Fixing Starting Problems Win11 from USB NVMe Drive

Question

Fixing Starting Problems Win11 from USB NVMe Drive

Max G 0

Hello, (sorry for my english)

My Personal Computer:

AMD Ryzen 5600
MSI B550 Gaming Edge WiFi
RX6800

My DELL Precision 3431:

Intel I7 9700

For the following Problem i almost lose my mind:

Its very Important, that i keep the whole Installation of Windows, No new Clean Installation with deleting my Data (because of work requirements)

At work, i have a Dell Precision 3431 PC with Windows 11 on a internal SSD. My Colleague has the same setup, and he removed His Internal SSD and placed it in a UGREEN M.2 USB4 NVMe SSD enclosure. He can Boot as a USB Device on the Dell Hardware. At Homeoffice, He plugs the USB SSD in His private PC and boots this Windows to Work at Home. This all works fine, everytime He Changes the PC, at booting it displays "the Device will Made operational". His PC at Home has also a Intel CPU.

I Try to have the same setup. My USB SSD worked with the dell Hardware fine, it could Boot normally. At Home i booted from my Personal PC, which ended in "The Device will Made operational" and booted fine. Then, when i Return at Work to the dell PC, Its not bootable anymore with a 0xC000001 Error.

I Tried different Setups in BIOS, like only UEFI, deactivate Secure Boot and Fast Boot.

I also tried to rebuild BCD with the Commands, followed up with a Format EFI Partition and complete new building the EFI Partition.

To Check If Its a Hardware Problem (no switching from AMD -> Intel), i brought my private PC to Work and checked the working USB SSD Windows Installation from my Colleague, if It has the same Problem. But His PC booted normally on my AMD Hardware and afterwards normally on the Dell Hardware. So His Installation is working on every Hardware seemlessly.

Now i tried to make an "in placed upgrade" on my Personal AMD PC with a installation media... And now i cannot Boot on the dell PC at all. That is a huge Problem.

Maybe someone can Help me with my Problem to solve this

How can i set the Windows 11 Installation up, so that the SSD Can Boot on Dell and Private PC normally as my friends does?

Thank you

Max

3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

To address the booting issues you're experiencing with your USB NVMe SSD on different hardware setups, here are some steps and considerations:

Ensure Compatibility: Since your colleague's setup works seamlessly, ensure that your USB NVMe SSD is compatible with both systems. Sometimes, specific firmware or BIOS settings can affect booting from USB drives.
BIOS Settings: You've already tried adjusting BIOS settings. Make sure that:
- Secure Boot is disabled.
- Fast Boot is disabled.
- The boot mode is set to UEFI only, as this is typically required for Windows installations.
Rebuild BCD: Since you've attempted to rebuild the Boot Configuration Data (BCD), ensure that you are using the correct commands. You can try the following:
- Boot from a Windows installation media.
- Open Command Prompt and run:
```
     bootrec /fixmbr
     bootrec /fixboot
     bootrec /scanos
     bootrec /rebuildbcd
```
- This should help in recognizing the Windows installation on the USB SSD.
Check EFI Partition: Ensure that the EFI partition is correctly formatted and contains the necessary boot files. You can use Diskpart to check the partition:
- Boot from installation media and open Command Prompt.
- Run:
```
     diskpart
     list disk
     select disk X (where X is your USB SSD)
     list partition
```
- Ensure the EFI partition is formatted as FAT32 and has the boot files.
Windows Installation Media: When performing an in-place upgrade, ensure that the installation media is created correctly and matches the architecture (x64) of your Windows installation. This can sometimes lead to boot issues if there are mismatches.
Driver Issues: Since you're switching between AMD and Intel hardware, ensure that the necessary drivers are installed for both systems. Sometimes, driver incompatibilities can lead to boot failures.
Testing: If possible, test the USB SSD on another system to see if the issue persists. This can help isolate whether the problem lies with the SSD or the specific hardware configurations.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider consulting the manufacturer's documentation for both the Dell and your personal PC, as there may be specific settings or updates required for optimal compatibility.

References:

Answer 2

Aron 7,190 Independent Advisor

Hi Max,

I can see why this situation is a big deal for you, especially since you need to keep your current setup intact for work.

The main issue here is that Windows isn’t fully designed to run like a portable OS across very different hardware.

When you switch between AMD and Intel, Windows tries to reconfigure drivers for storage, chipset, and boot, and sometimes that process breaks the boot files, which is why you’re seeing the 0xC0000001 error.

Let’s start simple: make sure Secure Boot and Fast Boot are off on both machines, confirm the USB enclosure is set to UEFI mode, and check if the EFI partition is still present and healthy.

If it is, you can try rebuilding the boot files using the Windows recovery environment with bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /rebuildbcd.

Before we go deeper, can you tell me if BitLocker is enabled on that drive and whether you’ve already run Sysprep or installed both AMD and Intel chipset drivers?

That will help me figure out the next best step.

Regards,

Aron

Max G 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T14:16:24.4933333+00:00

Hello Aron, Thanks for your Advice!

I will Check If bitlocker ist enabled.

I tried to run sysprep but there we're different Errors, because of Windows Store apps und different Users on the system. I think this ist no Chance because i need to keep the system in placed for the works Network system. At Work we can Go to different PCs and Login with our user , which must be an Network related topic.

My first guess for the Error to come back to the dell system was the installing AMD chipset Driver from Microsoft by starting the PC. But once i deleted the drivers and the error 0xc00001 still occured on the dell system.
Max G 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T14:26:55.8766667+00:00

I did not install any AMD or Intel chipset Driver from manufacturer.

Also, the Safe Mode does Not Work.

I tried to delete and uninstall the AMD chipset Driver by pnputil, then Boot to the Windows Installation media on the dell system and did DISM Check, SFC Scannow and rebuild BCD . Still does Not work
Max G 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T14:36:27.71+00:00

Edit: bitlocker ist deactivated
Aron 7,190 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-11-14T14:37:33.2733333+00:00

Hi Max, thanks for sharing that update.

Since Safe Mode doesn’t work and you’ve already tried DISM, SFC, and rebuilding the BCD without success, that tells me the issue isn’t just corrupted system files, it’s likely tied to how Windows is handling hardware changes between AMD and Intel.

When the system boots on AMD, it installs platform-specific components that the Dell machine can’t interpret later, even if you remove the drivers manually.

At this point, I’d like to confirm two things: is the EFI partition still intact and properly mounted, and are both systems set to pure UEFI mode with Secure Boot disabled?

If those check out, the next step might be to inject both AMD and Intel storage/chipset drivers into the Windows installation so it can adapt on boot.

Would you be open to trying that approach, or do you want me to outline a method to make the installation behave more like Windows To-Go without wiping your data?
Max G 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T15:00:36.4+00:00

I tried another in place upgrade on the AMD system. Now i have two Windows Boot Manager on the Dell occuring during Boot Menu. I will delete one of the Boot entrys to have only one Boot entry.

On AMD system and dell system, i have only UEFI activated. But on the AMD system there is the setting Legacy USB - set to auto. Without this option, the Boot Menu from the BIOS does Not find the USB NVMe SSD. I hope Its No Problem.

Secure Boot ist disabled on both systems.

Yes It would be wonderful, that i have a Windows Installation that can adapt to my AMD and Intel System. There will only be These two systems for running
Max G 0 Reputation points

2025-11-14T15:11:51.6966667+00:00

Edit: my AMD System has a SSD Inside with my Personal Windows installlation. This one ist configured as AHCI. The Dell Working Windows was configured as RAID. But this does not affect my Problem since the Windows is now on the USB4 SSD right?

And i remember my colleague and i compared the bcdedit /enum entrys

In His entry, the Bootload had the Device: Unknown, while mine was on Harddisk{No.}. Could this be relevant?

Answer 3

Dear Max G,

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the boot issue you encountered. We understand how frustrating it can be when your system doesn’t start as expected, especially when you need it for work.

To help you resolve this, we’ve outlined the steps to upgrade Windows 11 from a USB drive while keeping your data:

Prepare the Installation USB

Download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

Use the tool to create a bootable USB drive (formatted as FAT32, UEFI-compatible).

Connect the NVMe Drive and Start the Upgrade

Boot the PC from the USB → choose Repair your computer first.
If repair fails, select Install Now and keep your data (choose the current Windows partition without formatting).

During Installation

If running setup from within Windows: select Keep personal files and apps to retain both applications and data.
If running setup after booting from USB: options to keep data may be limited (usually only personal files, not apps).

Complete the Upgrade

Windows will reinstall the system, update the boot loader, and configure drivers for the current hardware.
After completion, the NVMe drive should boot successfully on the machine where the upgrade was performed.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Vikki-T 1,755 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-24T03:00:27.9066667+00:00

Dear Max G,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.

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Fixing Starting Problems Win11 from USB NVMe Drive

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