Boot Windows 7 off of USB

By Cyber Akuma
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Cyber Akuma

Posted
Posted

I tried to Google this, but every guide told me how to INSTALL Windows 7 beta off a USB drive.

This is not what I am trying to do.

I already have it installed on a SATA laptop drive, and have a USB dock for SATA drives.

I want to know if there is any way to boot Windows 7 off of the drive once its connected by USB.

I am aware that this is possible with Windows XP and Windows Vista, but only after applying a 3rd party patch that changes the way the system handles USB connections on boot.

And yes, I am also aware this will make it run slower too off USB 2.0 instead of the internal SATA connection, thats fine.

So, has there been any method discovered yet to boot Windows 7 off a USB drive?

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/723312-boot-windows-7-off-of-usb/
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Grand Master

MikeChipshop Member

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  • Member
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Strangely i read the title, thought i'd help someone out by tracking down the thread i was reading earlier.

In my hurry to help out a fellow Neowiner i forgot to completly read the whole post, wont bother next time. Not worth the attitude you get off of some posters round here.

Grand Master

Ambroos

Posted
Posted

At this moment, it's just impossible.

The USB stack in Windows is written so that whenever you connect or disconnect a USB device, the whole USB stack reinitializes. This makes Windows lose the connection to the USB stick for a very short time, and in that time it cannot write to the swap file or do anything else. When that happens Windows just freezes and it stays frozen until you reboot. I'm afraid it just won't work. One possible solution would be an eSATA disk...

  • 6 months later...
  • 5 months later...
Neowinian

Techload

Posted
Posted

I tried to Google this, but every guide told me how to INSTALL Windows 7 beta off a USB drive.

This is not what I am trying to do.

I already have it installed on a SATA laptop drive, and have a USB dock for SATA drives.

I want to know if there is any way to boot Windows 7 off of the drive once its connected by USB.

I am aware that this is possible with Windows XP and Windows Vista, but only after applying a 3rd party patch that changes the way the system handles USB connections on boot.

And yes, I am also aware this will make it run slower too off USB 2.0 instead of the internal SATA connection, thats fine.

So, has there been any method discovered yet to boot Windows 7 off a USB drive?

What is the 3rd party patch for Windows XP and Vista for running off a USB drive?

Thanks,

Enthusiast

joey_oggie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here you go :)

Install Windows 7 on a USB hard drive

I installed it on my 320GB WD hard drive and it's working fine on my desktop PC where I installed it from and on a netbook which has XP installed but unfortunately it's not working on a laptop I have which has Vista installed; it just BSODs while booting. I know why it's doing that, but don't know how to fix it yet. If you face the same problem, you can PM me and if I know a solution by then I will tell you. :)

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