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

 

[Hopachi]

Some notes:

VMware on Windows 64bit still uses some (most of them) 32bit services/applications (for now - mid 2012), while on Linux VMware Player and Workstation are pure 64bit.

On Windows you have to reboot the computer after the install of Player / Workstation and on Linux not (it just installs in a few seconds and is ready for use!)

I use VMware Player on Ubuntu / Lubuntu (64bit) as the virtualisation product of choice.
So VirtualBox is not alone here after all

The Linux installers are files with the "bundle" extention and install just like in Windows With the UI

Virtualbox on Windows (is pure 64bit) and seems to be more snappier on my Windows 64bit. But it's true that you have to click more to do the same stuff like in VMware, I agree with jimbo on this one.

Use what works best for you either be it VMware or VirtualBox.

Cheers
Hopachi

 

[Night Hawk]

Here I've run other OSs as well as different versions of Windows on a flash drive. With the 7 RC that saw Portable VBox while ubuntu, Knoppix(unpacked or written to no install option), Puppy, Linux Mint, and one that never needs a newer version Linux Mint Debian.

The one thing to note about those installs however is that the ubuntu and LM, LMD installs go to a second root partition while the bulk of the flash drive is NFTS for data recovery. I typically carry two flash drives one small 2gb FD with GParted and the other a 32b with one of the distros in a belt holder to keep onhand. Now I have to find a 3 FD holder to carry the 8 CP as well.

 

[Risco]

I followed this guide to the letter, yet it keeps coming up operating system not found when I boot from USB external HDD?

 

[whs]

Have a look at the partition to which you installed on the external HDD. Is that partition 'active'.

 

[Risco]

Have a look at the partition to which you installed on the external HDD. Is that partition 'active'.

Yup it is marked as "Active, Primary"

 

[Night Hawk]

Is it on the first primary or other? The install to a 32gb flash drive went well for the CP. I'm just wondering if this will work the same for the RP as well.

 

[Risco]

Is it on the first primary or other? The install to a 32gb flash drive went well for the CP. I'm just wondering if this will work the same for the RP as well.

I installed to primary. I decided to wipe my external and make a single partition to make sure. It is bootable, if I plug it in and make a BCD option in Windows 7 so I can choose and OS, but it won't find and OS if I try to directly boot from the drive via bios options. Does not make any sense!

 

[whs]

Have a look at the partition to which you installed on the external HDD. Is that partition 'active'.

Yup it is marked as "Active, Primary"

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a problem with the bootmgr. Run this command again from a Windows 8 system: bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

 

[Risco]

Have a look at the partition to which you installed on the external HDD. Is that partition 'active'.

Yup it is marked as "Active, Primary"

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a problem with the bootmgr. Run this command again from a Windows 8 system: bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

Yup tried that as well, I cant understand it. Must be the POS bios that Dell keep shipping.

 

[Risco]

So is that it? I can't do anything else to try and resolve?

 

[whs]

So is that it? I can't do anything else to try and resolve?

Sorry, but I ran out of ideas. It is hard to say from here. I have made those installations following the described procedure many times and they always worked. You must have made a mistake somewhere along the line.

 

[Night Hawk]

Have a look at the partition to which you installed on the external HDD. Is that partition 'active'.

Yup it is marked as "Active, Primary"

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a problem with the bootmgr. Run this command again from a Windows 8 system: bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL

There's another method used for making flash drives bootable to try out. The commands are entered in a command prompt as well. This uses the bootsect.exe tool First you already have the external HD partitioned and formatted but not made bootable as the main cause even when using that line there.

Instead try the following once yiou have a command prompt open. If your optical drive is D you would first change to that drive at that prompt with "D: cd boot" which changes directory from the "C:\Windows\System32\" default.

Next you simply type in "bootsect.exe /nt60 G:"(G or drive letter used for exteral HD) command to see the boot information written and boot files unpacked as long as you burned the 8 iso to disk and have that present in your optical drive. If the bootsect tool works the same for 8 as it did with 7 you should see results.

 

[Risco]

So is that it? I can't do anything else to try and resolve?

Sorry, but I ran out of ideas. It is hard to say from here. I have made those installations following the described procedure many times and they always worked. You must have made a mistake somewhere along the line.

The installation method for USB HDD using Partition Wizard was causing my problems. Once I went the manual command prompt way, or even using EASUS as a partition manager it worked. Thanks for the help, it might be worth considering removing the partition manager link, and just letting people do it via the tried and tested command prompt?

 

[Hopachi]

Risco,

This method worked for me also.

Keep in mind that the bcdboot part can pose problems. It failed for me too when I ran it in Win 7, so I retried in Win8 (in Virtualbox with my usb stick mounted).

Bcdboot failed also in Dev Preview but worked the second time in CP (hmmmm...)

This worked for me:
If you put, let's say, a Release Preview on a usb run bcdboot F:\windows /s F: /f ALL from the same version (Release Preview)
The next step is obvious, but just in case: if the os on usb is x86, bcdboot has to be x86 also.
The same rule applies for x64 versions. I'm not sure it's an official rule, but to keep things safe, it should work.

Regards
Hopachi

 

[whs]

So is that it? I can't do anything else to try and resolve?

Sorry, but I ran out of ideas. It is hard to say from here. I have made those installations following the described procedure many times and they always worked. You must have made a mistake somewhere along the line.

The installation method for USB HDD using Partition Wizard was causing my problems. Once I went the manual command prompt way, or even using EASUS as a partition manager it worked. Thanks for the help, it might be worth considering removing the partition manager link, and just letting people do it via the tried and tested command prompt?

That is an interesting observation. I did use Partition Wizard myself without any problems but I hear what you say. I know that it is easy to make a mistake with Partition Wizard. I have been victim of that myself in other contexts. I will make a note of the problem.

 

[Night Hawk]

When going to prep the 32bit flash drive used here I never used any 3rd party program or even clean with DiskPart but simply right clicked on the flash drive in Windows Explorer to choose the format option. The bcdboot F:\\windows /s F: /f all command worked without a problem. That includes not having used VirtualCloneDrive.

The other string command I pointed at there is how to see a flash drive or in your case an external usb HD made bootable from the command. You would need to have the RP iso burned to dvd and in the drive however since an installation disk with the files is requireed in order to utilize the bootsect.exe tool.

 

[Hopachi]

When going to prep the 32bit flash drive used here I never used any 3rd party program or even clean with DiskPart but simply right clicked on the flash drive in Windows Explorer to choose the format option. The bcdboot F:\\windows /s F: /f all command worked without a problem. That includes not having used VirtualCloneDrive.

It's the same way I did it.
And if performed correctly, it should work anytime.

 

[Night Hawk]

The other method referred to there was how to create a bootable flash drive for installing Vista or 7 but would use the other command simply to make the external HD bootable. The command used accesses the boot folder on the installation media in order to write the boot information on a usb flash drive and could work for the external hard drive as well.

Did that drive come incased in a sealed factory enclosure or did you place a drive in an external usb closure bought separately? Risco That shouldn't make any difference in general but could be an explaination for why the command didn't work right away for you.

 

[fafhrd]

Just revising this thread with a little more information.

For those that are put off by a long download to obtain imagex.exe, it is possible to apply the Windows install.wim image using dism.exe - which is found in your c:\Windows\system32 folder.

dism /apply-image /imagefile:d:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:t:\

this is absolutely equivalent to:

imagex /apply d:\sources\install.wim 1 t:

and takes a similar time to apply the image. ~20 min

I have a small tip - if you have difficulty booting from a particular USB device, because Windows wont let you, sometimes putting the installation on the USB Device in a .VHD virtual disk and using that to boot from circumvents some of Windows' prohibition of booting from some removable devices. The VHD file can also be copied as an entity from one device to another, which is good for backups and reinstallation.

 

[pparks1]

Is my understanding correct, that Windows To Go is ONLY going to be available in the Enterprise version of Windows 8 when released? Thus, the consumer market won't have any access to any of this stuff?