I have a Debian laptop that I use for most things and a Windows 11 laptop that only gets powered on when I need to use the Lockdown Browser for my weekly quiz.
Is there such thing as having a full Windows 11 installation on a thumb drive that I can save things on? I need to be able to save files and the Lockdown Browser on it. And finally of course the Lockdown Browser must work when I use it as well. Is there such thing as that? Is there a reputable place where I can buy one so that I don’t waste many hours and probably fail trying to make one myself? Thanks in advance.
You can create a Windows To Go drive with Rufus.
There’s no Microsoft official way to do that.
But unofficially - Use Rufus to install Windows To Go on your USB drive with your Windows 11 ISO.
Microsoft discontinued Windows To Go in 2019 so in theory a future Windows update could break those type of installs but for now they still seem to work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go
PS - If Lockdown Browser works in a virtual machine environment maybe you also have the option of installing Windows 11 in QEMU + Virt-Manager and just running a Windows VM that way. Works great under Debian.EDIT: Doing a quick search it looks like Lockdown Browser actually tries to check for virtual machine usage, ugh. Guess they really want you to run a physicial system for that :/ https://support.respondus.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409604116123-I-receive-a-warning-The-browser-cant-be-used-in-virtual-machine-software-such-as-Virtual-PC-VMWare-and-Parallels
Technically possible? Yes. Will Windows installer let you do it? No.
I did it recently because it was only way to update my Lenovo Legion BIOS. I bought an SSD on a stick, so it is a fully accelerated windows to go installed via Rufus.
The main problem with USB drive setups is the xfer speed of SDRAM, so I suggest you go for an SSD stick.
Yes, it’s called Windows Portable.
I’ve done it. I use it maybe once a year to play Fortnite with my buddies when I LAN.
Windows To Go has been depricated and is no longer available for Windows 11. The normal installer won’t let you install on a USB drive. The only option is to use DISM and deploy a Windows image (wim file) to your drive.
Rufus still lets you create Windows To Go installations on a USB drive. (unsupported by Microsoft as you mentioned)
I am curious about your DISM approach, are you just applying the Windows install image onto the USB? Or are you doing it the long way by imaging a normally installed Windows system first? I am very familiar with DISM but never tried applying an entire usable Windows install onto a USB drive that way.
As long as it’s partitioned the right way, you can use DISM to apply an image to any kind of disk ;)
I know Hasleo WinToUSB allows you to install Windows on a USB stick. I have personally tested it with Windows 10 and it worked well, but I have not tested it with Windows 11 (but they claim that it works) or Lockdown Browser. You can try their free version which has manual partitioning and BitLocker behind a paywall.
I’ve always wondered about that, since in theory you can flip the removable bit on some of the USB flash media out there. Is that enough to trick the Windows installer? I don’t know.
Last I did this it was with an external hard drive. First via USB with changed boot order and later on with a Thunderbolt Samsung X5 drive which is considered “second internal drive” for performance reasons.
Winboat gives you a full Win11 Desktop under Linux. It takes some beefy Hardware and I don’t know about lockdown browser
