Yes, I understand that it's not a full Windows installation.
I was just asking if I could select the boot volume if my system drive died.
I think you answered that: the boot order selection in the BIOS can accomplish this.
Thank you.
Boot from rescue media (Windows PE on USB drive) if system drive has failed?
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Anonymous
This is probably a dumb question, but...can you boot a PC from rescue media on a USB drive (Windows PE) if the main system drive has totally failed i.e. hardware failure? I wasn't sure if the boot menu is on the system drive or in the BIOS.
Also, can you use an external USB HDD as recue media? I use the kind where you dock a internal SATA into an external dock. If you change which dock the drive is in, will it still be bootable?
Thanks for your help, sorry for the newbie questions.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures
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Anonymous
2022-09-02T08:35:51+00:00 -
Anonymous
2022-09-02T06:48:09+00:00 Hi Cinerobert
The only bootable PE disks I know of are the 3rd party ones like Bart PE... etc. the bootable Windows drives created with the Media Creation tool are not bootable into an operating system.
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Anonymous
2022-09-01T21:41:14+00:00 I think I wasn't clear enough about my question. My apologies. Allow me to try to clarify what I'm asking. Thank you for your patience.
1
If the main system drive fails, you would be unable to boot the PC normally A WinPE drive is used to install, deploy, and repair Windows, it can not be used to boot an operating system from.
I'm not asking about the ability to boot the PC normally. I'm talking about the ability to boot Windows PE from a USB drive. This: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/winpe-create-usb-bootable-drive?view=windows-11 I understand that Windows PE is only for rescue (installation, repair, etc.) and is not a full install of Windows.
My question is whether you can access a menu to select what drive to boot from -- and thus boot from the Windows PE flash drive -- if the system drive that contains Windows is dead (hardware failure). Is the menu to select the boot disk in the BIOS/UEFI, or is it part of Windows?
2
If you create a bootable Windows 10 disk on an External USB drive all data on that drive would be deleted and a 32GB partition is created on that drive, you risk loosing all the files on that drive.
I understand that the drive will be wiped. I want an external HDD completely dedicated to a Windows PE install. My question is whether it will be bootable; does a Windows PE rescue drive have to be a flash drive, or will an external HDD work?
3
Windows cannot be installed and run from an external USB drive, Microsoft removed the option for Windows To Go a couple of years ago.So, basically if the Windows system drive fails, you would need to replace the drive and clean install Windows on the new drive from a bootable USB flash drive.
Right. I'm not trying to run a full install of Windows from a USB drive. I'm talking about a bootable Windows PE drive, and whether it's possible to select it as the boot drive if the main system drive is toast. Thanks again for bearing with me here. Written communication can be tricky.
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Anonymous
2022-09-01T19:56:04+00:00 Hi Cinerobert
I am Dave, I will help you with this.
1
If the main system drive fails, you would be unable to boot the PC normally
A WinPE drive is used to install, deploy, and repair Windows, it can not be used to boot an operating system from.
2
If you create a bootable Windows 10 disk on an External USB drive all data on that drive would be deleted and a 32GB partition is created on that drive, you risk loosing all the files on that drive.
3
Windows cannot be installed and run from an external USB drive, Microsoft removed the option for Windows To Go a couple of years ago.
So, basically if the Windows system drive fails, you would need to replace the drive and clean install Windows on the new drive from a bootable USB flash drive.