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There are several ways to create Windows To Go drives.

There's the default tool that only ships with Enterprise editions of Windows, and only works on a few models of USB drives.

Then there's Rufus, but it'll only create a WTG install if the USB drive shows up as fixed/non-removable.

There's an Easus tool, it's paid, but can clone your existing Windows install to a WTG drive.

We have WinToUSB, which has a bunch of extra features for power users, but is not free for commercial use and needs to be purchased for some features.

There's also a manual method, and a script I wrote, which automates the process.

YUMI uses a VHD for a Windows To Go install.

Each of these has its pros and cons, and I was wondering if I should write a post that covers each method and tell readers which one to use and when?

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  • 1
    Does this come up enough to warrant the effort?
    – Burgi
    May 8, 2019 at 13:29
  • @Burgi As someone who creates WTG drives frequently, had such a post existed, it would have saved me a lot of time that I spent on experimentation with the aforementioned tools. I'd be happy to write the post myself and share what I learnt.
    – undo
    May 8, 2019 at 13:32
  • 3
    I suggested that rahul ask this - since this could potentially be a community FAQ. We're had a few similar posts in the past, say for installing windows sans DVD, so its certainly on topic, but whether we need canonical post is something I feel the community needs to decide
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    May 8, 2019 at 13:36
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    My point is that I haven't seen any questions about it in the new questions list.
    – Burgi
    May 8, 2019 at 13:37
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    I like the idea.
    – DavidPostill Mod
    May 8, 2019 at 13:50
  • From related questions: Do we need a canonical question for creating bootable Windows 10 installation media?
    – bertieb
    May 8, 2019 at 16:25
  • 3
    My suggestion from chat: just write the QA as a self-answer. If it generates discussion (too broad, primarily opinion-based, use a simple search etc) direct folks to this meta QA so they can weigh in
    – bertieb
    May 8, 2019 at 16:26
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    Just a thought. WTG might be a narrow focus (doesn't make it bad, just a limited audience), but the broader issue of bootable Windows of any kind on a portable device (including installation media, like the linked question), could encompass WTG and serve a wider audience. Purpose-written canonical questions can be a lot of work, so the more use-cases it includes, the more useful it will be. If you identify in the question that it is intended as a canonical thread, people are far less likely to think that the question is too broad. But yeah, go for it, and you're a qualified person to write it.
    – fixer1234
    May 8, 2019 at 18:37
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    "but it'll only create a WTG install if the USB drive shows up as fixed/non-removable." Rufus developer here. That is certainly not correct. The fixed/non-removable issue was a Microsoft limitation that used to exist with Windows 8 and very early Windows 10 ISOs, but that Microsoft removed with later versions. If you use a recent ISO of Windows 10, Rufus will happily create a Windows To Go drive, even on removable/non-fixed media.
    – Akeo
    May 10, 2019 at 14:54
  • @Akeo Hey! I didn't expect a response from you. I didn't realize this because I use LTSB ISOs that haven't been refreshed in a while. TIL, thanks! I love your tool and use it frequently.
    – undo
    May 10, 2019 at 16:47
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    Yeah, older ISOs were not designed for removable, mostly (I believe) because at the time the only drives with a high enough write speed were fixed ones, and Microsoft didn't want people to install WTG on USB 2.0 drives, and then complain about how excruciatingly slow it was. Btw the method used by Rufus to create WTG drives is the one documented at docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/…. Now, there also are ways to get removable drives to work with older ISOs, but they are not endorsed by MS so we chose not to do that in Rufus...
    – Akeo
    May 10, 2019 at 21:57
  • @Akeo I see, thanks for the info!
    – undo
    May 11, 2019 at 16:34
  • @rahuldottech - Make it so.
    – ashleedawg
    May 14, 2019 at 8:40
  • Won't the information be obsolete within a year?
    – Mast
    May 20, 2019 at 17:21
  • @mast ...how so?
    – undo
    May 20, 2019 at 17:22

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Just write the question and answer

There was some lengthy discussion back in January about creating bootable Windows 10 installation media. The first comment by DavidPostill reads:

Great idea! Feel free to write the canonical question/answer pair based on the info provided in your post.

Going ahead and doing it got us the frequently-referred-to What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?

While creating WTG aren't questions that come up often1, I can see the value in having a post which lays out the pros and cons.

So, to borrow a phrase: just do it.

--

1 From what I can tell there aren't that many. A naïve search for "Windows to Go" anywhere in the post returns 179 results, but of course some of those will be Qs or As where WTG or its creation is orthogonal to the issue.

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    +1, and when you do, as this is a hot meta-question, can you link back to it here (or in your question) so some of us can find it easily? Thanks! :-)
    – tudor -Reinstate Monica-
    May 12, 2019 at 1:14

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