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Windows10 install to USB device: is it possible?
#1
Lightbulb 
I need to install Windows10 to a USB device so I may update my BIOS. (I also have an external HDD to try but I've heard it doesn't work when you try it)

I don't have any current Windows installs on HDD or SSD to run the BIOS update from, and my internal HDD doesn't work anymore, just throws up I/O errors. I've tried swapping HDDs but they all fail with I/O errors, too.

I tried (without Ventoy) to use both Win7 and Vista official install media but it would not allow me to install to a USB device. I don't understand why Microsoft has to be so retarded with this.

I cannot perform the BIOS update from my Linux installs, my system is unsupported for this. Nor am I going to try booting from FreeDOS which is suggested on some websites as a possible alternative for a BIOS update.

The only workaround I've tried is booting a Windows Vista 32 bit installation CD (not with Ventoy) and going into repair mode and getting access to a terminal prompt. From there, I received an error message, "oledlg.dll not found" when I typed in the name of the BIOS updater program and pressed Enter. Trying this with 64bit media such as Vista/7 throws up the following error, "The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present." But at least I see a quick extraction animation when I use 32 bit media, prior to the dll not found message.

My BIOS is very limited and does not offer a boot to BIOS update section like some motherboards do, so I'm screwed there. It is legacy bios from several years ago, prior to the UEFI.

I have separate rescue media DVDs but they will not install to a HDD which does not work. I haven't tried running the 1st recovery media to try and install to USB, I imagine that it won't.

So, my only option, I suppose, is trying to install Win10 to USB or external HDD using Ventoy. The only reason I haven't tried it yet is because I wanted feedback from the community prior to downloading several gigs of data.

Any advice?
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#2
Just use a WinPE iso like:
https://sergeistrelec.ru/winpe-10-8-serg...rsion.html
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#3
I suggest you to deploy windows on SSD with the software windows_to_go_assist_5590.
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#4
You can try booting to a HBCD PE ISO from Ventoy.
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
or make an Easy2Boot USB drive and then copy on the DOS flash program and BIOS files to a folder named \FLASH on the root of the first partition NTFS drive.
Then Legacy-boot to E2B - go to DOS menu and select 'FreeDOS (from a floppy image)). Now you can navigate to the FLASH folder and run the DOS flash program
cd \FLASH
dir
https://easy2boot.xyz/create-your-websit...eedos-etc/
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#5
You could also check the following thread (https://forums.ventoy.net/showthread.php?tid=370), where detailed instructions for creating a Windows To Go setup from Linux with the help of VirtualBox are available.
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