Solved Install the whole O.S. inside a folder

[GTMoraes]

Hi,

I'm setting up a Windows to Go drive, and to prevent mess, I want to install the whole O.S. (Program files, user folder, Windows folder) to a folder called "WindowsToGo".

Is that possible?

Thank you!

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Answer is post #4. Thanks Jimbo45.

 

[LMiller7]

I would say probably not.
I have no experience with Windows to go but in other systems you are given to choice where the system folders are located. They always go in the root of the installation drive.

 

[GTMoraes]

Tried several times, no luck. It says, during the setup, that the installation cannot continue and restarts.
I'm better off installing on a separate partition, as I already did and I'm posting from the Windows to Go.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[jimbo45]

Hi,

I'm setting up a Windows to Go drive, and to prevent mess, I want to install the whole O.S. (Program files, user folder, Windows folder) to a folder called "WindowsToGo".

Is that possible?

Thank you!

Hi there
Have a look at some tutorials on the W8 Forums as Windows to Go is a W8 Enterprise feature --it works very well but you need to really install it on a USB3 external drive / external SSD drive for maximum performance.

You can have partitions on the external drive so you only need to reserve say 30 GB on the device for the OS partition. You can't install into a Folder --it's an OS like Windows 7 so it will be on its own "C" drive.

So to create the Windows to Go system either do the basic install from a Windows 8 Enterprise system and then re-partition the device - or re-partition the device first via partition wizard / partition magic etc and then install to the device's "C" partition. Have the rest of your stuff on the "D" partition so you won't get into a mess and your OS + apps will be separate from your DATA. You should do this anyway even on your NORMAL system(s).

Windows to go works very well and you can install other applications like Photo shop , Office etc etc. I use this a lot when travelling on client sites as I have several different Language versions of Office that I need to use.

One minor note --though -- unless you have the VL version of Office you might get asked to re-activate it again if the hardware you are running Windows to Go on is significantly different to the computer you used to install it on. Windows itself isn't a problem as it's an Enterprise version but Office can be re-activated by various means using KMS - you need to google for ways of dealing with this scenario.

What I did actually was to create a Windows to Go on to an external SSD and then install VMware player with a mini XP Virtual machine with just office installed -- the response time is fine and using a VM means the Virtual hardware is identical wherever I use Office so I wasn't asked for re-activation. Using Vlite you can strip a lot out of the XP VM so it's really TINY.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[boohbah]

kari may be able to help here,
i'll give him a shout

 

[Kari]

Jimbo already told the essential parts here: Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, you can simply log in to Enterprise and start the Windows To Go Wizard following instructions. A step by step Microsoft support article: Windows To Go Step by Step - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki.

I have never tested to install Windows 7 on a USB stick or drive, can't say anything about it.

EDIT:
It's quite obvious I misread the original question. It's not about the feature called Windows To Go which is only available in Windows 8 Enterprise Edition, but instead OP's desire to install various system folders of Windows 7 under a subfolder instead of the drive root as by default.

This is not possible and will not work. Theoretically it would be possible after some enormous, really serious registry editing and sysprepping, but that's just theory; it will not work.

My apologies for misunderstanding, misreading the original post.

 

[GTMoraes]

Hi,

I'm setting up a Windows to Go drive, and to prevent mess, I want to install the whole O.S. (Program files, user folder, Windows folder) to a folder called "WindowsToGo".

Is that possible?

Thank you!

Hi there
Have a look at some tutorials on the W8 Forums as Windows to Go is a W8 Enterprise feature --it works very well but you need to really install it on a USB3 external drive / external SSD drive for maximum performance.

You can have partitions on the external drive so you only need to reserve say 30 GB on the device for the OS partition. You can't install into a Folder --it's an OS like Windows 7 so it will be on its own "C" drive.

So to create the Windows to Go system either do the basic install from a Windows 8 Enterprise system and then re-partition the device - or re-partition the device first via partition wizard / partition magic etc and then install to the device's "C" partition. Have the rest of your stuff on the "D" partition so you won't get into a mess and your OS + apps will be separate from your DATA. You should do this anyway even on your NORMAL system(s).

Windows to go works very well and you can install other applications like Photo shop , Office etc etc. I use this a lot when travelling on client sites as I have several different Language versions of Office that I need to use.

One minor note --though -- unless you have the VL version of Office you might get asked to re-activate it again if the hardware you are running Windows to Go on is significantly different to the computer you used to install it on. Windows itself isn't a problem as it's an Enterprise version but Office can be re-activated by various means using KMS - you need to google for ways of dealing with this scenario.

What I did actually was to create a Windows to Go on to an external SSD and then install VMware player with a mini XP Virtual machine with just office installed -- the response time is fine and using a VM means the Virtual hardware is identical wherever I use Office so I wasn't asked for re-activation. Using Vlite you can strip a lot out of the XP VM so it's really TINY.

Cheers
jimbo

Hey!

I couldn't wait for an answer so I've tried it to contain it within' a folder anyway. Didn't work well. It went unresponsive after the serial was inserted and an error saying "the installation cannot continue" was given.
Did what you suggested right now, 50 gig partition (used my main computer' windows, program files and users folders as an estimate of how much I'd need) for the Win2Go and the rest for my data files. Best option ever, as I use my drive to connect on the TV, and would be a shame if, during a party that I've connected my drive for musics, random sound effects from installed programs would play. Ha!

And uh, I didn't know it was a strict Windows Enterprise feature. Just heard about it and went nuts. Used to use a Ubuntu system, but unfortunately it ain't so mainstream as Windows is. I've followed a tutorial on Technet and did it using a Windows 8 Pro image I've acquired through MSDN. Actually, I've created the Win2Go from a Windows 7! My MSDN serial worked and is activated, and still works even though I've used it on several computers. Hope that isn't bad.

Yes! I'm actually using Win2Go as my main system. I've got a Thermaltake Muse 5G, which packs USB 3.0 (but unfortunately, my computer cannot boot from USB 3.0 since it's an cheap expansion card), but I use it on 2.0 mostly, and a 500GB HDD and it doesn't do bad. I even game from it, for God's sake. I haven't tried to install Office, because I thought exactly what you said, and didn't want to smoke my serial. Does it really check for hardware changes? I'm thinking about using.. alternate methods for it. Wouldn't be wrong, right? It's my "main system" after all, just jumps from machine to machine.

Fella, that's kinda like hijacking my own thread, but you seem to have quite knowledge about Win2Go, could you help me with a little problem? I posted it on Technet but I still didn't get any answers.

Hi.

tl;dr - How do I change the USB port that Windows to Go listens the drive while in use?

long version:
I have this computer, with an Asus P8H61-LE Motherboard. As you expect, it doesn't pack USB 3.0 ports. But it does come with some nifty PCI-E x1 slots, so I've bought a random USB 3.0 PCI-E card, with 40 pin for front panel.

Works amazingly. Fast and beautiful, exactly what I've expected. BUT, it doesn't have its own BIOS or something, so my UEFI BIOS cannot boot from devices connected to it. In fact, it doesn't even detect anything there until I boot up to the O.S.!

And I have this Windows to Go Setup. Works like a charm on USB 2.0, but sometimes I feel the bottleneck, and wouldn't hurt using my only USB 3.0 device on those USB 3.0 ports, eh? I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting it on USB 3.0, but WTG just ignores it as if it weren't there. Even when I connect to a different USB 2.0 port, it doesn't detect.

This USB port remapping would serve for other uses too. Once, I've connected my drive to a client's computer, for repairs. But it took longer than I expected, and I had it connected on the front USB. I needed to connect other thumb and external hard drives and had to use the rear USB ports for this, because WTG didn't detect anywhere else =(

Is there a way to do it; thru a hack, workaround or something?
Or just no way at all?

Thank you!

Change Windows to Go USB Port while in use


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This problem has been solved, so I'm marking the actual thread as solved, although I'd love to have an answer for my second "issue"! I'll be creating it on Eight forums and will post a link here, as I've already mentioned it
http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/26319-change-windows-go-usb-port-while-use.html