Native Boot install won't start after moving disk (external USB to internal SATA)

Linux/Windows 11 Home dual-boot, GRUB loader on M.2 disk.

I created a Windows 11 Native Boot disk on an SSD attached via USB. I didn't realize that the PC I bought had drive bays for SSDs, so I figured I'd move my (2) disks there. Now I can't get the Native Boot install to load, even though I can see the disks fine from my main Windows 11 install. Neither disk is showing any errors, all SMART test come back clean. Data is fully accessible from Linux and Windows.

I did update my BIOS a few weeks ago, but just yesterday moved the disks. I made sure that the IRST/VMD device was disabled. I tried building a new Native Boot install, on a freshly repartitioned disk, but the system never completes the install. I get 3-4 reboots in before the disk can't be found.

OK, I downgraded the BIOS, and was able to get one of my SATA-based systems to boot...once. Then on all subsequent reboots the UUID can't be found again.

Windows normally won't boot on external drives.
Can you explain what you did so it could boot. Was it also using Grub boot manager?

Yes, I use GRUB. I don't have bootloaders on the external drives. I use manual GRUB entries for each system, including some bootable ISOs. For the Native Boot system, I didn't do anything special, just created the VHDX on the external drive (from inside Windows 11 Setup), attached it, and away I went.

When you moved the drive from the USB enclosure to the SATA port did you changed Grub settings so it could find the drive in its new location?

Megahertz said:

When you moved the drive from the USB enclosure to the SATA port did you changed Grub settings so it could find the drive in its new location?

Click to expand...

Since the partition UUIDs did not change, I didn't think I had to make any changes. I'm going to try installing a bootloader on one of the disks and see if I can use it to boot one of these systems.

OK, installing GRUB on one of the SSDs did not work; GRUB proceeded to boot to the emergency shell. For whatever reason, this system just will not accept that SATA-connected SSDs can be read at boot, while USB-attached ones are fine.

After another round of testing, this is definitely NOT a Windows/GRUB problem. I will need to contact ASUS to see if this problem has been reported by others.

Mods - you can close this topic.

ajgringo619 said:

After another round of testing, this is definitely NOT a Windows/GRUB problem. I will need to contact ASUS to see if this problem has been reported by others.

Mods - you can close this topic.

Click to expand...

Just before anything else did you try re-installing the Windows bootloader.

1) on the device ensure it has at least a 100Mb efi partition formatted fat32.

2) from the windows install media choose repair system > command mode

3) in diskpart assign the 100mb partition to say letter=s

4) if using a vhdx file for your windows install select the vhdx file (from within diskpart) and attach it. select the disk volume -- assume it's w.

5) if not using a vhdx file select the windows disk -- assume again it's w.


6) now exit diskpart but still in command mode type the following :

cd w:\windows\system32
w:
bcdboot w:\windows /s S: /f UEFI

then simply reboot. Cheers
jimbo

@jimbo45 - if this was only happening on Windows, I'd try your solution. But it's consistently failing with Linux as well. As a workaround, I've moved the SSD back to a USB enclosure, leaving the 2nd VM storage disk as internal. In my use case, I really don't need the VM host OS's to be super-fast, just the VM images themselves.

What drive did you take from the USB enclosure?
Some WD drives (HDD) where hardware encrypted so it can be the case.

I've never had success installing Windows on a removable device but no issue with creating a bootable Linux LiveUSB Thumb drive I use as a tool in diagnosing hardware issues.

ajgringo619 said:

I created a Windows 11 Native Boot disk on an SSD attached via USB. I didn't realize that the PC I bought had drive bays for SSDs, so I figured I'd move my (2) disks there. Now I can't get the Native Boot install to load, even though I can see the disks fine from my main Windows 11 install.

Click to expand...

Megahertz said:

Windows normally won't boot on external drives.

Click to expand...

Berton said:

I've never had success installing Windows on a removable device

Click to expand...

Native boot is different, it doesn't care where the .vhdx file is held. You can (and I often have for test purposes) set up native boot to boot from a .vhdx on a USB external drive.

ajgringo619, what I have found is that if I move or replace the .vhdx file with another one it won't boot until I have removed the original boot entry (you can delete it on the Boot tab of System Configuration) mounted the .vhdx, then set up native boot again from scratch with the bcdboot command.

Bree said:

Native boot is different, it doesn't care where the .vhdx file is held. You can (and I often have for test purposes) set up native boot to boot from a .vhdx on a USB external drive.

ajgringo619, what I have found is that if I move or replace the .vhdx file with another one it won't boot until I have removed the original boot entry (you can delete it on the Boot tab of System Configuration) mounted the .vhdx, then set up native boot again from scratch with the bcdboot command.

Click to expand...

Well, Native Boot might be different, but on my PC, it refuses to boot if it's located on an internal SSD. NVMe - no problem. External USB - same. Internal SSD - not so much. When I first ran into this issue, I deleted the old boot entry, then tried to add a new one (all documented here).

Megahertz said:

What drive did you take from the USB enclosure?
Some WD drives (HDD) where hardware encrypted so it cam be the case.

Click to expand...

No encryption here.

As for the WD External USB drives, if the case/interface fails the data may not be accessible by other connections, had that happen some time ago with an Elements drive.

Berton said:

I've never had success installing Windows on a removable device but no issue with creating a bootable Linux LiveUSB Thumb drive I use as a tool in diagnosing hardware issues.

Click to expand...

Please try Windows-to-go installation using Rufus ?

cineman195 said:

Please try Windows-to-go installation using Rufus ?

Click to expand...

What does this have to do with this thread??? The problem is - and has always been - running a Native Boot disk from an internal SSD, not an external USB disk. Windows-to-Go is not a solution here.

ajgringo619 said:

What does this have to do with this thread??? The problem is - and has always been - running a Native Boot disk from an internal SSD, not an external USB disk. Windows-to-Go is not a solution here.

Click to expand...

My answer was to the person who wrote that he was never successful in installing windows to a removable device. One can install to an USB device by using Rufus and later make it internal, of course you need to change some registry changes. Regards

ajgringo619 said:

What does this have to do with this thread??? The problem is - and has always been - running a Native Boot disk from an internal SSD, not an external USB disk. Windows-to-Go is not a solution here.

Click to expand...

@ajgringo619

Assuming the Windows install is OK on the external USB you just need to re-install the bootloader.

1) Note even if it originally WAS a WindowstoGo type of install it will still boot from the internal device (although you might get a message "please don't unplug the USB" -- the system thinks it's still Windowstogo but that can be fixed easily enough. The first thing is to get the machine to boot. I assume you are using native boot and not vhdx files here.

2) so boot a Windows install media or stand alone macrium (if you have it). I'll assume you have a Windows installmedia.
3) choose repair system --->command prompt

4) type diskpart
5) list disk, select disk xx where disk xx is the disk nr of your windows installation
6) list vol this should show all the partitions (as vol numbers) There should be a small probably 100 Mb partition and your main windows partition. The small partition should be the efi partition needed for windows to load and boot.
7) select vol aaa where aaa is the small partition
8) assign letter=S
9) select vol bbb where bbb is the windows partition
10 assign letter=W
11) exit disk part by typing exit but still stay in command mode (i.e don't re-boot)
12) now install the bootloader by :

a) cd w:\windows\system32
b)w:
c) bcdboot w:\windows /s: S /f UEFI
d) exit
e) re-boot into windows.

If you DO get the "Don't unplug the USB drive message simply get into elevated command mode, type regedit and set the following key to '0' and re-boot.



cheers
jimbo