Solved Installing Windows 11 Lite and later update to Windows 11 Pro/Home

Is this possible?

I am planning to bought new SSD ( I don't know if it's already formatted to NTFS or unformatted.
I want to try installing Windows 11 lite first to my new SSD using caddy (cd-rom drive) and later update to full version using the Windows updater.

• I want to use my laptop HDD as my storage.
• I want to dual boot my old OS which is Windows 8.1 on the HDD and Windows 11 Lite on the SSD. Would this be possible?
•Will I able to access my files on HDD inside Windows 11 via SSD?

Thank you to anyone who will answer my questions!

Sure you can do all this but it is not the best way to do it as boot files will be on hdd and slower.
Also if hdd fails or is removed, ssd will not boot

Do not mess around trying to install lite versions - they give no benefit and you have no idea what else has been added.

1) Create Windows 11 usb drive using media creation tool
2) Temporarily remove HDD, and put SSD in pc
3) Boot from usb drive and install W11 to SSD
4) Put HDD back in pc.
5) Set bios to boot from SSD
6) login to w11
7) add dual boot entry for HDD from an admin command prompt:
where # is drive letter of W8.1 on hdd as seen from disk management )

jhun12 said:

and later update to full version using the Windows updater.

Click to expand...

Whatever "lite" version of Windows 11 you are planning on installing likely has updates disabled. Do yourself a favor and just stick with the official Windows 11 offered by Microsoft. Be aware, most people have issues when moving a Windows 10/11 installation between USB and internal to the computer or vice versa.

cereberus said:

Sure you can do all this but it is not the best way to do it as boot files will be on hdd and slower.
Also if hdd fails or is removed, ssd will not boot

Do not mess around trying to install lite versions - they give no benefit and you have no idea what else has been added.

1) Create Windows 11 usb drive using media creation tool
2) Temporarily remove HDD, and put SSD in pc
3) Boot from usb drive and install W11 to SSD
4) Put HDD back in pc.
5) Set bios to boot from SSD
6) login to w11
7) add dual boot entry for HDD from an admin command prompt:

Code:

(bcdboot #:\windows /p / d

where # is drive letter of W8.1 on hdd as seen from disk management )

Click to expand...

Thank you cereberus for your kind and calm way post. I'm still waiting for my ssd to arrive and glad to know that procedure.
I just want to ask with #2 procedure. can you tell me why should I do that? instead installing it in ssd caddy.

NavyLCDR said:

Whatever "lite" version of Windows 11 you are planning on installing likely has updates disabled. Do yourself a favor and just stick with the official Windows 11 offered by Microsoft. Be aware, most people have issues when moving a Windows 10/11 installation between USB and internal to the computer or vice versa.

Click to expand...

thank you navylcdr for posting. I will be installing the full version of Windows 11 like you've said. Maybe I wanted to try it first before installing the full, that's the reason why...

Why not test the real thing? If he likes it (he surely will), just keep it.

jhun12 said:

Thank you cereberus for your kind and calm way post. I'm still waiting for my ssd to arrive and glad to know that procedure.
I just want to ask with #2 procedure. can you tell me why should I do that? instead installing it in ssd caddy.

Click to expand...

Installing to a usb drive and putting drive in pc afterwards is more complicated than you think as boot files all end up in different places.

It is easier to simply install with drive installed as internal drive as the installer intends.

Besides Windows Setup doesn't allow installing Windows on a USB drive. You need a different approach to make a Windows-to-Go installation that can run from USB and updates the drivers for each computer it is connected. The greatest drawback of a Windows-to-Go is that you cannot upgrade to the next version when it is available. I don't remember if you can install other updates, but you certainly are not allowed to upgrade (say from 21H2 to 22H2), even if the computer is Windows 11 compliant.

cereberus said:

Sure you can do all this but it is not the best way to do it as boot files will be on hdd and slower.
Also if hdd fails or is removed, ssd will not boot

Do not mess around trying to install lite versions - they give no benefit and you have no idea what else has been added.

1) Create Windows 11 usb drive using media creation tool
2) Temporarily remove HDD, and put SSD in pc
3) Boot from usb drive and install W11 to SSD
4) Put HDD back in pc.
5) Set bios to boot from SSD
6) login to w11
7) add dual boot entry for HDD from an admin command prompt:

Code:

(bcdboot #:\windows /p / d

where # is drive letter of W8.1 on hdd as seen from disk management )

Click to expand...

so I tried all what you've said. and i have problems. please help me.

1. 1st problem, everytime i boot my laptop, there will be scanning disk please click any button to skip, like that error.
2. my old hdd drive turned into drive d: and the ssd turned c:
3. i cannot boot now to my old hdd, windows 8.1
4. after trying the command prompt that you post, it said failure to copy boot files.
5. some of keyboards keys are not working. or maybe i damage the keyboard ribbon because of the hard adhesive tape.

please help

oh boot successfully after i change directory until C: . it's okay now

but after selecting windows 8.1 on the boot menu, there's an error.
your pc needs to be repaired.

file windows/system32/winload.efi
error code:0xc000000e

to skip disk checking press any key, that's always on boot.

before that, I accidentally installed twice the windows 11 setup, but when I see the msconfig boot tab, it's only one os there.

This was the old settings of my laptop:
1. Windows 8.1 installed in HDD with Drive Letter C.

Now:
1. Windows 8.1 in HDD turned Drive Letter in to D.
2. Windows 11 in SSD and connected in CD Rom Caddy turned drive letter in to C.

good news! so I can now access the windows 8.1 but by pressing f9 which is manually choosing the boot os.

what is I can't do is, when the startup boot menu appear, and then I press the windows 8.1 there, then, the blue screen which is i need to repair my pc, and error code is like the above mention.

can you help me

maybe there something wrong with this code?

bcdboot #:\windows /p / d

Hi there
Easy to install as many Windows systems as you want (and space you have for) on any device.

In your case the easiest is simply to create a SINGLE EFI partition on what will be your main boot disk
Then install windows to other partitions (or disks) via preferably dism /Apply-Image but and then run bcdboot.exe to apply the bootloader to the main EFI partition.

Then at boot the standard Windows boot menu GUI will appear --no need to go into the computers own BIOS to select the boot disk.

For example :



@jhun12


get into diskpart and ensure there's an EFI partition and assign it say letter S, and the disk / partition you've got a windows install on is W. You need a SINGLE UEFI partition on the drive you will use as the primary boot drive.

then exit diskpart and now cd : W:\Windows\system32

Then to check type cd W: (to make sure you are executing from the installed windows system (/windows/system32)

bcdboot w:\windows / s S : /f UEFI

do the same for any other windows install (keep the same S letter for the UEFI partition and change the W letter for the new install.

Try and keep just OS on the main windows installs and have data etc stored separately so you don't have to re-create / recover that data if you re-install the OS.

NOTE : you only need a SINGLE EFI partition on the main boot disk -- that's the trick so the bootloader will load the menu at boot and the relevant disks etc will be booted from the menu.

cheers
jimbo

jhun12 said:

maybe there something wrong with this code?

bcdboot #:\windows /p / d

Click to expand...

You have to substitute # with right drive letter.

Also, whichever OS you have booted will have the drive letter C.
When you manage to boot into 8.1, it should have the drive letter C.

Right now I'm booted into Windows 11 and it's drive letter is C.
My Windows 10 drive is drive letter F.



When I boot into Windows 10 it's drive letter will be C, and my Win 11 drive will be H.

spapakons said:

Besides Windows Setup doesn't allow installing Windows on a USB drive. You need a different approach to make a Windows-to-Go installation that can run from USB and updates the drivers for each computer it is connected. The greatest drawback of a Windows-to-Go is that you cannot upgrade to the next version when it is available. I don't remember if you can install other updates, but you certainly are not allowed to upgrade (say from 21H2 to 22H2), even if the computer is Windows 11 compliant.

Click to expand...

Wrong -- you CAN install windows to an external drive -- simply create as vhdx files, install via dism /Apply-Image, and bcdboot.

These days there's no problem in updating a build from a USB ("Windows to GO") although you won't be able to update to a different "branch" build i.e from one insider type build to say the beta branch. A new build of the same "Branch" has worked for ages now.

Cheers
jimbo

I had created a Windows 10 USB disk with diagnostic tool, clone tools etc. In order to test Windows 10 compatibility with old computers I had installed Windows 10 32-bit. All I had to do it either connect it with USB or remove the SATA disk from the USB case and connect it internally. Every time it booted on a new computer it installed the appropriate drivers and was ready to use as a standard Windows 10 installation. The only drawback was I couldn't upgrade to the next Windows 10 version.

here are the updates regarding with problems:
1. "to skip disk checking press any " error was gone now after editing the autocheck autochk k:C in the registry.
so that's now solved.