How to Install Windows 10 Directly onto USB External Hard Drive

Windows 10 setup does not support configuration of or installation to disks through a USB or IEEE 1394 port, so the easiest way to install Windows 10 onto a USB External Hard Drive is through a program called WinToUSB.
Steps:
1) Plug in your USB External Hard Drive and format NTFS
2) Download Windows 10 ISO Media Creation tool and WinToUSB
3) Use Windows setup to download Windows.iso
4) Install WinToUSB and deploy Windows.iso onto your USB External Hard Drive
5) Restart your computer and press F2 to get into BIOS
6) In BIOS, go to the Boot tab and see if you have a Legacy Support and Legacy First option. Put these two on. Skip otherwise.
7) Restarting your computer, press F12 to get into Boot Manager. Select your USB External Hard Drive.
8) Finish setting up Windows 10 on your USB External Hard Drive.
I am using a Samsung T3 Portable SSD - 500GB - USB 3.1 External SSD:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
Windows 10 ISO download link:
www.microsoft.com/en-us/softw...
WinToUSB:
www.easyuefi.com/wintousb
Outro song (Mega Man 3 NES): • Mega Man 3 (NES) Game ...
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[@Adam-qf8ps]

I have had this video saved on my bookmarks for a couple years. It never lets me down. 👍🏼

[@1george]

3 years later and still worth it. Thanks

[@shelacharles3908]

Love your CLEAR, Patient Voice and simple instruction; GREAT JOB! Thank you.

[@Alpha-Trion7]

You did it, *great job* -rage racer. :P

[@ramiromartinez5705]

Well explained easy to follow. I was trying to install windows on a EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE as well and the normal process wouldn't go thru because Windows does not allow "INSTALLATION THROUGH USB" but i came across your video and now i have it running thanks to you and wintousb lol. Thanks man keep the hard work! 🥰

[@AthanasiosJapan]

I followed the instructions and the result was as expected. Very good and detailed presentation. Thank you very much.

[@neverchesterfield]

Dude, you have no idea of how you saved my life. For posteriority: tried October 2021 with a PC from 2018, with a Samsung SSD of 256Go. Worked perfectly.

[@PCThePlayer1]

at first i had no hope and then i found your video and it worked thank you

[@TalTicoYT]

Bruv same

[@MyGoshZoey]

Thank you for this informational video. I tried every method I could possibly find. This was the only one that worked. 🙏🏼 you’re awesome!

[@Orlyy]

IF YOU DON'T CLEAN THAT MONITOR, SO HELP ME GOD.

[@chrise202]

@Josh Ramasawmy Thats what I tell myself when i'm lazy.

[@lizardlion5322]

i intentionally dont clean mine. i prefer hard/gross mode computing/gameplay

[@Fee.1]

@Josh Ramasawmy so you clean them more often. That’s kind of like saying “nah I don’t need to bathe because I have a job where I get all dirty and sweaty all the time anyway so I’m just going to chill in musty af mode”. Nah chief, you bathe more often then 😂

[@gregburdine4373]

🤣🤣🤣 as soon as I seen the monitor I seen this comment!

[@billknudson7895]

Ha! After such a great tutorial, I’ll clean it once for free.

[@sergeantsmirk5883]

This is one of the best tutorials i have seen. a lot of tutorials waffle on and its to long.. You went through each step quickly and concisely. Really enjoyed it bro. I've subscribed to you now. will have a look through your other videos. do you have a tutorials for writing python?

[@glennjamessephton7593]

4 years later and your still helping peeps, thankyou

[@VivoInferno]

Phenomenal tutorial. You spoke so clearly, all steps were easy to follow and complete, and most importantly, everything works! A like and subscription from me!

[@aadtalks7131]

I thought I was watching the unveiling of the IPhone 😅

[@CrispyChicken44]

Great video man. I'm extremely happy this was the video I watched instead of the other videos. The quality of this was amazing, simple, neat and clean.

[@joneyor6595]

YOU ARE A FRICKING LEGEND, ive been trying to install Windows 10 on the ssd i got from christmas for the past 2 days and you solved it Quick and easy, you made my day, thank you SO much

[@alanserrano8705]

Even in 2022, this has helped me immensely with reviving a dead 2011 Toshiba Laptop 🤣 Thank you so much for being able to help me bring back my computer

[@Alanjowitt]

Thank you for the superb instructions. your procedure worked perfectly after I spent days trying EVERYTHING else!

[@convan707]

Massive thanks for this video. I've now successfully installed Windows 10 on an external SSD drive and with the help of another video set up updates to install. It runs like a dream too, much better than Bootcamp on the same HDD. Thanks!!

[@calvinphelps8786]

I've been thinking about doing this too. What ssd did you use and how's the speed? Apparently the external drives are supposed to be much slower but with an ssd and usb 3.2 I imagine it would run quickly.

[@convan707]

I used a Crucial SSD with a Sabrent enclosure from amazon. Works brilliantly and very fast compared to when I had it bootcamped on the internal fusion drive. Only thing I had to do was download the Windows support software and manually Install the drivers which took 5 minutes at most.

[@seraphinaasmr]

Thank you for this guide hun everything works perfectly on my new pc you’ve brought me much happiness your directions were straight forward and simple and just Incase anyone is concerned you can do this on a different pc and then take the external hard drive and simply plug it into the pc that you want to have Windows 10 and when you turn the pc on it will automatically boot windows set up like he said. for me my pc did restart itself after loading windows for a few minutes when it turned back on it was finished loading and I could start the set up

[@pdhenrique4]

The MegaMan 3 ending credits song gives the cherry on top of this. Very helpful

[@bartonjakarta]

FANTASTIC!! So clear & concise. Worked perfectly. THANK YOU!!

[@dragje]

Great video! This helped me to make it all work, thanks!!

[@webstime1]

Dude thanks. After spending hours in agony, I can now feel the sweetness of bliss.

[@silentjokerz97]

I feel you, just in the same situation rn.

[@pepsusser]

R u both switching windows off the main hard drive cos of how slow it gets as well?

[@webstime1]

@@pepsusser No, in my case I have an ssd and the speed is alright. I use windows off the main drive for testing out applications

[@pepsusser]

@@webstime1 ah thats fair

[@sibonisobophela8621]

People like you are the HERO'S of KZbin! Thank you!!

[@freezew1ck]

even after 5 years this tutorial works awesome thanks man

[@MicrowaveSam]

I wanted to install Windows 10 on my USB External Hard Drive for game development purposes. Then, I found out that I couldn't do the installation normally through a bootable USB Flash Drive, so I thought that this video would be useful for people since I watched a few too many tutorials with text on Notepad on KZbin!

[@BitcoinBitz]

After I've followed all this and installed on USB 3.0 drive when i use windows ten it is incredibly clunky and slow is this normal? I am using a 3.1 USB which should have the ultimate fastest transfer speeds...yes i tried it on the regular 3.0 usb too both have same affect slow and clunky and suggestions??

[@stephencruz8744]

yea i just left my my hard drive going for 8 hours and it barley got to 25% any tips?

[@2PACBRB2014]

stuck at 0% doesnt work why are u posting fake video?

[@RafaelGarlan]

How can I do the same but instead on the same drive I will install it to another HDD (Upgrading from 32bit to 64bit and it needs a clean install)

[@alkhembey2422]

bRo, Thank You.

[@ikramikky2838]

It worked perfectly I recommend this tutorial. Very well explained

[@mikeg2be]

Did you have to use a product key?

[@anyamlesley8910]

Indeed a life saving video, I spent close to 8 hours just to stumble on this

[@ShurekHam]

Heelo, Just came back to say thankyou, loved your " straight to the point" points. It was a pleasant video to watch, and helpful.

[@akmastergaming528]

Can I perform the installation of Windows iso using WinToUSB on my desktop computer but I will use the external hard drive as main boot drive in my laptop computer? Edit: It works. I tried it.

[@anaselamrati2617]

thats what i was gonna ask ! i hope it will work for me too

[@itorres008]

Aren't there problems or conflicts since original installation configures hardware drivers and other things based on desktop, then you move it to laptop that has different hardware?

[@dika-hamardikan4426]

@@itorres008 can't you just reconfigure it or install the missing drivers?

[@businessartsolution5351]

Guys this is outstanding, just imagen after installing it you can plug it in and it runs normally. great video man keep it up you have helped much.

[@markjones2349]

Yeah but it runs at a whopping 250MB/s. Blazingly slow.

[@TheChk14]

thx for your video man, i've tried a lot of videos but i couldn't fix the problem and yours did help me one time, keep it up

[@alexp6016]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

[@wateringcan2]

Thanks for this; it's the only approach that worked for me! The latest version of WinToUSB has a new dialog box asking whether you want to use GPT for UEFI for MBR for BIOS. GPT didn't work for me, but MBR did. I happen to be using a Y700 too, so this tutorial was extra-helpful. Thanks again!

[@eddieteddi]

Thank you for commenting this. Would've had to retry if I picked the wrong one!

[@jackt7331]

Thanks for commenting

[@lowapainter]

I downloaded the same version of wintousb as author of the video and had no problem with windows 10pro and UEFI. I turned off internet in case the program would try to make me upgrade. Everything worked like a charm. Unfortunately this windows doesnt see my internal hdd, witch was why I did this in the first place. If anyone has any tips, they are more then welcome;)

[@susy_grave]

It was very helpful thank you ! But I have a problem, I wanted to reinstall Windows 10 on a PC, I installed it but it only detect my USB external drive and the internal hard drive. How can I resolve this problem and install correctly ? Thanks

[@johnvafiades7969]

cmd as admin bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr bcdboot c:\windows /s c: where c:=main internal drive, it should boot in main drive and not the external drive ok.

[@WiKiTWoNKa]

Try unplugging the USB Drive before booting your PC

[@carldeen1687]

I will have to watch the video again before I try it, but your instructions were excellent--easy to understand and follow.

[@Notjobincome]

can you install this on one pc and use the external for another pc. MY laptop Sata ports are broken and it wont detect any hhd.

[@ahmetyasarozer]

Thanks for all the information. Note: Make sure that you make SSD disk an MBR disk on Disk Management. For GPT disks, WinToUSB Next button will be disabled.

[@DanLo-tube]

How do you do this ? I can find no options for it.

[@afekowogamer9093]

@@DanLo-tube you still need help?

[@DanLo-tube]

@@afekowogamer9093 I stopped trying such install, but would be cool having the answer. :)

[@afekowogamer9093]

@@DanLo-tubein the start of the video he show disk management. You need to right click on the left side instead of the right side and it will show to switch between gpt and mbr If you still don't get it i can record for you a video

[@DanLo-tube]

@@afekowogamer9093 I'll check that. Thanks ! :)

[@kiff4free554]

Can i do this process (install windows 10 on usb hard drive) then replace the local hard drive for the one i had on my usb hard drive?

[@interestingcontent8758]

Yes you can.

[@Fee.1]

You can technically but you’ll want to take some other steps too. Did you ever do this? Can I ask why you wanted to do it that way ?

[@zifajuggernaut9986]

@@Fee.1 what other steps? I'm trying to do exactly what he intended to but I'm so clueless rn

[@roncraig5156]

Thank you for being a normal person! Thank God! We are so few in the world today. And thank you for being precise.

[@tyrusthadon]

The people that dislike this video are computer shops and those that want to charge for this info, LAMES! Thank you sir excellent tutorial!! Thumbs Up!!!!!

[@boxertest]

Great video, very helpful :-)

[@EtsyJ]

Help. I cant get past the destination disk selection. Wintousb doesnt highlight the next button. what can i do?

[@KarimDK81]

thank you very much for your video! do you think I can do this from my mac and use Windows on my 500gb external usb hard drive?

[@assiaben1220]

Amazing, exceptionally clearly explained. Sincere appreciation I've never watched a KZbin video that was so explicative and straightforward.🌺💚

[@codypoore6173]

Thank you for this, my laptop's internal hard drive failed and I don't have the money to get it repaired or to replace it so I'm hopeful I can just use an external hard drive instead

[@saidbekkhalikov7199]

Did it work? Cause I am in the same sit

[@codypoore6173]

@@saidbekkhalikov7199 Yes, it did. I originally bought an external HDD because I didn't want to spend a ton of money just in case it didn't work but it did so I decided to spring and get an external SSD to use as my boot drive, which also worked.

[@petercambonga7858]

Question: Can I still use the hard drive for storing other files after I'm done with this process?

[@itsPAIN]

I was wondering too lmk if u find out

[@phoenixstormjr.1018]

After flashing the USB drive and installing windows you CAN store other files on it HOWEVER after you install windows anything that used to be on the drive is now deleted. So make a backup then put them back on it.

[@retrohd1_]

Thanks a lot! This video was really helpful. Wish you all the best. Keep creating more videos.

[@Mr_house]

Even now, this video has helped me get into my Razer blade 14 (2014) and you now have an extra sub! Thanks again!!

[@zarepan5]

After I restarted the computer it's opened on external driver! I would like to say thank you!

[@itsadisood]

So I did all this booted successfully into windows 10... Set it up and shutdown it properly. But the when I booted in again.. I have blue screen of death saying "Your pc ran into problem and needs to restart. You can restart." Critical service failed is the error. Help!!!

[@lowkeyz7139]

You deleted something or a virus has done something. This only happens if your Computer runs into a real critical error.

[@Alan-wj5zc]

@@lowkeyz7139 Hey pal can you help me out? I'm about to build my first pc because my laptop broke, I stupidly didn't have a USB windows 10 bootable drive on hand. I'm stuck with trying to download the windows 10 creation media tool but my only other device is a windows 7 vista which isn't supported. Is there a way to get this USB loaded with the essentials without it having to go through my C: drive? I really don't want to have to buy one already created.

[@itsadisood]

@@lowkeyz7139 tHANKS. Although i just repeated the process. it works fine now. thanks mate

[@xiagucao]

thank you so much, this video guides me to install windows 10 onto an external usb hard drive successfully.

[@Jeser101]

Most KZbin tutorials suck - I am glad your video is the exception. This still works as of 7/30/21. Thank you so much!

[@james101123456]

im selecting the destination disk but it keeps saying: sector size not supported.

[@gusicwhite1201]

Genuine windows 10 product key here:#plus.google.com/u/0/105400162842646727933

[@mello-kn9gw]

This is most likely because your usb drive is too small, I would not recommend installing windows on less than supported space but if you are trying to install a version like tiny7, this is how you do it. Right click on your WINTOUSB icon on desktop, and click open file location. It will take you to the bin folder in the wintousb install. Now right click on WinToUSB.ini, go to open with, and select notepad. Go to MinimumVHDSize and it will most likely say something like =16 edit that to whatever the size of your usb is and save notepad may prompt you to resave the file so do that. After that, open WINTOUSB and it sould work, I am sorry that I am a little late, but I hope this helped, thank you -Aidan

[@mello-kn9gw]

Sorry I made a mistake, go to notepad on your start menu, right click it, open it as administartor, drag WinToUSB.ini into it -Aidan

[@YeahNoyeah]

Fusionz C what external HDD you used

[@xDSliverkiller]

i have a problem when i click "create installation media for another pc" and leave the default settings i click next and it doesn't give me a "which flash drive would you like to install windows on?" or a file selection it just says , "you need 8 gb free from (C:)" can someone help me?? ps i cant erase the 8 gb i need, they are computer files that i can't erase

[@yonatand1230]

in the previous step you need to choose "ISO File"

[@atheerkhalaf6987]

your voice is so calming.. and the video is very helpful, thanks man

[@PhamQuang]

I gave it a shot and can confirm this works. Thank you so much ❤️

[@jeffa9717]

I did everything but my pc doesn’t recognize my old hdd as a storage device

[@DatRitzBoi]

You formatted your old HDD? That worked for me. If that doesn't work, what method did you use to connect your HDD to your Desktop/Laptop?

[@erencan1453]

@@DatRitzBoi but why should you format it? All your data would get lost. In my case I have a blue screen. Thats why I want to boot from an external ssd and access my data on my hdd. But I dont know if this is possible.....

[@er-hyper_phoenix5642]

what happens to the data in your current internal HDD? is it still there or is it lost ?

[@Jacob-tp1ue]

It is still there, and no changes are made. The computer will just boot from a different drive until your change it back.

[@wongtongthongbong]

I’m doing this now and so far this video is super helpful, when I gets it done and working I’ll let you know , thanks bro ✌️✌️✌️

[@dougkarey3050]

You Rock! straight forward and concise. Thank you.

[@MrBaladaum]

I like how he's proud of his 500 Gb drive

[@post_low]

Well this was 2017

[@xstrakooldude25]

@@post_low Exactly.

[@blameableemu]

I like how youre snobby about the size of his hardware seems like youre compensating

[@post_low]

@@blameableemu dude it's really not that big of deal it's just that now 500 is pretty standard, even most computers you buy pre made have about a terabyte, honestly seems like you're compensating for something by trying to be on some sort of high horse in a KZbin comment

[@JonahFried.]

It used to be expensive, shut up if you don’t know.

[@jimtalor7971]

Good explanation but maybe hit that screen first with a swifter before posting.

[@samuelbignardi8318]

Very neat explanation. This procedure still works (October 2021) with minor adaptations.

[@swaggidy7652]

The one video that actually worked for me. Thank you so much!

[@ishpretty4217]

does it still work? can i still install updates on it??

[@iwituckiYT]

You forgot to mention that WinToUSB requires activation/payment to install Windows 10 Pro. Kind of a deal breaker for this whole approach.

[@ManojKr-rb8jz]

use 3.5 version www.filehorse.com/download-wintousb/29521/download/

[@masonmccann3428]

@@ManojKr-rb8jz what do i do itnsays it does nit support hvdx

[@1kdelta404]

I like how he is fast acting like we did it before

[@HaikuNW]

We did

[@CosmicFox2007]

youtube has a slow down option

[@karlprendergast6282]

Thank you for this video how-to. I was SOL with an internal hard drive connection gone. This knowlede saved the day.

[@peterpeter3536]

I spent days trying to clone my win10 onto samsung ssd but bios said drive wasn't accessible so total frustration. I followed your instructions and -perfect. Thank you so much. Your video is excellent without the usual. hype. Brilliant!

[@shadowwarrior2255]

for me its stuck at 0 percent

[@fifimania6117]

i know i m late 2 years but for the other people who are going to watch it s gonna stay at 0 percent for 5 minutes but then it will go(in about 15-20 min or sp it will be ready)

@@fifimania6117 thank you

[@YasserIsmail]

very good ... well done just one comment as I had troubles to go to Next after I reach min 7:10 if you stuck and the Next button not active you need to delete the partition convert the USB drive to MBR partition scheme and create the system and boot partitions. The system partition must be FAT32 format and the boot partition must be NTFS format. • Booting BIOS-based computers: Please convert the USB drive to MBR partition scheme and create the system and boot partitions. The system partition can be FAT32 or NTFS format and the boot partition must be NTFS format. The system partition and boot partition can be the same partition. • Booting UEFI-based computers: Please convert the USB drive to GPT partition scheme and create the EFI system partition (ESP)and boot partition. The EFI system partition must be FAT32 format and the boot partition must be NTFS format www.easyuefi.com/resource/convert-gpt-to-mbr.html for more details

[@biancalexa22]

how do you do any of this?

[@grrinc]

Thanks Yasser, that was great help.

[@lestermendez1584]

you are a unsung HERO my friend!!!!thank you soo much!

[@thatomonareng9376]

This has helped me a lot thanks man 👊🏽

[@khulcalvin]

Thank you for your superb step by step guide, to the T, This was fantastic

[@DatIceBear]

Thx rice gum great video

[@harrison8013]

lol

[@Ethorbit]

lmao nice

[@BluD]

not letting me hit next at 7:38

[@bassvalmonte4722]

same. any answer to this?

[@taylorbentley8671]

BluD same

[@OdinNass]

First you need to close wintousb, and open cmd in admin mode. After that typy diskpart in cmd. Then type "list disk" then select your external drive example if your drive is number 2 type "select disk 2" then type "clean" after that, exit cmd and right click computer, click manage, go to disk management. Then you'll need to initilize your disk to "mbr" and not "guid" then you'll format the drive as shown in video and it will work

[@leon-y]

Actually, what I did was that my hard drive wasn't formatted into NTFS. You go to disk manager and format your disk to NTFS, and the "next" button will show.

[@Ash-kr4oz]

Thanks for the help man , it worked for me

[@genegaskins6834]

Awesome video you saved my day you talk my kind of talk. Understood completely what you were saying I did your steps and was successful . Thanks for a great presentation

[@AngelMubanga]

Easy to follow. Thanks you for the knowledge.

[@Udjeox]

how do you get in bios on the windows 10 installed on usb

[@kumchovul4o]

The bios is not part of the Operation System. :)

[@jacko_tobacco3804]

rip

[@coltonboomer1179]

Great video I would change the link to the 3.5 version to allow windows 10 without paying. Also add the fact that the drive will need to be converted to mbr if it is gpt... go to manage delete volume and right click disk then convert to mbr then format drive in ntfs.... Link for 3.5 filehippo.com/download_wintousb/73839/

[@bassam7627]

colton boomer best comment ever!!!!

[@fabriziocarboni976]

colton boomer with yr tips i resolve!!! tanks

[@kevinhines7197]

thank you for this video and i looove that outro music LOL

[@vipichigo]

Thank you for this video man. Really appreciate it!

[@erickilpatrick4440]

Fantastic step by step! Thank you for the help! You're amazing!! :)

[@UsefulWisdom]

Thank you for this very interesting video. I have an Asus all in one PC and was going to swap the 3.5 HDD for an SSD. Then buy an enclosure for the old HDD and use it as storage. However, now I have watched your video I am reconsidering my options. Can you tell me if you tested the speed of your PC with the SSD connected via the internal SATA 111 connection verses a USB 3 connection? Is there a noticeable difference in the PCs performance?

[@markhorst6982]

Four years later and this saved my girl's laptop. TNX

[@glennreponte9210]

Nice video tutorial. Just want to ask if i installed fresh OS on external sdd and want to replace my existing hdd, do you i need to re-install all the necessary drivers for my laptop? Bluetooth, wifi, etc.

[@triphik]

dude YOU ROCK! My western digi 1 tb on my y700 just started clanking! I PUT WINDOWS10 ON EXTERNAL USB DRIVE, SKIPPED CDRIVE, POERED UP AND RECOVERED MOST C DRIVE B4 REPLACING IT! SWEEEEET!!!!

[@orly3000]

Impressive that you did this in one take

[@andreportella5506]

Thank you very much man!! it works when I changed the boot mode, priority , and fast boot as you said !! Yay!

[@BrainyBroadcast]

I'm running my new OS through ext SSD but in THIS PC none of my existing drives is there. Please help me out.

[@94Dza]

Nice tutorial, worked for me. First time build so thanks for the help

[@josephb773]

4 years later and it still works!

[@creativei3394]

Thank you buddy , very clear and awesome demo ...

[@roopaimitationjewellery3453]

Thankx you so much for great explain ..thankx again from India

[@jasonlor9735]

Need to try this. It'll be a great way to back up files for the laptop.

[@rahulmenon17]

After the creation of recovery media on my external hard drive, would I be able to use the hard drive for storage of personal files?? Since in case of a USB flash drive, once you create a recovery media, you won't be able to use the usb for personal storage as long as the recovery image remains in....

[@SyedAizazHaider]

Amazing Guy you are Solved my problem i was Stacked in since 6 hours 🤨 Great info Thanks mate

[@ravikavi1575]

Great video man. This video helped me in unlearning few things. Thanks

[@benjaminfigueroalackington1782]

Great stuff, worked perfectly! Thanks!

[@GibsonLesPaul2273]

When choosing the disk I want to install its saying "already has a version of windows installed or the same name file has been existed, please format the destination partition and retry" but its already formatted.

[@pendergo226]

Great video! Would this work as an alternative method to install Windows 10 on a computer which I can’t boot from USB? I plan to remove the hard drive, use a laptop and a hard drive dock to install windows to it and replace the hard drive back to the computer.

[@chosenundead3174]

Helped me a lot. Thanks