Want bootable Win10Pro on flash drive

I'd like to make a bootable Win10Pro flash drive to keep as a backup rather than multiple boot my hard drives, in case my OS becomes inoperative. I attempted to do this with WinToUSB http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/and all seemed to go well, but rather than having one partition, it created two (a small boot partition and a large system partition). The problem is all Windows updates are downloaded to the smaller C partition, so I run out of room very quickly. How can I create a single partition flash drive and have a bootable version of Win10Pro on it?

 

AFAIK, that option is only available in Enterprise versions of Windows.

Microsoft.com > Creating a Portable Windows 10 Environment with Windows To Go

More info here: Wikipedia > Windows To Go

 

No, it works for other versions, also, but the glitch is splitting the flash drive into partitions. Do you recommend a different program to make a bootable drive?

 

Sorry, I'm not familiar with attempting to use "Windows To Go" feature with versions other than Enterprise. Windows To Go is licensed under Microsoft’s Software Assurance program, meaning each Windows To Go workspace (that boots and runs from USB) must be activated with Active Directory-based activation or with a Key Management Server.

 

I'm wondering if increasing the virtual memory from the minimum of 14GB to the total size of the flash drive might result in everything being put on the boot partition. I'll have to experiment with that when I have a chance, unless someone has already done that experiment and can pass the results on to me.

 

I haven't tried Square One, but I did find by using WinToUSB I could get one partition by increasing the virtual memory to the largest size possible. The program automatically formats the entire drive, so partitioning it in advance would be a waste of time. I haven't tried the flash drive, yet, but at least I'm not dealing with 2 partitions on it anymore. I hope this can be helpful to others who want an easy way to have a backup/portable OS.

I just noticed Win10Pro 64bit is 58.1GB in size, and I put this on a 64GB flash drive, only leaving me 321MB of free space. I'm not sure if that is enough to handle any updates that may be required, so you may want a larger flash drive if you plan to be using Win10.

 

You must have the entire drive on your flash drive. I have made a 'backup' (as allowed) after my install of W10 Pro 64 bit and it didn't take up that much space. About 15-16 GB's. Wouldn't install on a 18GB drive, so I had to use a 32 GB thumb drive.
If you wanted just the W10 Pro 64bit OS - why not use the W10 Media Creator Tool? You can burn to DVD or install on USB thumb drive, about 4GB's max. Neil.

 

That is strange, as I just used the Win10 ISO which is only 3.37GB in size, while the hard disk image file on the flash drive shows 58GB. I wonder what happened. Maybe I'll have to use it to determine if extras were added, but I may have to use another program to create this bootable flash drive. Do you recommend Square One or another program?

 

You don't need any special software to D/l the ISO to your comp and either burn or install on a flash drive. A DVD burner capable of burning the ISO to disc (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool) or (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10).
Have a look through these links and just follow the instructions after you decide what to do. Neil.

 

My recommendation is also to create a new DVD(i prefer) or USB flash with a fresh new copy from the media Creation Tool.

 

There is a difference between a bootable USB containing the Windows installer and a bootable USB containing a complete running instance of Windows.

 

I'm still working on this, but with no success. I looked at the links retiredlearner gave, but the first link is just for Win7 and the second doesn't allow me to download Win10 on a flashdrive (saying I need to clear some memory, yet the drive has just been formatted). I have the ISO; I just need to make it bootable on a flashdrive. Any other suggestion?

 

You've missed something in the 2nd. link I gave you. I have just taken the time to insert a 16GB Lexar thumb drive in this W10 comp and followed the instructions and I now have W10 Pro 64bit on the thumb drive!!!
I would respectfully suggest you try again and read thoroughly ALL the MS instructions. I have used this and the ISO to DVD option more than once without any problems Neil.

 

I'll do it again, but it didn't allow me to choose where the download would go, so I think it was trying to put it on my OS partition and that partition doesn't have the required free space.

 

I remember it saying to not run this on a Win10 drive, and only my Win10 drive has the necessary room.

 

I did exactly that - this is my main comp running W10 Pro 64bit!!!
On the 2nd. Link > Download Media Tool > Run > UAC OK > Accept Terms > Create Installation Media for another PC > Select language etc > USB Flash drive > insert your drive (minimum 4GB) > next and it should find your drive > next to install > about 30 mins later you should have your W10 OS on your drive ready to go. Neil.

 

When I reread the statement about not doing this on a Win10 computer, I realized it is irrelevant to me: "We recommend using the media creation tool on a PC running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. If you run this tool on a PC running Windows 10, it can overwrite temporary files that are needed if you ever want to go back to your previous operating system. "
I'm running it on my Win10 SSD and all seems to be going well. When it is done, I'll test it and see how it works.

 

I don't believe Barry wants to "Create Installation Media for another PC ". He wants to create USB media running a complete installation of Windows 10 ... just like you would have after you installed Windows 10 to a hard drive. In other words, he wants to insert that USB into any hardware-capable PC and boot and run Windows 10 from that USB flash drive ... totally ignoring the Operating System installed on the PC's hard drive (if any).

I.e, "Windows To Go ".