Contents ======= Windows To Go Required Files/Tools Walkthroughs Walkthrough 1 - Part 1 Walkthrough 1 - Part 2 Walkthrough 1 - Part 3 Walkthrough 2 - Part 1 Walkthrough 2 - Part 2 Walkthrough 2 - Part 3 Walkthrough 3 - Part 1 Walkthrough 3 - Part 2 Complete Windows setup Activation Appendices ========= bootmenupolicy DiskMgmt Edit UEFI entry Clone Win2Go Miscellaneous

Walkthrough 2 - Part 1 (DiskPart)

Use Microsoft DiskPart to prepare the external drive. A quick note on DiskPart -

• Disks are numbered from 0
• Partitions are numbered from 1
• Selecting the wrong disk or partition could result in data loss.

The following is a walkthrough of the steps required for creating a bootable external USB disk using DiskPart. The actions include wiping the disk before creating and formatting two new partitions - as this could potentially result in data loss, ensure that the correct disk is selected. DiskPart works by targeting an object (either a disk, volume or partition) - making it have "focus".

Proposed disk/partition structure -

Recommendation - Remove all external disks except the one you plan to use - this should make disk selection easier.

     - command

     - output

 list disk  - use this command to list all available disks.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 238 GB 0 B * Disk 1 Online 111 GB 0 B

 select disk #  - select the disk from the list using the syntax select disk # (e.g. select disk 1). Size or other attributes should help to identify it.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> select disk 1 Disk 1 is now the selected disk. DISKPART>

 detail disk  - use this command to check that you have selected the correct disk. You can see from the output below that the disk Type: is USB, indicating that it's an external disk connected via the USB interface (the internal disk is likely to be Type: SATA).
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> detail disk Integral Portable SSD 3.0 SCSI Disk Device Disk ID: FABB8319 Type : USB Status : Online Path : 0 Target : 0 LUN ID : 0 Location Path : UNAVAILABLE Current Read-only State : No Read-only : No Boot Disk : No Pagefile Disk : No Hibernation File Disk : No Crashdump Disk : No Clustered Disk : No There are no volumes. Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- Volume 3 E NTFS Partition 111 GB DISKPART>

 clean  - run this command when you are confident that you have selected the correct disk. This command will write zeros to a small part of the disk, removing the partition table. Alternatively, run the command clean all to write zeros to the whole disk - securely erasing all data. Be aware that running the clean all command can take hours depending on the size of the disk and USB speed.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> clean DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk. DISKPART>

 convert mbr  - ensure that the disk type is MBR (Master Boot Record). Windows will boot from an MBR type disk on UEFI systems as long as there is a partition with EFI boot files. Filesystem support varies between systems and manufacturers. A FAT32 partition should be supported on all systems in order to meet the UEFI specifications.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> convert mbr DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to MBR format. DISKPART>

 create partition primary size=1024  - create a partition with a size of 1024 MiB / 1 GiB (this should be large enough for the boot files and WinPE - adjust size as required).
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> create partition primary size=1024 DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DISKPART>

 active  - mark the partition as active / bootable. This is not required if booting on UEFI firmware, but is required if booting on BIOS systems and UEFI in compatibility mode (CSM).
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> active DiskPart marked the current partition as active. DISKPART>

 format fs=fat32 label=SSD1 quick  - format using the FAT32 filesystem. This should make the disk compatible on systems with UEFI or BIOS firmware. Edit the label as required.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> format fs=fat32 label=SSD1 quick 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DISKPART>

 assign letter=r  - mount the partition as drive/volume R:\.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> assign letter=r DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DISKPART>

 create partition primary  - create another partition. As the size is not specified, it will span the rest of the disk.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> create partition primary DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DISKPART>

 format fs=ntfs label=SSD2 quick  - format using the NTFS filesystem. Edit the label as required.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> format fs=ntfs label=SSD4 quick 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DISKPART>

 assign letter=s  - mount the partition as drive/volume S:\.
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> assign letter=s DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DISKPART>

 list partition .
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 DISKPART> list partition Partition ### Type Size Offset ------------- ---------------- ------- ------- Partition 1 Primary 1024 MB 1024 KB Partition 2 Primary 110 GB 1025 MB

Diskpart can be scripted. The following is a script file to automate the commands listed above (replace "select disk #" with the correct disk number) -
select disk # clean convert mbr create partition primary size=1024 active format fs=fat32 label=SSD1 quick assign letter=r create partition primary format fs=ntfs label=SSD2 quick assign letter=s

Save as D:\walkthrough2.txt and then run the following command from an elevated command prompt (run as Administrator). Adjust path and filename as required -
DiskPart /S D:\walkthrough2.txt

Output from running the command DiskPart /S D:\walkthrough2.txt
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: X260 Disk 1 is now the selected disk. DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk. DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to MBR format. DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DiskPart marked the current partition as active. 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

Document date - 6^th July 2022