How to install Windows 10 on a non-NVMe drive?

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1

I’m trying to install Windows 10 as a secondary OS besides Linux, and I would like to install it on a drive other than my main system SSD. The issue is, however, that I don’t have any other NVMe drives - only a couple of old SATA M.2 drives which the laptop doesn’t seem to recognise at all; classic 2.5" SATA SSDs and HDDs, and USB SSD sticks.

Windows 10 simply refuses to install itself on a SATA SSD connected through a USB external case (specifically because it’s USB).

What other option am I left with, considering the inventory I mentioned above?

2

Welcome to the forum.

Just google installing windows to a usb drive. There are simple methods to override windows’ block.

It doesn’t matter if the actual drive is a NVMe, SATA, thumb drive, etc. Once it’s connected by usb, it’s a usb drive as far as windows is concerned for this.

Be aware, a usb drive as a boot drive / containing windows or other OS, is not recommended, since a usb connection doesn’t have the same reliability. But many do it and get by well enough.

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Thanks for the tip, I wouldn’t have guessed that the installer could be tricked, that’s why I didn’t even attempt googling it. Now I will.

It’s not intended to be a daily used OS. For what it’s worth, the sole reason I want Windows on the bare metal is to try whether it recognises my monitor connected through USB-C - because neither the latest Fedora nor Ubuntu do. I want to do a test drive with Windows before opening a specific topic for this on the forum, as none of those I found so far offered a solution.

4

Yeah, all you need to do is use an alternate installer program which ignores, overrides windows block. There are a bunch.

5

I have done it a few times, but it can be very annoying. The thing you are looking for is called Windows to Go.

The steps I took were:

  1. Install Windows regularly on the SATA Drive as an internal device (Windows installer will detect it then)
  2. Install Hasleo WintoUSB and in the submenu, select Windows to Go conversion and click convert. This step can be quite a hit or miss. I haven’t done this in a while, but if it doesn’t show up internally you may need to boot it up externally.

This should be the basic steps. If you want the official way (which requires Windows 10 Pro I believe), you can search it up online.

Just a detail to add. Windows to Go has been discontinued starting from Windows 11. I really do not recommend using Windows to Go as it’s as if Windows stability problems get exaggerated 10x. Usually, if you brick your install, it’s game over and you will need to reinstall the whole OS and start again.

Also, keep in mind Windows 10 is not officially supported so some drivers may not work. I also recall that installing drivers on a Windows to Go SSD is quite difficult. Windows to Go also locks the Windows install so that you don’t get any more updates. You will also not get any hibernate and other power settings functionality.

I would not really recommend it, but if you are adamant, good luck to you.

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6

You can get a 256GB NVMe m.2 drive on eBay for pennies. I fitted one to the second slot on my FL16 and put Win10 on it. Grub will recognise it is there and put it in the boot menu, so you can get to it easily by reboot. Doing this also has the advantage that you can load files easily from Linux onto the Win10 drive. Saves having deal with going through the boot from USB loop, and windows is permanently available when required.

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There is no need to go through all that, installing windows to an internal drive. You really only need an installer that bypasses windows’ block, it’s completely artificial. A guide using Ventoy, guide using woeUSB or balenaEtcher

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8

I used Rufus for this.

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9

Well, the problem seems to be right there, the Framework 16 laptop doesn’t have an internal SATA bay. Correct me if I’m wrong.

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Like I said, I only need Windows to test a single thing once, otherwise I’m more than fine only having it as a VM option.

I would rather not purchase anything specifically for this purpose. Not to mention, the drive itself may cost pennies, but the shipping usually marks up that price quite significantly, at least to my country.

11

Thanks, looking into it right now.

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Apparently, all of these guides only focus on how to get the Windows installer ISO onto a USB drive, and don’t mention at all how to trick it to install the live system onto one.

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Oh, I’m sorry, I thought they were for regular installs

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You could just put a windows 2 go install on that drive using rufus from another windows computer

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Yea, I ultimately figured it out, but the linked articles didn’t mention that.

Thanks all for the suggestions, I managed to put a live Windows onto an external HDD. For the record, the USB-C monitor didn’t show up in that either.

16

Interesting, all of mine work, even if some of them require external power.

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I don’t know, this is a classic monitor with its own power supply, in fact it can (and does) power the laptop through USB-C.

Unfortunately I don’t have any other device capable of USB-C display output, and no other monitor to try, either. I have this one Bakeey branded cable, it claims to support 240W PD, 40Gbps data and 8K UHD display. Any of those components might be at fault.

18

If power works and display doesn’t the cable could be it. Vendors lying about cable specifications would not be that novel.

19

Is there some incompatibility here? Maybe Thunderbolt and DP Alt mode are mutually exclusive in a C-to-C cable?

Type: USB4 Cable
Transmission speed: 40Gbps
Fast Charging: 240W 5A 48V
HD Display: 8K@60Hz or 4K@144Hz
Compatibility: Thunderbolt3/4,Compatible with USB3.2/3.1/3.0/2.0

20

You can “install” Windows directly from the media (ISO, USB, a loose folder of sources) pretty quickly with DISM.

You can run these steps from a normal Windows install, or from the bootable installer itself. In the latter case, you’ll need to press Shift+F10 to get to the Command Prompt and follow the dism instructions.

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