"This feature is not available in a portable workstation environment." error

Question

After cloning Windows 10 to an SSD, Windows 10 keeps opening dialog boxes with the message "This feature is not available in a portable workstation environment".

They also appear when I try to use "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)" or change any option.

I've tried several suggestions but to no avail (1)(2)(3).

What didn't work:

• Disabling Windows Backup Service (SDRSVC) and restarting.
• dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
• dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
• dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup
• sfc /scannow
• Looking for malware.

Solution

For some reason, this behavior is due to connecting the old drive thru a USB disk case after booting the cloned one. Maybe a signature disk collision, that Windows 10 resolves identifying the system as "Windows To Go", hence portable.

Finally, I found a page that referenced a page that referenced a page that referenced the solution.

You must change certain registry value. You can open regedit.exe and navigate to the proper value or just run, as admin:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control /v PortableOperatingSystem /t REG_DWORD /d 0