How to Create Portable Windows 10 to USB Drive
There are at least two ways to make portable Windows 10 on USB. You can run the backup and recovery software from Qiling, or download the ISO files to your USB.
What Is A Windows 10/8/7 Portable Drive
According to Google searching result, it can be identified that a portable Windows USB drive is a pen drive which is installed Windows system with Windows ISO and system files. It allows users to boot their computers or other PCs from the USB portable drive.
What is this for? Here is a list of advantages of a portable Windows USB drive:
| Take Your System Anywhere | Prevent System Error |
|---|---|
| When your computer or laptop suddenly crashes due to system failure or internal error, you can no longer boot from the PC. A portable Windows USB drive can help you reboot the PC from the USB drive, and then you can continue your work and find a solution to repair the corrupted Windows system. | Windows portable USB drive allows you to take your own Windows system anywhere you need, and you can even directly boot your Windows from a USB drive on other computers. This will save your time and energy to take a laptop wherever you go on business. |
Tip 1. How to Make Portable Windows 10 on USB Drive (with Software)
So how to effectively create such a portable Windows USB drive? For example, how to create a portable Windows USB drive for Windows 10 users? How to install and clone a Windows system to a USB drive without complex methods?
Fortunately, powerful Windows backup recovery software - Qiling Backup can do the job. It allows you to effectively clone and install Windows 10, 8, or 7, etc. system to a USB drive with simple clicks. All ordinary users can do the job. You may download this software and learn how to make your Windows system bootable from a tiny USB drive now.
1 - Preparations
- An external hard drive
- The external hard drive cable
- Qiling Backup
2 - Notes
Check the unallocated space (enough unallocated space on the left)
Check the partition style (the same with the system drive)
3 - Steps
Here is a detailed step-by-step guide to help you effectively create a portable USB system boot drive of Windows 10:
Step 1. Connect a USB drive to your PC and run Qiling Backup, clicking "System clone" feature.
Notice: Your USB drive must be larger than your system drive and boot partition. Qiling Backup will let you know whether your USB drive is big enough or not with System Clone.
Step 2. Select the destination disk - the USB drive to clone system drive (system and boot partition) to.
(Here you can identify whether your USB drive storage space is big enough or not.)
Step 3. Preview the disk layout and then click Proceed to execute the system cloning process.
Step 4. Wait till the system clone process complete.
Wait till the system clone process complete and then you've successfully created a portable Windows USB for Windows 10.
Tip 2. How to Make a Windows 10 To Go USB Drive (with ISO File)
If you don't want to use the software, you can download Windows 10 ISO file to make a portable Windows USB. To make it, you need to create Windows 10 installation media and then burn the ISO to DVD. Here are the details.
1 - Preparations
- A copy of Rufus (https://rufus.ie/) or WinToUSB
- A USB 3.0 flash drive with at least 32 GB of storage space
- A Windows ISO file
- A valid license for your portable copy of Windows
2 - Steps
Step 1. You need to download and run the media creation tool.
As creating Windows 10 installation media will delete the content on USB or blank DVD, you'd better use a blank USB or blank DVD.
Step 2. On the "What do you want to do?" interface, select "Create installation media for another PC", and then select "Next".
Step 3. Choose the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10. Select media tool you want to use:
To Burn ISO to USB in Windows 10:
Go to Rufus and download the latest version. After that, double-click the .exe file to launch Rufus and connect your USB to your computer. Then burn ISO to USB.
Step 1. Choose the USB device you want to burn the ISO file to. From the Boot selection drop-down menu, choose "Disk or ISO image (Please select)", then click "SELECT" and choose the ISO file stored on your computer.
Step 2. To ensure you can boot from the USB on both UEFI and BIOS computer, choose "MBR" under the Partition scheme,
Step 3. Leave the other options unchanged and click "Start" to begin burning the Windows 10 ISO file to the USB drive.
How to Run Windows 10 from a USB Drive
When you want to launch Windows 10 on a different computer, insert your USB drive into that PC. Then, follow these steps to run Windows 10 from a USB drive.
Step 1. Press the appropriate key (F2, F12, Delete, or Esc) to launch your Boot menu and choose boot from the USB drive.
Step 2. The first time you run Windows 10 off the USB drive, you'll need to go through the normal Windows setup process. Then, activate Windows 10 with your license code.
Conclusion
Both of the solutions can help you create a portable USB drive. No matter which method you choose, plan accordingly. Make sure the hardware is available wherever you're going.
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