How to create Windows 11/10/8/7 (X64/X86/ARM64) To Go from a CD/DVD drive?

If you have a Windows installation CD/DVD, you can use WinToUSB to install Windows on your USB or Thunderbolt drive as a Windows To Go workspace. This guide focuses on how to create Windows To Go from a CD/DVD drive, so please read this guide carefully before creating Windows To Go.

Before you begin

Before creating a Windows To Go USB drive from a CD/DVD, make sure your computer has a working CD/DVD drive and a USB flash drive or Thunderbolt drive with at least 32 GB of storage space. For the best performance, use a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt drive with fast read and write speeds. Also ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Hasleo WinToUSB from the official website. A Windows To Go workspace lets you carry your personalized Windows environment in your pocket and boot it on different computers without affecting the host system.

Tutorial to create Windows 11/10/8/7 (X64/X86/ARM64) To Go from a CD/DVD drive 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. Insert the Windows installation CD/DVD into your CD/DVD drive, once the CD/DVD is being detected in Windows, click "Select installation source", then select the CD/DVD drive 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.

* Enable support for 'Windows UEFI CA 2023': This allows you to Create a Windows To Go USB drive compliant with the Microsoft UEFI CA 2023 secure standard to pass Secure Boot on computers that only trust the new certificate.

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

* Create a local account with username: This allows you to specify a Windows local account name, and Windows Setup will automatically create a Windows local account for Windows To Go using that name.

* Disable OOBE privacy/data collection: This allows you to create a Windows To Go USB drive with OOBE privacy/data collection disabled.

* Use the current user's time zone and region settings: This allows you to create a Windows To Go USB drive with the current user's time zone and region settings.

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 install Windows OS to USB or Thunderbolt drive from a CD/DVD drive with WinToUSB easily. As a professional portable Windows creation tool, with it you can create portable Windows from an ISO, WIM, VHD(X) or DBI (DBI is the extension of the backup image file produced by Hasleo Backup Suite) files, and clone the currently running Windows to a USB drive as Windows To Go.

Creating a Windows To Go workspace from a CD/DVD drive is particularly useful when you do not have a Windows installation ISO file but have a physical installation disc. This method works with all supported Windows versions including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7 across X64, X86, and ARM64 architectures. For the best experience, we recommend using a high-quality USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt drive and always keeping your WinToUSB software up to date.