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WinToUSB is a free lightweight application that allows you to install and run a fully functional version of Microsoft Windows on an external hard drive, USB drive, or Thunderbolt drive. The Windows To USB software uses an ISO file or installation CD to create portable version of Windows 10/8/7 which you can use on any other computer with a boot drive.

Is WinToUSB free?

WinToUSB (also called Windows To USB) is a completely free Windows To Go application. Professional paid versions are also available.

With this program, you can turn an external drive into a Windows installation source instead of using a physical drive. Having created Windows To Go workspace, you can boot into a familiar system environment, as well as access data from an external USB drive on any PC. External drives must be certified by Microsoft as compatible.

Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education. It was designed to allow enterprise administrators to provide users with a figurative version of Windows that mirrors the corporate desktop. Microsoft stopped development of Windows To Go in 2019 and as of May 2020 it is no longer available on Windows 10 (version 2004).

As well as creating a figurative version of Windows, WinToUSB is useful if you want to run Windows on a non-Windows computer (such as a Mac) or create a test environment to run diagnostics. This is an easy way to keep the Windows Installer on an external source so you always have it with you. You just need to copy it to a removable drive and paste it into any computer.

What’s great about WinToUSB is that you don’t need to install WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) or WADK (Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit). You can use any edition Windows 10/8/7 and Windows Server 2019/2016/2012/2010 to create a Windows To Go USB drive.

Is WinToUSB secure?

When booting from a trusted source, WinToUSB is safe program which many people use to install WinPE/Windows on external hard drives. However, it is important that you make the right moves when using this program, so as not to damage the system during the installation process.

It should be noted that Windows 7/2008 R2 is not fully portable and you may experience activation and driver issues when booting on different computers. Windows 7 also doesn’t have native USB 3.0 support, so you’ll have to boot from a USB 2.0 port.

Alternatives to WinToUSB include Rufus, a free crowdsourced resource for making bootable USBs. Meanwhile, with WinUSB, you can create multi-boot Windows USB sticks in just three steps.

How can I use WinToUSB for free?

WinToUSB has easy to use wizard interface which gives you step by step instructions on how to install Windows/WinPE on an external hard drive. Using a regular flash drive or USB drive to create a portable version of Windows will take a long time, so it is recommended that you use an external hard drive to create Windows To Go. You must also be administrator on the computer where you are going to install WinToUSB.

After the free installation of WinToUSB, insert the external drive of your choice and launch WinToUSB. Click the folder button at the top of the main interface and select Windows installation ISO files. WinToUSB will scan content all operating systems in the ISO file.

Select the ISO file you want to install and click Next before selecting the target USB (then click Next). A pop-up window will tell you that the USB drive needs to be formatted. Make sure you’ve created a USB backup, select a partition scheme, and click Yes. From here, simply follow the rest of the on-screen instructions.

Simple and effective Windows cloner

Using WinToUSB to Clone Windows easy and efficient – In just a few easy steps, you can create your first portable Windows 10/8/7 directly from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD, VHDX or CD/DVD drive image file. You can also use it to clone an existing Windows OS installation (Windows 7 or later) to a USB stick or Thunderbolt drive as a portable Windows.

The main disadvantage of WinToUSB is that the Windows To Go feature no longer supported by Microsoft. This means it doesn’t have feature updates to help it stay up to date. Windows To Go also requires a specific type of USB that is no longer supported.