Primary OS as a Portable Windows / WindowsToGo on VHD – Doing it the right way?
Background:
For few months now, I’ve native booted sample .VHDs/.VHDX (s) with variations of BIOS/ UEFI & MBR/ GPT.
Gotten comfortable with BCDBOOT variations, converting between MBR <> GPT and so on.
Learnt partition variations that work well inside VHDs; EFI, SYS, \Windows partitions.
Learnt how DISM can be used to Image & Apply standard & custom .WIMs on VHDs / HDDs/ Partitions.
Product Licenses & keys:
Before anyone shouts wolf, here are the license/ keys & ISOs that we have:
Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.1 Pro, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise MAK & Servers as well.
I know some of this may not be ‘supported’ paths or how Microsoft says things should be done, so just like many such experimental pathways on forums, please help this one if you can.
Objective: Portable Windows VHD:
People are booting their primary OS from VHDs and that’s what I wish to do.
I’d like to boot my Primary OS from VHD; It to be my single Container for [OS + Apps + Files/ Data]
I intend to boot the VHD off Internal disk, not via USB. Then, changing hardware is a single .VHD file copy away.
One caveat I noticed is that if you move the OS/ VHDs across hardware it needs to do work on Hardware/ Driver profiles (and typically it’s recommended to Sysprep + Generalize before moving them).
On the other hand, W Enterprise based Windows To Go is said to handle this differently, with some secret sauce.
Researching Microsoft’s Windows Enterprise based Windows To Go:
I noticed, the typical & official Microsoft WTG scenario is a paired relationship:
Mother {W Enterprise} – using WTG Creator - Daughter {WTG created on USB } system.
I thought the only way to move forward was this paired way and wanted to avoid it.
Then I noticed that MS specifies a Powershell/ DISM/ BCDBoot way to build this with any custom .wim Windows Image, which is typically how I’ve been creating VHDs. They just add policies to hide the Host System’s OS & disable WinRE; which are things I don’t care much about.
I guess, my VHD should be good to go. But, I am wondering if there’s something missing? Or something special/ extra is being added/ changed by WTG Creator? If so, do share.
Found additional Portable Windows/ Windows To Go Creators:
I found the following variations of portable Windows creators/ applying Windows, official and unofficial:
- WTG - Enterprise
- DISM – Powershell Scripts
- WTG Creator – extracted for use in – Pro Volume
- WinNTSetup - MSFN
- WinToUSB
- AOMEI Partition Assistant
- WiNToBootic
- Easy2Boot
- Rufus
- Maybe some more..
My Portable Windows VHD Concerns:
Is this VHD good to go automatically and Moveable across hardware?
These are 3 areas of curiosity/ concern for me that I need to answer:
- Image Application & Creation
- Is there something else that WTG Creator based MS WTG has that’s missing?
- Licensing & Activation
- I can activate it with the Windows Enterprise MAK license and/ or the Pro license
- Also, the few times it moves it will be running on OEM Hardware with MS licenses in firmware
- Hardware/ Driver profiles
- Does MS WTG handle hardware/ driver profiles differently when booting on machines?
- I found this little insight (quoted below) on a Windows Registry key. http://superuser.com/a/919119/183467
- Can/ should the opposite be done?
- Does WTG Creator do this? Or does the Windows instance do this by itself?
reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control /v PortableOperatingSystem /t REG_DWORD /d 0The value PortableOperatingSystem is the flag you want to change. If it is 1, Windows Thinks it is a WindowsToGo.
Multiple operations fail if Windows 8 is improperly identified as a Windows To Go installation
https://support.micr...n-us/kb/2778881
Refresh your PC fails reporting:
Your PC can't be refreshed because it's running Windows To Go
The Windows To Go control panel reports:
Can't change startup options when you're in a your Windows To Go Workspace
Windows Store fails with error
Windows Store isn't available on Windows To Go Workspaces
Edited by crashnburn, 10 September 2015 - 07:17 PM.