How to Create a Windows To Go USB drive

[trs96]

There are now many ways to create a WTG drive with software from different companies. Here's a description of the top 5. Only the first 4 are recommended by the author.

5 Tools To Create Windows To Go USB Of Windows 10

Here are four free tools to create Windows To Go USB drives on Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education editions with ease.

www.intowindows.com

You can use Rufus to download a Windows 10 iso directly. Quite handy.

How To Use Rufus To Download Windows 10 ISO

There are dozens of software around to help you download Windows 10 ISO as well as prepare bootable USB. However, only the official Media Creation Tool

www.intowindows.com

Here's the detailed instructions for using Rufus to make the USB.

Using Rufus To Create Windows To Go USB Drive

A complete guide to use the Rufus tool to create Windows To Go USB drive running Windows 10. Works with Windows 8.1 as well.

www.intowindows.com

You'll need a good/fast 32 or 64GB USB flash drive. I use the Samsung BAR Plus 64 GB drive found on Amazon or Newegg. 32GB will work as well. Amazon.com has the best price: $11.87 on the 64GB version of this USB 3.1 drive.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BPKKYHY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

https://www.newegg.com/samsung-model-muf-64be3-am-64gb/p/N82E16820147699

What's the purpose of doing this ?

It's not only for portability and convenience. You can take Windows 10 with you anywhere you have access to a PC. You can also use it at home when you want to boot into Win10 on your hackintosh and use a few Windows only programs every now and then. This prevents any problems with Windows 10 writing to your Hack's EFI partition and making it unbootable. As well as many other issues that can occur in a multiboot setup. You can also use a WTG USB to flash the BIOS (via Windows) of any PC to prepare it for a macOS install.

Q: What can I do to make Win10 less resource intensive ?

A: Debloat Windows 10

Windows 10 is the most bloated version of Windows ever. It slows down mechanical HDDs to a crawl. It will do the same to slower USB 2.0 or 3.0 flash drives. I still suggest a good USB drive by Samsung (reads at 200MB/s) but if you have to use one that's slower, you absolutely must debloat Windows 10.

Debloat Windows in 2022

Having Fun with Technology

christitus.com

Do this after you have run all the Windows updates and then set Windows to only install security updates. You'll have a fast and responsive WTG USB that doesn't get bogged down by hundreds of Windows processes running and Win10 constantly phoning home. If you choose to disable Windows Defender security make sure to install Malwarebytes. You can get a free two week trial or you can subscribe for around $3 per month. A good idea if you will use Windows frequently.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I believe Microsoft announced back in 2019 that Windows 10 1903 is the last version to support Windows To Go.

Microsoft ends Windows To Go support due to incompatibility issues

The tech giant recently announced it ended support for Windows To Go in Windows 10 May 2019 Update. The reason? WTG does not support feature updates.

windowsreport.com

So do the methods mentioned still work on later versions of Windows 10 (not that I want to use)?

 

[trs96]

So do the methods mentioned still work on later versions of Windows 10

I just made a Win10 2004 WTG drive the other day and it works.

That article is talking about support in Education and Enterprise editions, the only two that they officially supported. Their approach was based on making a clone of your school or work Windows 10 install to take it with you. The software described in the articles linked above is for making a "clean" install of Windows 10 from an ISO.

Using the methods described such as Rufus, you can easily make a Home or Pro WTG USB. You can run all the Windows updates as well. I choose to only add the latest security updates to my USB. Any well made USB 3.1 or better drive works with no problems.

WTG does not support feature updates. Therefore, it does not enable you to stay current. Additionally, WTG requires a specific type of USB drive that many OEMs no longer support.

Sounds like two lame excuses by MS. They could easily stlll support WTG. There's just no money in it so they don't care about updating or maintaining it.

 

[trs96]

Here's all the steps to create a WTG USB with WinToUSB by Hasleo software. I believe their free version only lets you make a Win10 Home WTG USB and the paid version lets you make the 10 Pro USB. I used an older version of their software than what they offer today.

Tutorial to create a portable Windows 10 USB drive with WinToUSB​

[Solved] How to create a portable Windows 11/10 USB drive in 2022?

This tutorial will show you how to create a portable Windows 11/10 from an ISO or CD/DVD drive by using Hasleo WinToUSB, and then boot and run Windows from the USB drive.

www.easyuefi.com

 

[trs96]

Here's a good option for an external WTG SSD drive. Should read and write faster than the "thumb" drives do and be more durable. Price is very reasonable too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PLM9K7W/?tag=tonymacx86com-20