How to Run Windows From a USB Drive (Win 10 or 11)

[@GeekIWG]

TIP: Change your user agent to appear to be something other than Windows, such as Linux, then Microsoft's website will give you the option to download a Windows 10 ISO directly. It's faster than using the media creator tool.

[@ThioJoe]

Hm good to know

[@TBA_5854]

I used to get that link in Android and share to pc and download it on pc

[@JustA.Person]

You don't even need an extension for that, you can just go to inspect element and click the button where you can simulate a phone screen. That changes the user agent and you get direct download links

[@samsg]

Hmm

[@skorpion1298]

@@mickael9 big brain time

[@nogoat]

Here's a piece of advice. DO NOT DO THIS ON USB 2.0 It took a literal day to create it for me on USB 2.0

[@ThioJoe]

Yep i’d believe it

[@Humziish]

I tryed years ago.. USB 2.0 is much too slow.

[@ryanrunangnaff2868]

yeah USB 2.0 is very slow but it still works. Depends on what you use it for I guess. I am using my WTG thumb drive for Chia XCH cold wallet.

[@PAKTC]

patience is a virtue with USB 2.0

[@Fafr]

If only this video was released before I tried using Rufus, now my USB 2.0 is bricked because I stopped the error checking thing

[@lightningsam8345]

It’s remarkable how a channel has transformed from posting SPAM videos for entertainment to super cybersecurity and useful videos! Great job, ThioJoe!

[@bassam_salim]

It took me a while to trust him

[@IbbiAhmed]

everytime i get a recommendation of his vid, this is exactly what goes through my mind

[@Qwerty-uiop]

First impressions are last impressions 😔

[@joen4287]

@@bassam_salim lmaoooo I remember watching his video and trying to download ram and also trying to increase my internet speed 🤣

[@thedrbat9572]

@@bassam_salim i still never use his videos for a tutorial on something, ik he probably doesnt fool people anymore but hes caused damages to enough people for me not to trust him at all. And if your wondering which video i fell for, it was the "how to make your phone charge faster"

[@snarkykat]

This is awesome! I've been looking for something like this for a long time! Thanks Joe!

[@hanserdmann4058]

Nice info but i prefere bootable Linux running drectly without any ”Monkey Business! :-)😭

[@andrejbartulin]

I would like Rufus can be compatible with macOS and GNU/Linux

[@E_2the_J]

If your using BIOS you need to change the partition scheme to 'MBR' and the target system to 'BIOS or UEFI'

[@derpderpinson8208]

thanks, i was just going after what this moron said in the video and wasted like 1.5 hours

[@nikil213]

How can i do that

[@E_2the_J]

@@nikil213 in the video at 3:17 you can see the partition scheme is set to 'GPT' by default. just click on that and in the menu change it to 'MBR'. the target system right next to it should be set to 'BIOS or UEFI' instead of 'UEFI (non CSM)'

[@GamingDog20]

Hi Joe, I remember years ago when I was a bit inexperienced with computers. I remember trying to reinstall windows but the"copying files" would always stop at certain percentage and after a bit of time it would error me all the time. Hours and hours of research what the problem could be, doing rufus over again, downloading other iso, nothing helped. In the end, bought a new usb and that was it, apparently the old usb was faulty 🙂

[@Techknowverse]

you should have used ez2boot.

[@garavonhoiwkenzoiber]

it was probably a fake usb, like a 4 gig that claimed to be an 8 gig

[@arpitabanerjee4875]

How to get back to ssd s... windows 10

[@nielsdegroot9138]

From the Rufus FAQ: You should no longer have to disable Secure Boot if you use Rufus 3.17 or later, as the UEFI:NTFS bootloaders being used by these versions are Secure Boot signed.

[@NotJacobX]

I still can't see the USB on my boot menu, though... and i use the latest Rufus 3.21

[@أحمدالسيدعمر-ل8ح]

​@@NotJacobXTry Delyte and one more install program... or chek ... in rufs setup

[@user-cx2bk6pm2f]

How to ruin Windows from a USB? Too late, it's already ruined 😃👍

[@rafj75]

Just for everyone to know , it took me 12hours to make that bootable usb with rufus not 5 minute or an hour.. if you see it as if it froze just leave it and come back every hour to check on it's progress.. HANG IN THERE. 😄

[@nickm9102]

Were you using a 3.0 drive or better? I threw hiren's on a few 2.0 drives and it did ok but that isn't quite windows. I think mine will be the 2-2.5 hour mark when it gets done.

[@yyperi]

This is very useful for testing memory overclocks. It's easy to corrupt your OS install if the RAM isn't 100% stable.

[@Daniel_QC_USB]

that's funny I already installed windows on a Samsung USB T7 SSD using a program cold WinToUSB

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Would rather install 9x,XP, or 7 TO A USB drive

[@paulwarner5395]

Yes it's a pity that there wasn't a Windows to Go for older OSs.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@paulwarner5395 indeed. At least Nlite is a thing and let me make a fully updated/patched verson of my XP Corporate edition sp3 disk (A very lucky thrift store find)

[@JohnRay1969]

XP was my favorite.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@JohnRay1969 XP is definitely my favorite NT kernel Windows (Sorry 7, I've always thought of 7 as XP 2.0)

[@mattelder1971]

Rufus has a feature built in to download the Windows ISO. It does this directly from the Microsoft servers, so it would save you a step and you still end up with the same file.

[@emronglass]

how do we bump this comment ^^^ to the top??

[@Im_DJ]

Tbh , the temperatures of the pendrive reaches like 55+(plastic) degrees 60+(metal) , I have used linux off of a pendrive my personal experience, its less snappy than ssd but better than hard drive. For me temperatures are a big no no

[@dabig_guy2204]

USB run windows

[@user-cb4yv4ni8x]

I can't tell anymore if he's serious or joking because of his previous videos

[@rae0521]

Wanting to do things such as setting up a PC to boot from a USB or DVD is SUCH A BLOODY HASSLE. I don't know whether it's Microsoft or the PC manufacturers, or both, but they all should be locked in a room and not allowed out until they SIMPLIFY this stuff so the average user can SUCCESSFULLY do it. They need to build a program that will ask a few questions regarding what the user wants to accomplish, and THEN DO IT. None of this fiddling around hitting the Esc or F10 quickly after power on and then wandering around in a MINEFIELD of little boxes, any one of which could easily disable the PC from ever booting again. That is RIDICULOUS! I've spend hours fooling around with an HP Probook 6475b and so far it will not boot from either a bootable DVD or bootable USB flash drive.

[@Preinstallable]

bruh 4h ago that guy commented and it says 30s ago

[@_SJ]

Channel membership

[@vwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvw9]

It's because of Channel membership lol

[@TBA_5854]

To anyone watching and it didn't work , THIS OPTION (WINDOWS TO GO) ONLY APPEARS IN WIN 10 AND LATER , IT WONT APPEAR IN WIN 7 AND 8

[@pyp2205]

Well Windows To Go has been retired for a couple years now. So it doesn't show up for Windows 10 or 11 now. Edit: Nevermind I didn't think you were talking about Rufus, because I know this was a feature for Windows 10 Enterprise in the control panel.

[@TBA_5854]

@@pyp2205 nah win 10 supports win to go but that option in Rufus is available from win 10 and later Edit : i forgot to mention but i tried it

[@pyp2205]

@@TBA_5854 Well I didn't know what you meant until I looked through the video. I know now that Windows To Go is a feature for Rufus. But I remember reading about Windows To Go when it was a feature built into Windows 10 Enterprise and Education. The built-in windows feature was retired a couple years ago.

[@youhenglee7691]

oh boi ima troll my friends

[@jscs9960]

USELESS GUIDE THIS THING DOESNT WORK ANYMORE

[@dnwatts55]

I will always run Linux and never Winblows.

[@CesareVesdani]

Please make a video tutorial on how set any USB flash drive read-only like a CD-ROM disk.

[@algret132]

Will this work with windows 8.1 or 7

[@Aiden_Gamez_4realz]

I don’t think so

[@VVarun97]

I thought to myself why isn't this so popular and then I try to make a GO drive with my USB3 pendrive and it has not completed 6hrs have passed out 😂😂😂

[@pyp2205]

Awesome! I've been wanting to do this for a while.

[@MohammedHK876]

Nice Keep It Up I Already Know This But For The Begginers It's Really Good

[@monomonster]

MicroSD cards are plenty fast these days. I have an old Samsung Chromebook 3 running MXLinux on a 128g μsd and it is plenty fast for my use. BUT... Windows is a resource hog, so a external USB3 7200rpm hdd or ssd would be better.

[@RagdyAndy]

*will this work on non win 11 compatible Pcs?*

[@DcfcftgrfrFstefdff]

unless everything is set up correctly, no

[@yacinebenaissa9838]

Tumbs up for the video. I was a little bit scepticle since i come form the IT prank era of theo joe but this was actually helpful. Thank you

[@RageTasticc]

If you are downloading windows 10, you can do CTRL+Shift+i and hit the button that looks like a tablet and phone. Then refresh the page and then close the dev tools. This will enable direct download because it thinks you’re on a different on a device.

[@emronglass]

@ThioJoe Can we somehow pin these comments to the top?!

[@powercell6502]

I remember being so mad at you when I was like 10 because I couldn't actually run ps5 games on my Xbox 360 😂. Anyways, thanks for the help and nice video.

[@GanjaGuerillas]

So glad that I found your video. My windows 11 crashed and went into a boot loop and and all the available options to repair it wouldn't work other than to reformat back to windows10 but I had lots of data that needed recovered. Also never again will I do an upgrade to windows11👎

[@notthespy-r3n]

it is saying my usb drive needs to have the "fixed" attribute set

[@Saturn-OS]

I guess this is better than duel booting cause its annoying when I need to do stuff on windows.

[@jdjdjshahahjqjqopwlska]

true

[@ilovepepsi6670]

0:41 "Something that's USB 3.0 at least" Don't you mean USB 3.2 gen 1 season 7 episode 12 chapter 2 the remastered edition ulta speed x 2.51 HD

[@singletona082]

Considering there are a few things I want to do that NEED windows for some gods aweful reason? I'm willing to take the performance hit for the sake of having a backup windows install on hand.

[@Billy_Souls]

PRO TIP - RUFUS IS ON WINDOWS STORE

[@markster1904]

thanks man, can finally ditch WinToUSB haha

[@MooneLightEntertainment]

*Can you believe that I entered a search query for this exact topic with the name Thiojoe a couple of hours earlier? I even included Rufus in the search query* Feels like providence!

[@jareddeocampo4625]

In 3:28, im planning to activate my windows can i still choose windows to go?

[@brandonrobinson9943]

Does this also work with windows 7 iso? I repair computers for work, and sometimes I have to work on older machines that aren't compatible with windows 10/11. Looking to use this as a diagnostic tool as well as a killdisk usb

[@rolandohamilton1682]

does it disable the wifi adapter on the system because i cant get any wifi and my wifi adapter is working fine its just the port on my motherboard for ssd drive is damaged thats why am doing it this way

[@TM-up4is]

Put the LAN

[@rolandohamilton1682]

@@TM-up4is it's a Lenovo IdeaPad 3 it doesn't have Ethernet port unfortunately

[@ambuj.k]

Yay! Microsoft added a new feature to windows which linux had for years!!

[@grayisgood]

Microsoft has already stopped support for windows to go. LOL.

[@pixie_laluna]

This is misleading. The Rufus method WILL NOT help you to "run" Windows from a USB drive. It's just a USB to install Windows in another drive which is not USB. Completely misleading.

[@yurydalt7957]

Bro this must be so embarrassing for u. watch the video first lol he is doing exactly what he says Did u just click off after hearing the name Rufus?

[@Rockband2991]

Wintousb can also make a windows to go drive

[@Kenfin7]

The samsung usb thumb drive you showed looked really cool!

[@khalidyt4173]

Life saver bro fr . Some programs and games doesn’t work correctly or doesn’t work at all in my windows 11 bc my pc config is not supported (valorant for example needs TPM 2.0 in windows 11 or it doesn’t start ). I watched your video and put windows 10 on usb so i can run the programs that doesn’t work on my windows 11

[@sa7tita252]

@@khalidyt4173 same problem I had valorant not running on windows 11 , so an update miss up my pc and I'm trying to fix it and return to windows 10 is more better

[@moxenpaxen2447]

​​@@khalidyt4173 Bro use virtual box

[@KhanSahab-jq3cn]

Your channel is very useful Please help me Different versions are not visible in Windows 10 setup Help in this regard, so that I can do windows 10 pro or 11 pro Thanks

[@hridhaanjagtap9560]

I literally wrote this comment from a USB drive running Windows 11!

[@RageTasticc]

I just replied to this comment on windows 10 from my 2TB usb hard drive 💀

[@keyifci06]

@@RageTasticc how does it performs on External HDD

[@keyifci06]

@@RageTasticc I got a case for my External HDD which supports Usb 3.1

[@RageTasticc]

@@keyifci06 the write speed is 250 MB/s, which runs very fast. And an fps boost

[@vortex3738]

hey i like that you dont do fake vidoes anymore but 12 year old me really believed I could download more ram

[@xap3x]

Bruh, i was installing to USB drive with USB 2.0, and after 8 hours of work, it did only 46.8%. Dont do this with USB 2.0

[@AliAhmed-ub4yd]

After four hours I'm at 50%, did you eventually get it working?

[@Finzzys]

usb 2.0 is old Buy a usb 3.0

[@Procommand]

i will use windows to go to get admin on my school/university's pc

[@MaskedTitan999]

Is this USB Persistent ? will everything be saved when i run the windows again ? Also Is it necessary to Disable Secure Boot ?

[@DivyanshuLohani]

You can actually download the iso directly just load the download page in a small window then it will give options for 32 bit and 64bit download

[@philipdan9461]

Win 10 or 11?

[@DivyanshuLohani]

@@philipdan9461 Both but for win 11 only 64bit

[@-COBRA]

I heard there are some people who actually bought Windows for their computers. Is it some kind of urban legend?

[@vwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvw9]

Probably is lol

[@dafff08]

i did..

[@randydrew66]

Perfect video, been working on this all day when my c drive got corrupted! Thank you for showing the entire setup!

[@randykoha8936]

it took my laptop 8 hours and 46 minutes

[@anon_y_mousse]

This is awesome. I had a friend a long time back who made a live CD for Win98 and I've always wondered how he did it. Looks like Microsoft may finally be embracing the live CD and everyone can do it now. Though, I'd still like to make a proper Win98 live CD. If anyone is wondering why, it's because I've got a lot of old computers that wouldn't be capable of running anything more recent.

[@writerconsidered]

Don't you need a floppy file to install before you can install 98? I know that's how it was back in the day.

[@anon_y_mousse]

@@writerconsidered It just needs to be able to boot itself. I have a Win98 install disc that can boot, and it goes into a dos prompt allowing you to type `setup`, but I'd want it to run Windows directly instead of just providing the setup tool. I also have a really old copy of Knoppix, and that always worked for me, but Linux is just super easy anyway. It'd be the cool factor more than anything.

[@stucknousernames]

I remember having a Linux os installed like this to get past security at school to play games and trouble shoot.

[@jackfishthe6th373]

Strange? I asked myself this question two days ago and then this video appears shows up in my feed two days later?

[@martinbilis8875]

Hey, I Love your Videos! Keep up the Good Work!

[@sirborkyes]

HOLY CRAP, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU JUST SAVED SO MANY FILES THAT WERE IMPORTANT TO ME, YOU'RE A LIFE SAVER!!!!

[@MaskedTitan999]

Is this USB Persistent ? will everything be saved when i run the windows again from the usb ? Also Is it necessary to Disable Secure Boot ?

[@countzero1136]

You don't need the windows 10 install tool if you download the iso on a non-Windows computer - if you access the page with Mac or Linux you get a direct iso download link just like with windows 11

[@emronglass]

Good look

[@BIGJ_47]

I did this on my usb stick and it worked well, it was just quite slow tho because the stick was 32GB I only recommend doing this on an SSD or a usb device with 64GB or more. It is still possible with less storage though.

[@realcyphox5919]

bigger size doesnt mean better speed. you can have a cheapo 256GB stick thats still slow as f.... get something like sandisk extreme (pro)

[@minbcraft]

@@realcyphox5919 Even better, get any cheap but trustworthy m.2 nvme ssd, put it in an enclosure and it will run circles around any thumb drive.

[@frylock428]

how much disk space did you have left? I'm assuming 7 GB

[@BIGJ_47]

@@frylock428 Ye something like that but the main reason it was slow was because the usb drive was usb 2.0.

[@33TVWVL]

OMG thanks for the tutorial!! Yesterday my laptop immediately went to BIOS after turning it on, I was completely clueless and thought it was damaged for good. Then tried to research all these stuffs. Learn a lot from both the video and the comments (especially the one tip about changing the user agent)! One thing though, I only reached the downloading step, then put both Rufus and ISO in my USB. Couldn't proceed with the steps shown in the tutorial (ran rufus, did as shown but couldn't hit the *Start* button). I kinda gave up and just inserted the USB in the laptop and turned it on and it just started up like normal??? Still don't know what went wrong with it, so if anyone has any idea, I'd highly appreciate some new techy knowledge 😭🙏 (Before this, my laptop screen had completely turned black after start-up. Watched another video about plugging out the battery, discharging it,etc. Screen turned on but stayed in BIOS. I disabled both *Security Boot* and *Fast Boot* , then enabled *Launch CSM* . Nothing happened until i used the USB (with both Rufus and ISO newly downloaded, untouched). My laptop works just fine now, no data loss whatsoever. It felt like a fever dream 😭🙏

[@KarlaDavid-wb5zo]

when i do the whole rufus part i wait for like 4 hours just for it to fail, and it says: error iso image extraction failure, what do i do?

[@prestonlaptops]

One of the best sets of videos I've seen relating to all kinds of computer problems. Makes a change to watch someone who actually seems to know what they are talking about.

[@zeebpc]

win8 work?

[@todorstojkovgaming]

I installed Windows 8.1 on my 32GB USB drive and it just bluescreens when i try to boot from it even with secure boot off.

[@arkadiuszbontur5818]

Its how to install Windows from USB not how to install Windows on USB and then 'RUN' it from that USB stick. Misleadig title

[@Zombie_bodo]

Haha you never watch it still the end. Windows is running ON A USB mate

[@arkadiuszbontur5818]

@@Zombie_bodo Damn I didn't xD. Thanks

[@skelebro9999]

Offtopic but I miss how Thio used to make funny versions of his name in the intro on his videos like Thio JoJo, Thio Thio JoJo etc.

[@aldanesh2680]

for me it took less than 2 minutes on an external SSD drive and around 5 minutes on a USB stick (both very good ones). I play games on the external SSD and it feels like it's on the internal SSD.

[@trp225]

0:13 but you have not heard, microsoft is blocking Rufus.

[@nathanpatty6020]

0:13 street fighter

[@RD-wn9iw]

When I launch windows 8.1 it comes up as install. If I click this will I wipe the internal hard drive of Linux? I only want it on the USB.

[@koter34]

Rofus killed my usb :(

[@charliedflea]

Hi, I replaced my internall hdd woth a new ssd (win 11), my old hdd (win 8.1). My question, is it possible to boot my old hdd win 8.1 from usb (i have a usb caddie for it) without formating so i can keep all the files and installed software and user settings? Thanks in advance

[@THD1083]

3d

[@wintensmith]

You got me! thsanks for your haelp, I will subscribe and like and I will set up my T460s

[@FamilyAcc-yq8uj]

I like to install a lite edition of windows with backups for my programs when i lose them or whenever My pc gets hacked or smth

[@AnItalianGuyOnYT]

i don't know if this a concedens (i don't know how to spell it) but yesterday i was looking for a tutorial on how to install windows 7 on an external ssd. and it's not the first time It happens, am i too predictable or what. I'm actually concerned ngl

[@NotProxyy]

Mine is slow or maybe it is boot looper please help!

[@iamfreeareyou681]

I want to make a bootable iso, and all I can find is crap to install from iso and to boot from USB, but there are existing bootable Windows isos that run Windows from a CD, how do I make one of them?

[@mrtechokids]

You are wrong we can change GPT to MBR for those who have bios and old PC

[@RambboBeatz]

dude i remember you from when i was a kid

[@ArtistDylan]

"There was a problem running this tool" when after trying to save the iso of windows😢

[@opywndow]

Will this work with 8.1?

[@winuser7]

it should

[@aminghiboub9610]

The Windows Go field does not appear on my program even though I am using the latest program

[@LuckyRawat1356]

2:12 .... it took me 24 mins to do this part i wonder how long it will take to do it fully... people are saying one whole day meaning for me it might be a whole week

[@seanmeakins]

Thanks so much, tryed to install w11 on my pc and it wont (TPM) Got w11 installed on usb hdd and working great on my pc.

[@PhiPan]

(for people who want to permanently use an external SSD as their main boot drive) I recently found out about how you can tweak the registry to make the pc think it's not a windows to go installation if you want to receive major updates without making a fresh install. 1. Run regedit.exe from the USB drive 2. Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control" 3. Change the value "PortableOperatingSystem" from 1 to 0

[@xrafter]

Using an external SSD will be significantly slower than internal SSDs. The reason is, USB connector will bottle neck the drive. So you need a usb 10 gbit connection. Usb 5 gbit should be enough

[@vanhuynh2907]

dummy question: how is this different from a bootable usb?

[@naxel37]

The most amazing thing about this video is the fact that you have an LG computer!!!

[@mangosteen67]

I installed windows to usb and again installed windows to usb

[@josephcooter5763]

Can I put this in the USB drive on my chromebook and run it? What about running it on a smart tv

[@UNICORNSF3ProgameplayProRACER]

Great video, thanks for sharing!

[@geani3465]

🙈