How to create portable Windows 11/10/8/7 from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD(X) or DBI file?

If you have a Windows 7/Server 2008 or later installation ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, a VHD(X) file which have Windows 7/Server 2008 or later Windows OS installed, or a Windows system backup file (DBI) produced by Hasleo Backup Suite, you can use Hasleo WinToUSB to install Windows to USB or Thunderbolt drive as portable Windows, then you can carry this portable Windows to anywhere and use it on any computer. This guide focuses on how to create Windows To Go from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD, VHDX, DBI file, so please read this guide carefully before creating Windows To Go.

Tutorial to create portable Windows 11/10/8/7 from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD(X) or DBI file with Hasleo WinToUSB.

Step 1. Connect the USB or Thunderbolt drive to the computer, download, install and run Hasleo WinToUSB and then click the "Windows To Go USB".

Step 2. Click "Select installation source", then click "Browse image file" and select the Windows installation image file from the open dialog box as installation source.

Step 3. Hasleo WinToUSB scans for and lists installable operating systems, select the edition of Windows you want to install.

Step 4. Click "Select destination drive" and select the destination drive from the pop-up drive list. If the drive is not correctly recognized by Hasleo WinToUSB, you can click the button for the program to recognize the drive.

Step 5. Choose the partition scheme and installation mode according to your needs.

* Partition scheme:

1. MBR for BIOS: This option creates a Windows To Go USB that can only be booted on BIOS computers.
2. GPT for UEFI: This option creates a Windows To Go USB that can only be booted on UEFI computers.
3. MBR for BIOS and UEFI: This option creates a Windows To Go USB that can be booted on both BIOS and UEFI computers.
4. Keep the existing partition scheme: This option allows you to manually prepare the partitions on the drive, and here is the user guide on how to manually prepare partitions for Windows To Go. And please note that the "Keep the existing partition scheme" option is only available for Windows 10 1709 and later Windows OSs when using a USB flash drive to create Windows To Go.

* Installation mode:

1. The Legacy mode is the best choice if you are using an external drive to create Windows To Go, it has the best performance.
2. The VHD/VHDX mode is the best choice if you are using a USB flash drive to create Windows To Go, because from our tests and user feedback, the VHD/VHDX mode has best compatibility when using a USB flash drive to create Windows To Go. The VHDX is a new VHD format for Windows 8 or later Windows OS, so if you want to create a Windows 11/10/8 To Go USB flash drive, we recommend using VHDX.

* Enable BitLocker:

1. Check the "Enable BitLocker" checkbox to encrypt the Windows To Go drive with BitLocker, you need to enter the password and select the encryption mode and encryption strength you need.
2. If "Enable BitLocker" checkbox is checked, the first startup time of Windows will become longer because it will take some time to complete the encryption operation, so please be patient.

* Additional drivers:

1. The "Additional drivers" option allows us to inject additional drivers into Windows when creating Windows To Go, which is particularly important when we have to rely on hardware drivers to complete the Windows installation, such as creating Windows To Go for Mac computers.
2. The directory of the additional drivers you specify should only contain drivers that need to be injected into Windows. If this directory contains too many useless files, the process of injecting drivers will become very slow.
3. The "Additional drivers" option is not available when the version number of the Windows to be installed is greater than the version number of the currently running Windows operating system.

* Offline internal disks when booting into Windows To Go: All internal disks will be offline by default after booting into Windows To Go with this option checked, and you will need to manually bring the internal disks online to access them.

* Bypass Microsoft account requirements: This allows you to to create a Windows 11 To Go USB drive that can bypasses the Microsoft account requirement.

Step 6. After choosing the partition scheme, you can click the button to bring up the Disk Layout window. Here you can adjust the size and location of the partitions as well as set volume labels and other information as needed, and then click "OK" to save the changes.

Step 7. Click "Proceed" when you have completed all the settings, a pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, click "Yes" if you are sure.

Step 8. After clicking "Yes", WinToUSB begins installing Windows to the destination drive.

Step 9. It takes some time to install. After installation restart the computer and change BIOS to boot from your USB or Thunderbolt drive.

Step 10. Windows installation starts up and you have to complete all the installation steps. You will have to boot from your USB or Thunderbolt drive if the Windows Installation restarts the computer.

Conclusion

Follow these simple steps, you can create a Windows bootable USB or Thunderbolt drive from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD, VHDX or DBI file with Hasleo WinToUSB easily.

Please note that Hasleo Backup Suite is a free Windows backup software developed by Hasleo to help users protect data security. You can use it to back up Windows operating systems, disks, partitions and files, so as to reduce or avoid losses caused by file loss.