need to create a new one.

The ability to instantly mount the external HD or flash drive on the go is another plus side there as well. The VMLite workstation also provided the integrated components support with the XP Mode allowing direct access to all physical drives which would be the norm for the XP Mode if the 2009 VPC also was able to run on 8 as well as it had on 7.

Despite the CP VM and the direct install to the second OS drive here used for testing the 2.0 flash drive install makes 8 portable if you want to show someone else what 8 will be like without anything installed on the next machine. Note a USB 2.0 self powered 4 port hub is also in use and still sees the CP loading up and running normally despite the initial glitch seen with a cold start not a reboot at the time of the system into the flash drive install.

The reboot out of 7 later after running the 8 VM saw a normal startup suggesting it was most likely a driver loading sideways where all it needed was a restart to load normally. It sounds like something simply hadn't finished installing when that was seen.