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Solved Windows To Go on a Surface Pro 3

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WIRM.KJones

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I'm trying to boot from a Windows To Go on my Surface Pro 3. It has worked on my work desktop, however that uses BIOS instead of UEFI. (But I don't really see how that matters, since it'd be vacuous for Microsoft not to allow UEFI systems to be booted up on a Windows To Go workspace.)

On my first attempt, I held the volume down rocker while turning on the surface, then released it when the 'Surface' logo appeared; it didn't work.

My second attempt I changed the UEFI settings to boot from a USB before booting from the SSD, and I disabled secure boot control; it didn't work.

Lastly, in Control Panel, I changed Windows To Go Startup Options to 'Yes; automatically boot your PC from a windows to go workspace', I then restarted using 'Advanced Startup' from the Update and Security tab in settings. From the advanced startup menu, I selected 'Use a device' then 'USB Entry for Windows To Go', it still booted up through the SSD.



Does anyone else have any advice? I've seen some people boot up various Linux OS on a Surface Pro 3 on youtube.com, so it's gotta be possible to use a Windows To Go workstation, right? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Are you using a Windows 2 Go Certified USB Drive? As to boot from a UEFI Firmware the system partition (which is what we boot from) needs to be FAT32.
 
I used AOMEI Partition Assistant Windows To Go Creator, it's analogous to a windows to go certified USB drive.
I realize UEFI system needs fat32 to boot from, but I'm assuming there is some work around, seeing as people have been able to boot Linux on a Surface pro from a USB. But hey, I could be wrong.
 
WIRM.KJones said:
I used AOMEI Partition Assistant Windows To Go Creator, it's analogous to a windows to go certified USB drive.
I realize UEFI system needs fat32 to boot from, but I'm assuming there is some work around, seeing as people have been able to boot Linux on a Surface pro from a USB. But hey, I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
So using the tool make sure BCD and boot.wim are on a small bootable FAT32 Partition and it should work....Ive used Certified Windows 2 Go SUB drives to boot Windows 10 Enterprise on SP3...
 
jnjroach said:
So using the tool make sure BCD and boot.wim are on a small bootable FAT32 Partition and it should work....Ive used Certified Windows 2 Go SUB drives to boot Windows 10 Enterprise on SP3...
Click to expand...
I'll try that out, thanks. If I understand you right, I'll just make a 4gb fat32 bootable partition, next to the bootable ntfs and that'll enable the entire drive to become bootable on a SP3?
 
WIRM.KJones said:
I'll try that out, thanks. If I understand you right, I'll just make a 4gb fat32 bootable partition, next to the bootable ntfs and that'll enable the entire drive to become bootable on a SP3?
Click to expand...
That is typically how it is done...
 
jnjroach said:
That is typically how it is done...
Click to expand...
Okay, so I tried that, and put fat32 partition at the start of my bootable USB. AOMEI Partition Assistant showed that it extracted and put the BCD and boot.wim on the partition, so I'm assumed it did it right. It looked like it booted up all right, but then I got a message that said something like:
'Windows has experienced a problem, please insert your installation media and repair.'
I must have done something wrong, but I figured I should probably remove the fat32 partition, and see if it still works on my desktop computer. Once I removed the fat32 partition, the same message showed up on my desktop. So I cleaned the drive using diskpart.
Luckly I backed up the entire contents of the usb drive before I did anything, so I can start over and try again... but I have an idea: would cloning the entire C: drive of my SP3 onto my USB drive allow me to boot from both BIOS and UEFI systems, or would it be lacking the BCD and boot.wim?
Thanks jnjroach for helping me out though this learning experience. I've learned TONS just from trying to figure this out!
 
WIRM.KJones said:
I used AOMEI Partition Assistant Windows To Go Creator, it's analogous to a windows to go certified USB drive.
I realize UEFI system needs fat32 to boot from, but I'm assuming there is some work around, seeing as people have been able to boot Linux on a Surface pro from a USB. But hey, I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
AOMEI Partition Assistant is not so smooth for new users. I have not used it, but I heard from my colleagues that it is not so simple to be operated by users.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard for Windows - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download

Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard latest version for Windows free. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard latest update: May 17, 2024
download.cnet.com download.cnet.com
The Windows To Go I use comes from this.

8 Best Windows To Go Creator Software 2021 - Easily Create WTG USB Drive

www.uubyte.com
 
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