How to Create Windows to Go USB Drive Easily

Windows To Go is a special feature that is included in Windows 8.x and Windows 10. It allows you to install Windows on a portable disk drive that can be attached to any PC and allows you to boot into Windows no matter what type of operating system is installed on that computer. It is more like a Live Linux bootable CD/USB disk that you can use to boot into Linux on any computer.

Officially, you would need to have Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise or Windows 10 Enterprise before you can use the official method to create a Windows To Go work-space. There are some other unofficial methods floating around on the internet that detail how you can use Windows Professional  8/8.1/10 to create the Windows To Go disks but they need so many steps and you have to download gigabytes of Windows AIK (Automated Installation Kit) to do this.

But actually you can use Rufus to quickly (less than 5 minutes) and easily create Windows To Go bootable USB disk without needing any extra tools. Here is how:

  1. Download Rufus (portable version works great) from http://rufus.akeo.ie/.
  2. Attach a USB disk with storage capacity of 16GB or more to your PC. It is suggested that you use USB 3.0 disks for optimal performance of Windows To Go.
  3. Launch Rufus and select the target USB disk in it.Create Windows To Go
  4. Click on the small ISO image icon to select the Windows ISO image from your PC. If you do not have a Windows ISO image then you can use Windows ISO Downloader tool to get one.
  5. Select the option Windows To Go in the Rufus window and then click on the Start button.
  6. If you have a removable disk (like USB pendrive) then Rufus will show you a warning, but you can ignore this warning by clicking on the Yes button and continuing.Create Windows To Go
  7. The Windows To Go bootable USB disk will be ready in less than 5 minutes. Rufus will inform you when all the process is complete. Now you can try booting your PC using this USB disk.

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