Can you run Windows off an external SSD via USB-C?

windows-10 external-hard-drive boot-camp usb-c

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This is called Windows To Go, but this is officially only supported for Windows 10 Enterprise edition.

If you use the normal Windows 10 Home or Pro edition, setup a Windows 10 VM (if you are on Mac) and use Rufus to create a Windows To Go drive:

Now boot from that SSD connected via USB(-c) and use Windows.

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Author by

balupton

Before I die, I wish to see everyone enabled to do what they love, share their love with the entire world, and live well. This is a big calling, and I'm chipping away at it steadily. This has worked well for me so far; for several years I was the most active Open-Source developer in Australia and one of the most prolific in the world; my technical projects have been used in some of the world's biggest web-sites/apps (Basecamp, Spotify, Ustream) and by some of the world's biggest companies (Microsoft, Adobe, GitHub, Atlassian), touching their millions of users; my non-technical projects have also seen adoption over the years. The key skill set I've used to accomplish this is my natural ability to quickly understand complex systems and simplify them in disruptive ways, a burning need to do good in the world, and an instinctive tenacity for always finding a way even in the most difficult of situations.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

balupton over 1 year
I have a 2017 Touchbar Macbook Pro, so has 4 USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Rather than running bootcamp and splitting my inbuilt SSD drive into a MacOS partition and a Windows partition, I am considering getting this SATA-to-USB-C combination:
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072R78B6Q/ or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073SBZ8YH/
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0133F30R8/
Or simply a direct USB-C drive:
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078SWJ3CF/
Then to install Windows 10 onto the drive, and boot into it from my Macbook.

Is this possible?
- Tetsujin about 6 years
  
  The Mac wouldn't mind, but Windows doesn't like booting from external drives. You'd need WinToGo
- magicandre1981 about 6 years
  
  have you tried Windows To Go?
balupton about 6 years

Great thank you! I am wondering though... whether or not the sata to usb-c connection will treat the drive more as an internal drive than a usb drive. If not, fair enough.
magicandre1981 about 6 years

I don't have an USB-C cable/enclosure, but normal USB3 one and drive and it is found as USB device.