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I have Windows 10 already installed on my desktop's NVME. I have another external SSD that I wish to use as a bootable drive to Windows 10 as well (dual boot two windows 10 systems, basically).

I have no other usb drives of any sort. Two tools: 1) Primary NVME boot drive 2) External Samsung T5 SSD. I cant really find anything conclusive on the net and I really dont wanna end up accidentally formatting my existing Windows 10 Partition by reinstall so here I am.

Here's my plan:

  1. Install Windows 10 installation media onto the external SSD.

  2. Boot into the external SSD

  3. Install Windows 10 on it(is that possible?)

JohnDoeDeer
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  • Windows really doesn't like being booted from an external drive. There used to be Win2Go for that purpose, but it's been discontinued. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/planning/windows-to-go-overview – Tetsujin Mar 14 '21 at 11:36
  • @Tetsujin damn... so its not possible to boot off of an external SSD at all? I'm assuming Windows 10 tool by default already installs Windows 10 2004 – JohnDoeDeer Mar 14 '21 at 11:41
  • It's not really my area of expertise, but if it's a desktop, then you could mount another SSD internally... – Tetsujin Mar 14 '21 at 11:44
  • It's possible and Windows natively supports it, however I'm unsure if the Windows installer does. Boot a Windows install USB, but before you go through the installer GUI, open a terminal via Shift+F10 and use DiskPart to create the required partitions by following Steps 1 - 6 in the last section [How do I configure system partitions on a new drive for applying an image?] of this answer. If the installer doesn't allow installing to the USB SSD, use that same answer to capture a WIM of the install on the NVME drive & apply that WIM to the USB SSD – JW0914 Mar 14 '21 at 13:15
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    It's possible and very simple, all you need to do is mount the installation iso by double clicking it, open elevated cmd and install Windows to the drive like this: dism /applyimage /imagefile:X:\sources\install.wim /applydir:D:\ /index:6, X should be replaced with the actual drive letter of the mounted iso drive, D should be the external SSD's letter and 6 is index for Pro(you can see the indices in an xml file inside the iso), after that use this: bcdboot D:\Windows /s D:\ /f ALL, then restart your computer and select boot drive to boot to the external SSD. – Ξένη Γήινος Mar 14 '21 at 14:37

2 Answers2

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You can use WinToUSB to install Windows 10 to a bootable external SSD. It's free if you only want to install Windows 10 Home. Otherwise you need to upgrade to WinToUSB Professional if using Windows 10 Pro.

Aenfa
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  • Does that sill work even after Windows to Go has been discontinued? I would have assumed it was reliant on actual MS support. – Tetsujin Mar 14 '21 at 12:39
  • It still works even after Windows To Go was discontinued by Microsoft. The latest Windows 10 version (20H2) even works with WinToUSB. – Aenfa Mar 14 '21 at 12:55
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You cn try with Rufus... select the "Windows to-go" option.
It works all the way upto Windows 11.

It will pre-install Windows to the external SSD and make it bootable.

After that, you'll need to change the boot order in the BIOS or select your external drive when and if prompted during startup.

Alisha Pink
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