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Community => Science and Technology => Topic started by: The Illusive Man on June 24, 2012, 10:25:02 pm

Title: PWboot is awesome
Post by: The Illusive Man on June 24, 2012, 10:25:02 pm

Now here is something that truly deserves attention. It is entirely possible to boot Windows 7, 8 and Server 2008 from external USB device. You do not need to use a .VHD file though you can.

No link because it probably is illegal. :( The following is a copy from the original thread post, I have added some info though!

Quote

What is PWBoot project ?
PWBoot stands for Portable Windows Boot project, this project aims to be make your Windows operating system to boot from USB storage media easily.

Tested storage list
USB Flash
Kingston DataTraveler 100 (8GB)
Sandisk Cruzer Extreme (16GB)
Apacer Handy Steno AH328 (8GB)
USB HDD
Standard 2.5 inch IDE HDD (60GB)
Standard 2.5 inch SATA HDD (120GB)
Standard 3.5 inch IDE HDD (40GB)
Seagate FreeAgent Go (320GB)
Seagate Goflex (1TB)


Supported boot methods
Virtual hard disk (VHD)
Windows 7 (Ultimate, Enterprise)
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 8

Physical drive (Native)
Windows Vista
Windows Server 2008
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 8

Important!
You do not have to use other USB booting program such as USB Watcher.
Remember to re-patch after a new service pack updates installed.

Optimization Tips
Use HDD instead of FDD.
Turn off indexing service.
Use DiskMod for enable pagefile on USB (Windows 7+).
Defragment the disk.
NTFS compression.

Interesting info:

• Whole disk / full disk  encryption works so long as alterations to a MBR are not required and the boot partition (win 7, 8, server(?)) are not encrypted. This is why PGP whole disk encryption does not work :(. Truecrypt whole disk / full disk encryption works though! (http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=system-encryption)
• This even works if your BIOS/EFI/ect are corrupted or locked, as you can use Plop boot loader (http://www.plop.at/) to boot it or the operating system(s) on the internal hard disks(s).
• It is actually possible to run a full blown VM from VMWare/VirtualBox/Ect installed on the external HD operating system. Just do not connect the external HD to the VM, because that would be stupid. With the right drivers hardware acceleration is possible, also ssssllllllooooooowwwwwww.
• The same thing for video games