Booting Windows 11 from VHD on USB stick using Ventoy

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I have done it and it is fine (all based on MBR).
I created VHD on my main pc, applied W11 image with DISM++, booted (still on pc) and updated, transferred to usb drive

 

Don't complicate your life using unneeded tools

No need to use either virtualbox or ventoy

Just create a vhdx (better/safer than vhd) inside the pendrive from the disk manager (or using diskpart)

deploy your image using dism /apply-image or (better) wimlib-imagex.exe apply
(or imagex or gimagex)

double click on the vhdx to mount it and install the bootloader using bcdboot

done! (in like 5/10 minutes if your pendrive is fast)

P.S. if you use wimlib-imagex.exe apply you can use the switch --compact=LZX to have the space taken cut in half, and also a faster OS on slower media

 

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For sure is not an improvement.

• A native vhdx, works everywhere (usb, hdd, ssd, no matter if mbr or guid paritions)

• A native vhd(x) requires no installation other than a single bcd command (or a couple of clicks using bootice or easybcd)

• You can have an huge amount of multiple boot options, with each OS requiring a single copy operation + a single command to add it to the boot menu.

• WtoGO is retired and was not available on many windows flavours, while even Win2k, XP and Vista can be used as native vhds as well (using grub4dos and the SVbus driver).

• Never tried myself but I think even dos and win3/win9x may work using grub4dos

• In short you can have the whole windows history in your pocket, you can have the whole windows history in your HDD/SSD w/o having to mess with partitions

• Each OS is a single file, so you can move it from one machine to another or from usb to hdd (and viceversa) with a single copy operation, you can forget crap like macrium reflect, and any backup sw. You can also forget setup.exe and Installation ISOs

• VHDXs are natively supported on HV, Qemu and usable in VMware (w/o conversion), VHDs are natively supported on HV and VBOX, and usable in VMware, so you can boot any native OS, inside practically any Virtualizzation SW using like 5 mouse clicks.

I think I can continue for a day, but I was already long winded...

 

very useful switch. thanks ( I need it for something else. )

 

Interesting. For my use case I don't think I would get much out of that. All I want is a removable drive that is the OS so if the laptop were stolen or tampered with, they get nothing.

If I was still actively doing IT I think I like your idea a lot. It would be handy to have a bunch of fully functional OSs on a single flash drive.

 

Well... aside that, usually, people tend to place the removable drives inside the same bag used to transport the notebook, so if the PC is stolen the external drives are stolen as well, what I do usually is to have a the OSes inside small VHDs where I have installed all the SW i need that requires an installation, then most of the user's profile folders placed outside it, in a common place (it could be the real partition no matter if on the physical disk or on an external media), hence all OSes will fit in less than 10GB VHDs (for AMD64) or even less than 5GB (for x86).

All multiple boot OSes will see the same data stored in the same place (that can be even encrypted and can really prevent unauthorized access in case of the PC bag is stolen).

In short this way is so convenient, safe, fast (and adaptable to different needs, with few changes) that I never used again any "normal" installation inside a partition on physical disk, since I discovered what a native VHD is, a decade ago.

From the it technician point of view it's even better. It not just allows to be used like a Linux live distro, to solve problems.

It's also a way to "install" a new system on a random PC. All you have to do is to keep a virgin VHDX on your pendrive (what you get after the DISM /apply-image step). Copy that file on client's PC, and add it to the bootloader.

5/10 minutes spent instead of an hour or so....

 

I forgot to say that a further advantage of the method, is that you don't need any workaround to put W11 on older machines. (checks are done by setup.exe which is not used here)

 

Can i create a vhdx starting from any windows iso even without boot.wim inside the iso ?

 

ISOs are useless in 2024, you need the just install.wim (or install.esd) to deploy a fresh install.

For in place upgrades the setup.exe and the installation folder is still needed. But in that case you dont need a ISO either, you need just the installation files from placed somewhere

 

OK i will open a new post request under windows