How to clone Boot Camp Windows to USB drive as portable Windows?

Updated on June 9, 2023 by Admin to Windows To Go for Mac

I have to say that Mac computers are very good and popular computers, with beautiful shapes and very good performance. The only regret is that its internal SSD drive is usually relatively small, this problem is particularly prominent for users who need to use both MacOS and Windows on the same Mac computer. After we used Boot Camp to install Windows on a Mac computer, the available storage space on the internal SSD became insufficient, which prevented us from installing some large software, such as game software and some professional software, so many users want to be able to transfer Boot Camp Windows to a USB drive. Below we will tech you how to clone Windows on Mac Boot Camp partition to a USB drive as portable Windows, then you can boot Windows from the USB drive on Mac computers and then install large Windows games and professional software.

 

Tutorial to use Hasleo WinToUSB to clone Boot Camp Windows to USB drive as portable Windows.

Step 1. Power on your Mac computer and start Windows from the Boot Camp partition, connect the USB drive to the Mac computer. Download, install and run Hasleo WinToUSB, then click the "Windows To Go USB".

Click Windows To Go creator

Step 2. Click "Select installation source" and then select "Current Windows OS" from the list that pops up.

Select installation source for Windows To Go

Step 3. Click "Select destination drive" and select the destination drive from the pop-up drive list.

Select destination drive

Step 4. Choose the partition scheme and installation mode you want to use, and you can specify additional drivers or enable BitLocker to encrypt the Windows To Go external hard drive according to your needs, then click "Proceed".

Select partition scheme and installation mode

* Tips:

  1. Mac computers are (U)EFI-based computers, so you should select the "GPT for UEFI" or "MBR For BIOS and UEFI" partitioning scheme, or use a custom partition scheme that supports UEFI booting.
  2. For more detailed information about "Partition scheme", "Installation mode" and "Enable BitLocker", please refer to: How to clone existing Windows to USB drive as a Windows To Go Workspace?

Step 5. After clicking "Proceed", a pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, click "Yes" if you are sure.

The drive needs to be formatted prompt

Step 6. After clicking "Yes", WinToUSB begins cloning Windows to the destination drive. The time required for cloning is related to the size of the data to be cloned.

cloning Windows to USB

Step 7. Wait for the clone operation to complete. After the clone is successfully completed, restart the Mac computer and then immediately hold down the Option key, then select the USB drive and press Return to boot from it.

Conclusion

As stated above, follow these simple steps, you can easily clone Boot Camp Windows Windows to USB drive as portable Windows, whether you're using Windows 8/10/11 Home, Professional or enterprise. And you can use this portable Windows not only on Mac computers, but also on other Windows computers.

In addition, you can install Windows to a USB drive directly from a Windows installation ISO file and then run Windows from the USB drive on your Mac computer.

 

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