Windows To Go with the Windows 8.1 update

Nice, but who has the Enterprise edition. I still have to live with my 'poor mans to go' - but that works with any OS and any edition.

Hi there

Don't forget also this can be made for "Non Certified" devices too. Read link at bottom of my post.

Unlike most people's home made portable OS'es this DOESN'T need any sort of HOST computer OS to boot and run it - even if the HOST computer has broken disks or none at all in it.

BTW those without TechNet subscriptions (TechNet has W8.1 enterprise) or Work availability can still try this out by downloading the FREE 90 day trial of ENTERPRISE from the Ms site. Use W 8.1 it's more up to date.

Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation

Windows to Go behaves just like Windows in every way -- you can even boot on any bootable device - even if there's no functioning HDD in the computer -- running from a USB3 external disk or even an SSD connected to a USB2 or SATA external port gives perfectly good performance and runs just like windows -- read / write on ALL Volumes. You can install things like Office, multi-media etc etc.

Here's the link to creating "Non Certified" Windows to go.

Creating a Non-Certified Windows To Go USB Drive » ADMIN Magazine

Cheers
jimbo

whs said:

Nice, but who has the Enterprise edition. I still have to live with my 'poor mans to go' - but that works with any OS and any edition.

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what's the difference between a Microsoft Community Contributor and an MVP? I was thinking the Community Contributor was a higher distinction now I'm not so sure. As an MVP I get a free MSDN and TechNet subscription. That gets me 8.1 Enterprise and Windows To Go. I have Enterprise on my laptop now just so I could setup a Windows To Go drive. Like Jimbo said, I was cautioned that performance may suffer because it wasn't a certified device but it let me create it anyway. My WTG is 8.1, haven't played with it all that much other than to boot up to it and make sure it works. It synced with my other PC fine. I used the original spinner drive that came in my laptop mounted in a USB 3 external drive enclosure. It's only a 5400 RPM drive so that likely had something to do with the poor performance message.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

Don't forget also this can be made for "Non Certified" devices too. Read link at bottom of my post.

Unlike most people's home made portable OS'es this DOESN'T need any sort of HOST computer OS to boot and run it - even if the HOST computer has broken disks or none at all in it.

BTW those without TechNet subscriptions (TechNet has W8.1 enterprise) or Work availability can still try this out by downloading the FREE 90 day trial of ENTERPRISE from the Ms site. Use W 8.1 it's more up to date.

Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation

Windows to Go behaves just like Windows in every way -- you can even boot on any bootable device - even if there's no functioning HDD in the computer -- running from a USB3 external disk or even an SSD connected to a USB2 or SATA external port gives perfectly good performance and runs just like windows -- read / write on ALL Volumes. You can install things like Office, multi-media etc etc.

Here's the link to creating "Non Certified" Windows to go.

Creating a Non-Certified Windows To Go USB Drive » ADMIN Magazine

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

The actual official WTG hides the drives in the host PC you boot it from. You can see them in Disk Management but they don't have any drive letters assigned so they don't show up in My PC/explorer. Likely done to avoid confusion and prevent you from messing up the host OS. The Windows To Go drive is also hidden if you plug the drive into an already running Windows PC. I have office 2013 installed on mine plus a few Apps I use. It looks and feels just like any other Windows 8.1 install.

A Microsoft Community Contributor was a title given to me after sponsership by the sevenforums. But it does not come with the Technet sunscription and some of the other goodies you MVPs get.

As a private person who is not integrated into an enterprise, the WTG has different applications anyhow. For data recovery (mostely on friend's systems that were mucked up) I use this Linux version. This is quick to produce and setup and performs very well - especially from a USB3 stick. Plus I like Mint Mate better than 8.1 anyhow.

This other approach that I quoted runs any OS under VMware Player from an external device - preferably an external SSD on USB3 (VMware Player does not support eSata). That requires a running VMware Player on the system you want to apply it but that could be a VMware Player running from a Linux host. I run Windows 8 and several Linux distros that way. Advantage is that I need to maintain only one system and need only one product key (in the case of 8.1) to run it on any PC I own. That is very practical for me because I move around in 3 homes in the US and Europe where I have 6 PCs in total. Thus I always have up-to-date systems carried on my SSD.

The performance btw. is outstanding - even from a USB2 port. As an example, the boot time (event 100 in Event Viewer) is only about 20% slower from the external SSD than from the internal Sata attached SSD and for the rest of the operation I do not really notice any difference.

Hi there.

@WHS -- this is also a great way of running a "Portable" OS.

Just as a curiosity would you get better performance if you ran your Windows VM on XEN or KVM -- that way you could paravirtualise the whole thing with a small Linux Hypervisor which should boost performance to something like 95% of Native speed especially with a USB3 device -- OPENSUSE for example supports USB3 now so no problem there - other distros might do the same.

If you are using the portable OS for recovering broken machines or for diagnostics then I suppose really fast performance isn't really an issue - but I'd like to have a fully working OS with things like OFFICE etc installed which I could use on different client sites -- as I can't really use my TechNet Windows to Go - not intended for "Production" use --especially if I'm being PAID by clients.

I've been messing around with a few Linux distos as VM's trying out the XEN / KVM systems -- however running a second level VM won't get great performance - but it's fine for testing !! - I can then optimise it and do a V2P conversion to get the Linux Hypervisor on an external device. Still testing though.

(I prefer the Paravirtualisation method as this means your VM should work on whatever host you run it -- if you fully virtualise it the VM will read the REAL hardware which isn't always what you want and the performance will be slower).

Cheers

jimbo

I have not yet tried a Linux host with VMware Player because all my host systems are Windows. I run Linux only in virtual. But the overall performance of the systems on the external SSD is so good that I never worried about that part.

whs said:

A Microsoft Community Contributor was a title given to me after sponsership by the sevenforums. But it does not come with the Technet sunscription and some of the other goodies you MVPs get.

As a private person who is not integrated into an enterprise, the WTG has different applications anyhow. For data recovery (mostely on friend's systems that were mucked up) I use this Linux version. This is quick to produce and setup and performs very well - especially from a USB3 stick. Plus I like Mint Mate better than 8.1 anyhow.

This other approach that I quoted runs any OS under VMware Player from an external device - preferably an external SSD on USB3 (VMware Player does not support eSata). That requires a running VMware Player on the system you want to apply it but that could be a VMware Player running from a Linux host. I run Windows 8 and several Linux distros that way. Advantage is that I need to maintain only one system and need only one product key (in the case of 8.1) to run it on any PC I own. That is very practical for me because I move around in 3 homes in the US and Europe where I have 6 PCs in total. Thus I always have up-to-date systems carried on my SSD.

The performance btw. is outstanding - even from a USB2 port. As an example, the boot time (event 100 in Event Viewer) is only about 20% slower from the external SSD than from the internal Sata attached SSD and for the rest of the operation I do not really notice any difference.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm retired now due to my chronic back pain. For me the Windows To Go is something that might come in handy when I get stuck with PC that's messed up. I've never really done much on the Linux side of things and I'd spend a lot of time just finding my way around. Having something I already know how to use is handy for me so that's what I use.

I know what backpains are - Two of my discs have disappeared. My eyedoctor one day recommended the Omega XL pills. They work real well and have no side effects like Ibuprofen which can kill you (if you take too many)..

Another thing to check is whether the pains don't come from the Periformis Muscle which is not uncommon at a certain age. There are gymnastic exercises you can do to relieve that.

I know this is off topic, albeit since I have the forum's brain trust here I have a question: I have a 64 gig USB 3 thumb drive, and was wondering if I could setup either run win 7 or 8 on it as an OS. . .just wondering; thanks for any input. . .

Lee said:

I know this is off topic, albeit since I have the forum's brain trust here I have a question: I have a 64 gig USB 3 thumb drive, and was wondering if I could setup either run win 7 or 8 on it as an OS. . .just wondering; thanks for any input. . .

Click to expand...

Sure, why not.

whs said:

I know what backpains are - Two of my discs have disappeared. My eyedoctor one day recommended the Omega XL pills. They work real well and have no side effects like Ibuprofen which can kill you (if you take too many)..

Another thing to check is whether the pains don't come from the Periformis Muscle which is not uncommon at a certain age. There are gymnastic exercises you can do to relieve that.

Click to expand...

I have spondylitis in my cervical spine, degenerative disks in my lumbar spine, sciatica in my left lag, and the onset of fibromyalgia. I've been though enough tests now that I should glow in the dark. It's just something I deal with on a day to day basis. I have pain meds I take when the need arises. One of the big things that aggravate it is sitting for to long a period. So if anybody wonders why I don't get back to them in a thread right away, that's why. I try to keep active as much as I can and avoid anything that's going to mess up my back and ruin my day. Lower back pain for me is mostly muscle pain and I have muscle relaxers for that. Anyway it is what it is so I just deal with it as best I can.

I would still recommend you try those Omega XL. Get a one time order of a small quantity and see whether they will help. I was really positively impressed. And the good thing is that there are zero side effects. I generally hate to take any pill, but those pass.

whs said:

A Microsoft Community Contributor was a title given to me after sponsership by the sevenforums. But it does not come with the Technet sunscription and some of the other goodies you MVPs get.

As a private person who is not integrated into an enterprise, the WTG has different applications anyhow. For data recovery (mostely on friend's systems that were mucked up) I use this Linux version. This is quick to produce and setup and performs very well - especially from a USB3 stick. Plus I like Mint Mate better than 8.1 anyhow.

This other approach that I quoted runs any OS under VMware Player from an external device - preferably an external SSD on USB3 (VMware Player does not support eSata). That requires a running VMware Player on the system you want to apply it but that could be a VMware Player running from a Linux host. I run Windows 8 and several Linux distros that way. Advantage is that I need to maintain only one system and need only one product key (in the case of 8.1) to run it on any PC I own. That is very practical for me because I move around in 3 homes in the US and Europe where I have 6 PCs in total. Thus I always have up-to-date systems carried on my SSD.

The performance btw. is outstanding - even from a USB2 port. As an example, the boot time (event 100 in Event Viewer) is only about 20% slower from the external SSD than from the internal Sata attached SSD and for the rest of the operation I do not really notice any difference.

Click to expand...

You really do a Linux install the way Windows to GO works: it's an install after all.

I leave linux running live from the USB stick, that way it takes less to copy one big file containing the os rather than installing. No fragmentation to keep in mind.

But using standard Mint ISO's to run live like that sounds too easy and you lack many of your favorite programs:
Before that I install the OS in a VM where I install Vmware Player / Workstation / VBox on it (to the programs list). Then, optionally, you can create a VM in the VM ready for use (Win8, to keep it to what Jimbo said...) but this will complicate things a bit for the live disk. Now you can remaster your whole linux VM to a ISO containing all your custom stuff. That ISO gets extracted from the VM and setup live on the USB so when you boot that USB live you'll already have all your programs and VMs ready to launch. Running that live will make it possible to keep the data read only: changes will be made in RAM and after you played/messed around or fixed something up you can reboot without worries.

You can remaster Mint, Knoppix (has own method) and even Zorin (with remastersys for example, although it gets discontinued) the way we were used to do it with Ubuntu/Debian. Running your own customized ISO live is worth testing especially for the speed since most operations are reads from a big file.

Horace, that sounds quite interesting but I do not really see the advantage of your suggested approach to this method.

whs said:

Horace, that sounds quite interesting but I do not really see the advantage of your suggested approach to this method.

Click to expand...

You're right Wolfgang.
It's basically the same method, using the same universal installer. The only difference is that you use a self-made (remastered) ISO that contains additional programs you could be using when booted with.

I once remastered LMDE 2012 x64 to add VMware Player 4 + extra programs to the ISO to boot with, it still runs but got a bit outdated now and I might try a newer one when I get the time.

To install, you select the same version of OS (be it Mint, Zorin...) as the standard one (found on the OS list) but the ISO can be bigger depending how it was remastered and what it contains.

Your tutorial still applies entirely, it's the remastering that will be harder to do (making the new ISO) depending on OS and tools available.

Thanks Horace. I guess I have to get up to speed on remastering.

jimbo45 said:

Here's the link to creating "Non Certified" Windows to go.

Creating a Non-Certified Windows To Go USB Drive » ADMIN Magazine

Click to expand...

Has anybody really tried this tutorial to create a "Windows 8.1 To Go" USB stick ?

My experience:

• "Windows 8 To Go": No problem
• "Windows 8.1 To Go": Not booting after preparing the USB stick
• Even when I update "Windows 8 To Go" to "Windows 8.1 To Go": Not booting after the update

Hi there.

You actually need to create it on a USB DRIVE - then it works -- there's something about USB sticks that Windows seems to have no problems with when USB DRIVES are used.

Linux however works on a USB drive (USB3 is better of course)

Pre-work -- allow your BIOS to work in LEGACY mode.


1) Get the LIVE CD of the distro you want as your HOST.

2) boot it and select INSTALL - most live distros allow an Install -- better than the full distribution -- you don't want or need all the packages. - To boot do it from a popup BIOS boot menu rather than the Bios Disk priority menu in the BIOS - that way you will get the computer to read the boot record from the external drive rather than use the embedded BIOS CSD module if a non EFI boot is being done.

3) choose your external USB stick as the target for the installation and choose Graphical installation -- it's easier for people used to windows

4) Wireless usually needs to be added afterwards so use a LAN when setting up the initial install.

5) at partitioning select the USB stick (probably /dev/sdb) and select create a single partitioning system all under / (/ is the top level directory in Linux systems)

6) at install GRUB boot loader don't install to ist boot disk -- click no and on the prompt screen choose your eternal usb stick (probably /dev/sdb) this way you don't mess around with the Boot on your laptop -- I hate those prompts at boot time -- also a nuisance if you decide you don't want to dual boot. My way only boots if you choose the external USB stick at Boot time in the Bios.

7) after system boots first time download Wireless packages (Modprobe the modules --it's all in the documentation if you google)

8) Install the VMware manager you want -- set the network to BRIDGED rather than NAT - that way your Windows guest will be able to see and share files with other windows systems on your network without having to do a single thing on the Linux host (on the USB drive). - Add yourself to the SUDO group if you don't always want to be working as root -- Linux command adduser xxxx sudo. This gives reasonable root privileges (equiv to run as administrator in windows command prompt).

Now simply open the VM you want -- you can either build it from your USB host or build it in Windows - VM's built on windows / Linux with VBOX / VMware will run on Linux without change.

I'd build the VM on windows, install what you want and then copy the VM to the USB stick -- note though with a 32 GB stick you need to be a bit careful on what you install -- OFFICE, ACRONIS backup and Photoshop is what I use mainly on windows plus the browser. For a partition manager install either on the VM or simply use PARTED on the Linux host if you are comfortable with CLI.

I'm using a KDE based DEBIAN Wheezy installation -- I like debian because it's HIDEOUSLY STABLE !!!! - which is what you want if you need the system as a decent run anywhere portable system - however the choice is up to you - you've got ZILLIONS of choices and there are some nice lightweight GUI's out there.

Don't forget also running the VM in UNITY mode makes for easy integration.


9) So who NEEDS a Windows to Go system requiring you to have a W8.1 ENTERPRISE version.

BTW DEBIAN WHEEZY is available in almost as many Languages as windows --INCLUDING ICELANDIC !!!! choose at install time.

Doing all this on an SSD makes it much snappier - but there's no reason why you couldn't simply create the system on a small USB drive and start the VM's from an SSD -- all mountable after the system starts.

Cheers
jimbo

Cheers
jimbo