If the drive is not inserted in that time-frame, the computer shuts down to prevent possible confidential or sensitive information being displayed on the screen or stored in RAM. Windows To Go has several significant differences compared to a standard installation of Windows 8 on a non-removable storage (such as hard disk drives or solid-state drives).ĭrive removal detection As a safety measure designed to prevent data loss, Windows pauses the entire system if the USB drive is removed, and resumes operation immediately when the drive is inserted within 60 seconds of removal.

In September 2011, Microsoft officially announced Windows To Go at the Build conference, and distributed bootable 32 GB USB flash drives with Windows To Go pre-installed. In April 2011, after the leak of Windows 8 build 7850, some users noticed that those builds included a program called 'Portable Workspace Creator', indicating it was intended to create bootable USB drives of Windows 8. History īefore Windows 8, only embedded versions of Windows, such as Windows Embedded Standard 7, supported booting from USB storage devices. Although creation of Windows To Go drives was not officially supported by non-Enterprise (or Education) editions of Windows 8.x and 10, some information has been published describing various ways to install Windows To Go using any edition of Windows 8.x and 10 and any bootable USB device. It was intended to allow enterprise administrators to provide users with an imaged version of Windows that reflects the corporate desktop. The development of Windows To Go was discontinued by Microsoft in 2019, and is no longer available in Windows 10 as of the May 2020 update (version 2004). It is a fully manageable corporate Windows environment.

Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Education and Windows 10 Enterprise versions prior to the May 2020 update, that allows the system to boot and run from certain USB mass storage devices such as USB flash drives and external hard disk drives which have been certified by Microsoft as compatible. Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (before version 2004)

A USB flash drive offered by Microsoft at the 2011 Build conference, with Windows To Go pre-installed

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