How to Run Windows 10 Directly from a USB Drive for FREE

How to Run Windows 10 Directly from a USB Drive for FREE

So you want to run windows 10 on a USB flash drive or Micro SD Card? yes its possible to do and I will show you how step by step.

——————— My Social Links:

#Windows10 #USB #WindowsToGo #WinToUSB

[stew]

No daft music, just total education. Thank you

[steve]

If you choose the VHD option, you can create a VHD file on the USB drive. You should then fully boot and configure Windows as in your video. The difference is, now you can easily copy that VHD file to any disk on your PC as a backup (you can use 7Zip or similar to compress it). Also, you can copy the VHD file to an Easy2Boot multiboot USB drive (or Ventoy USB drive) and then legacy or MBR-boot to it via the USB drive's multiboot menu. You can add more VHDs to the USB drive so you can boot to many different editions, etc.
Using a 'flat-file' installation as you have shown can be difficult to backup. Also Windows will refuse to format the USB drive if you later decide to re-purpose the USB drive because it thinks it has a live OS on it! Using a VHD resolves all these issues.

[stephenhall]

Britec has been running for a long time and what makes Brian special is that he is quick to address various freaky things in Windows as well as demonstrating tasks most computer users will need to encounter at some time.
Even when techniques no longer work after Win updates Brian refers back and revises the tutorials so we build a comprehensive knowledge base and can check for revisions.
No silly music, no flashy tricks but good, solid IT education and when Brian says to be careful and pay attention we long time users know that he means it.
Some tutorials delve deep into roots and registries but always with the same clear and plain friendly instructional manner.
Check out his Linux work too.

[TheFingerman]

I use Flashboot as it is a lot less restrictive. A lot of flash drives don't work (speed?). I use NVMe to USB3 adaptors with a 128Gb NVME drive (SATA or PCI-e - both work). Great for demonstrations, recovery work and fixing things. However a Linux flash drive is a lot better (an awful lot better).

[gleamingthecubenews]

Haha I love how I was following along and when you plugged in your USB drive it literally looked like my setup! Same Sandisk flash drive, AMD fan and your case is almost exactly like mine.

[curtyanok]

I took the plunge and installed win10 2004 to the fastest USB 3.0 flash drive I had in my drawer. 404 read, 119 write using crystal disk mark. It installed to the drive just fine. Took a while. Set my BIOS to legacy and to boot to the flash drive. It booted and had to finish the installation. It seemed to work OK but had a lot of trouble with Edge. It kept "not responding". Had to use Chrome. That was a big improvement. I'm running a core i7 7th gen with 16 gigs of RAM. 250 mbps internet speed. My download speed dropped to 70 mbps using the flash drive. When I tried using my utility flash drive it wasn't detected for some reason. So It worked but not much speed. Maybe a faster drive would help. I wouldn't use it all the time. I'm going to try it on an old win7 computer I have just for the heck of it.

[torque]

So many channels doing this, but this channel is awesome! (my taste)
Cant wait for the nXt video sir. :) And your advice is always in the right time, and updated.

[fvrrljr]

WORKS! i followed instructions. at 4:05 ish you mention it will take a long time, took 10 min. next step took 12hrs till i truned off. I FORGOT TO BOOT INTO External Device. when rebooted didn't take long. got stumped when Cortana asks me if i wanted to continue with Windows 7. thought i was about to delete my hard drive but decided to bite the bullet and that wasn't the case. i have a 32 GB drive with Win10 installed. i do notice the slight delay which is very minor. also have Ubuntu 20.04 on a flash drive. Thank You i Like, OLE' !

[bantymech]

Never ran Windows 10 in an USB drive, I will try this today. Thanks Brian learning something newer every day. 😊

[neil]

Useful tip as per usual. Great to use for testing, an emergency backup or on a friend's machine as a demo.

I assume that the same process can be used with an external SSD, either in a case or simply with a Sata to USB lead.

[nanamioda]

Rufus now allows you to install an image file as portable. They added a windows to go function.

[Nuchem]

is it possible to use such a usb with this windows on it to boot any computer and than access the real C: drive without knowing any password?

[MattiasMagnusson]

This was awesome! I got a customer who spilled water on their computer and the internal storage is not working, so i bought the computer cheap (for parts). Now i can actually set it up and use it (installing on a 256GB SD card) xD

[MorganZ]

This is the way I'm going to go. Linux user here, have a decently fast and decently sized flash drive, and need occasional Windows access. This is going to save me from having to dual boot on my main drive.

[InginHidupTenang]

At first you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention 😄

[dimitrz]

Thanks the first and as of now only video to show the login process-
my HP Laptop started giving me 3F0 error due to which even though my SSD is good - during boot up sometimes it launches windows and some times it doesnt

This appears to a better alternative to factory reset because I dont remmber my license key for many softwares - hence cant do a factory reset for few months
"
I saw lot of videos on how to create boot usb but almost all were confusing, then I found few which explained about "Win To Go " but they didnt explain the actual Log In process

So thanks for this.

Few questions:
1) dont I need to reenter my Product Key for Win 10 when making this Win To Go ?
2) once logged in, Can I still access the Desktop & My Document folder of my actual Login ID ( orginal ID before the boot issues)
3) would I still have access to passwords saved in chorme and Installed softwares like MS Ofice ?
4) How is this method diffrent from using Rufus ?

Thanks

[Pochaco]

Rufus can do this too. There's a section where you can choose to create a Windows to go USB

[spacial]

After the last Windows update, no booting at all. Had to go through the long process of reinstalling and getting things how I like them.
This would have made a world of difference. Gonna get one.

[unbeattable]

Thank you so much!! You were immensely helpful!

[چغتائی]

Well done . In my view you are the only one who created video on this topic. please create this video for windows 11 with no tpm 2.0.dear you need to understand my words. You are a legend for me.