Can I boot from a Windows 11 Storage Space?

Michel Streurman 0 Reputation points
2023-10-25T16:40:06.3633333+00:00

I have created a multiple disk storage space and now am considering doing a clean install of Windows 11 onto my computer, now I am wondering, as I have set up the storage space if it would be possible to actually boot from it.
If not, would it be possible to put the bootloader and just enough of the boot-process onto a separate drive, I have an old 16GB SATA SSD (yes I know) that is in fully working order with 98% health that I could add into the mix to at least boot.

Windows 11
Windows 11
A Microsoft operating system designed for productivity, creativity, and ease of use.
8,989 questions
0 comments No comments
{count} votes

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. S.Sengupta 17,311 Reputation points MVP
    2023-10-26T00:35:58.0566667+00:00

    To install and boot from Windows 11, you typically need to install it on a single physical drive, such as an SSD or HDD.

    You can use Storage Spaces to manage your data drives after the operating system is installed, but it cannot be used as a boot drive.

    0 comments No comments

  2. Bernhard Enders 0 Reputation points
    2024-04-19T12:43:39.7666667+00:00

    It's simply unbelievable that Microsoft allows us to install Windows 11 on a (storage spaces) pool partition if we can't boot from it, just waste of time!
    It is also difficult to believe that even today (04/2024) it is not possible to use any kind of OS software RAID (except RAID1, I suppose) to install the OS and boot from it (I'm not talking about motherboard software RAID). With Linux, for example, we have several options for software RAID during install: btrfs, zfs, md arrays etc... Those options, in general, does not impact 4K Q1T1 read performance of Optane drives like hardware RAID does...

    0 comments No comments