How Windows To Go uses step-by-step guides

Windows To Go is a technology built into Windows 8 Enterprise that enables Windows 8 to be enabled and run by USB memory.

The following is a small series of personal test to test Windows to Go, the following specific process and installation experience for everyone to share.

Windows To Go Using the Step-by-Step Guide

1 Select the appropriate USB stick and start installing Windows To Go. Microsoft recommends using a USB 3.0 USB stick and has certified some products.

2 Windows To Go will scan the local drive and find the appropriate Windows image —— or you can manually connect to an image file.

3 Now you are ready to create a Windows To Go USB stick. Select a USB stick and an image, then click to start creating a Windows To Go disk.

4 Encrypt Windows To Go USB with BitLocker. Although this step is optional, it can be skipped, but we highly recommend it. Just type your password.

5 This step is not just to format a USB stick, but also to partition it, just like a full Windows installation. USB flash drives also have a recovery partition.

6 Now you are ready to install Win 8. This step takes the longest time.

7 After the USB flash drive is ready, you can choose whether to enable the PC to boot from the USB device later.

Windows To Go's shortcomings

Windows To Go has a drawback, that is, USB flash drives are easy to lose, even Microsoft's recommended large USB 3.0 USB flash drive is the same. However, encrypting Windows To Go USB flash drives with Microsoft's full disk encryption tool BitLocker is also very easy. When you create a Windows To Go USB stick, make sure BitLocker is on. We recommend that you use BitLocker because it will make you feel safe and secure, because all your sensitive data is protected —— this is especially important when you are bound by business rules.

Windows To Go is one of the components of Win 8 Enterprise and is only available to organizations that participate in the Microsoft Software Assurance program. While the tools for creating Windows To Go images are the same tools for creating and managing installation images, using Win 8 Enterprise to create Windows To Go USB drives is quick and easy —— you can even let users run the wizard themselves.

Creating a Windows To Go USB flash drive with Win 8 Enterprise is very simple. First prepare an image and open the Windows To Go wizard. You need a high-speed USB flash drive with a capacity of at least 32GB (Microsoft has certified some USB flash drives and recommends USB 3.0 USB flash drives because of their higher quality flash memory). After selecting the Windows To Go USB stick, you need to select an image and then start the process. The target USB stick will be reformatted and you can protect it with BitLocker. The installation process takes about 10 minutes and it will ask if you want to reconfigure this PC so that it will boot directly from the USB.