I'm a Windows 10 and Linux user. I'm familiar with installing and running Linux operating system from an external hard drive, which is very useful to me. I know the advantages of the portable operating system, so I've always wanted to be able to create a portable Windows 10 operating system. Is there any way to install and run Windows 10 from an external hard drive?
As we all know, Linux can be easily installed and run from an external hard drive as portable Linux OS. The portable Linux OS is very useful, because we can take it anywhere and use it on different computers. But for users accustomed to using Windows, Linux is not easy to use and has some functional limitations, so many Windows users want to be able to install Windows on an external hard drive. Here we'll show you how to install and run Windows 10 from an external hard drive with WinToUSB.
Step 1. Connect the USB drive to the computer, then run WinToUSB.
Step 2. Click the 
button, then click the 
button and select the Windows 10 installation ISO file from the open dialog box.
Step 3. WinToUSB scans for and lists installable operating systems in the Windows 10 installation ISO. Please select the edition of Windows you want to install, then click "Next".
Step 4. Select the destination USB drive in the drop-down list. If the USB drive is not correctly recognized by WinToUSB, you need to click the 
button for the program to recognize the USB drive.
Step 5. A pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, select the partition scheme you want to use and click "Yes" to format it. If you choose "Keep the existing partition scheme", you need to manually prepare the partitions on the USB drive before this step, and here is the user guide on how to manually prepare partitions for Windows To Go. Please note that the "Keep the existing partition scheme" option is valid only for an external disk.
Step 6. Select the system partition and boot partition from the partition list, the selected partitions will be marked as red, then click "Next".
Step 7. After clicking "Next", WinToUSB begins installing Windows 10 to the USB drive.
Step 8. It takes some time to install. After installation restart the computer and change BIOS to boot from your USB drive.
Step 9. Windows 10 normal installation starts up and you have to complete all the installation steps. After that, you can install programs, copy files, etc.
Follow these simple steps, you can install and run Windows 10 from an external hard drive easily.
