Windows 11 installation on Nvme ssd inserted in an nvme Case


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Riccardo

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I bought an Nvme case where I inserted a 500gb nvme ssd. From an Nvme disk inserted on the computer with working windows 11, I made the clone of the disk on the one inserted in the Nvme Case. Now when I start the computer I choose to boot from the Nvme drive of the Case, but the operating system does not boot. How come?
 
Windows Build/Version
Windows 11

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 11
OS
Windows 11
You cannot clone an bootable internal drive to an external drive. You have to create a "windows to go drive" - that is easy enough to do with tool like Rufus for a clean install but you have to go through some hoops to boot a clone of internal drive.
 

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Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ16 GB solderedIntegrated Intel Iris XE
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Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
ASUS Zenbook 14
CPU
I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
Motherboard
Yep, Laptop has one.
Memory
16 GB soldered
Graphics Card(s)
Integrated Intel Iris XE
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Realtek built in
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laptop OLED screen
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2880x1800 touchscreen
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1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
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Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
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Yep, got one
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Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
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Built in UK keybd
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Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
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900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
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TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

Macrium Reflect Home V8
Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
To test whether the clone was successful replace the M.2 SSD inside the computer with the cloned one. If that boots, the clone was successful. But as stated, Microsoft makes it difficult to near impossible to boot Windows from an External USB drive. It's a little easier with a clean install.
 

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Windows 11 Pro Insider 64 bit 25H2 26200.5742Intel Core i7 9700K 3.6016 GBnVidia GEForce RTX 2060 Super
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Windows 11 Pro Insider 64 bit 25H2 26200.5742
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
Gigabyte Z390 UD
CPU
Intel Core i7 9700K 3.60
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 UD
Memory
16 GB
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia GEForce RTX 2060 Super
Sound Card
onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Two 27" Dell 4K monitors
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
M.2 NVME SSD, 500 GB; Two 2TB Mechanical HDD's
PSU
850w PSU
Case
Cyberpower PC
Cooling
Water cooled
Keyboard
Backlit Cyberpower gaming keyboard
Mouse
Backlit Cyberpower gaming mouse
Internet Speed
1 GB mbps
Browser
Brave
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Windows Security
This isn't relevant to the original question, but:

Can you clone a boot drive to a drive in an external enclosure, then remove the drive in the enclosure, and replace the internal boot drive with it?

(I cloned an NVME drive last year, but I believe I used a second M.2 slot for that.)
 

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    Windows 11 26200.8728Amd Threadripper 7970X128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    OS
    Windows 11 26200.8728
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D Rev. 1.0
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
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    Innocn 32" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Cherry KC 500 MX LP (mechanical)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
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    2000/250 Mbps (down/up)
    Other Info
    xFinity gateway

  • At a glance

    windows 11 26200.8728Intel I9-13900K64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Operating System
    windows 11 26200.8728
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 27" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Cherry Streaming (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
bobkn said:
This isn't relevant to the original question, but:

Can you clone a boot drive to a drive in an external enclosure, then remove the drive in the enclosure, and replace the internal boot drive with it?

(I cloned an NVME drive last year, but I believe I used a second M.2 slot for that.)
Click to expand...
Yes
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Windows 11AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT32GBEVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
    OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

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    Windows 11 EducationIntel i7-8550U32GBNvidia Geforce MX150
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 26200.8728Amd Threadripper 7970X128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    OS
    Windows 11 26200.8728
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D Rev. 1.0
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Innocn 32" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Cherry KC 500 MX LP (mechanical)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    2000/250 Mbps (down/up)
    Other Info
    xFinity gateway

  • At a glance

    windows 11 26200.8728Intel I9-13900K64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Operating System
    windows 11 26200.8728
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 27" OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Keyboard
    Cherry Streaming (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
I think that the problem with trying to boot from it in the enclosure is the device driver for the NVMe disk controller. You would have to look at the differences in device manager to be sure. I wonder if it would work if you set Windows to boot into safe mode before cloning, then the first boot from the enclosure would be to safe mode.

Dang it. I have an NVMe in an enclosure. I might just have to try this out.
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Windows 11AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT32GBEVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
    OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 EducationIntel i7-8550U32GBNvidia Geforce MX150
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
NavyLCDR said:
I think that the problem with trying to boot from it in the enclosure is the device driver for the NVMe disk controller. You would have to look at the differences in device manager to be sure. I wonder if it would work if you set Windows to boot into safe mode before cloning, then the first boot from the enclosure would be to safe mode.

Dang it. I have an NVMe in an enclosure. I might just have to try this out.
Click to expand...
This is the way I would do it probably.

1) Create a custom iso of Windows 11 installer with nvme drivers injected into install.wim and boot.wim

2) Use Rufus to create a WTG drive to nvme usb drive (only time I ever use Rufus)

3) set bios to boot from usb drive first, and test it boots ok

4) Make image backup of existing C drive

5) Restore C drive image over WTG C drive (assumes existing C drive has nvme drivers)

The tricky part is if it does not boot properly in step 5.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ16 GB solderedIntegrated Intel Iris XE
OS
Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
ASUS Zenbook 14
CPU
I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
Motherboard
Yep, Laptop has one.
Memory
16 GB soldered
Graphics Card(s)
Integrated Intel Iris XE
Sound Card
Realtek built in
Monitor(s) Displays
laptop OLED screen
Screen Resolution
2880x1800 touchscreen
Hard Drives
1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
PSU
Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
Case
Yep, got one
Cooling
Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
Keyboard
Built in UK keybd
Mouse
Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
Internet Speed
900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
Browser
Edge
Antivirus
Defender
Other Info
TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

Macrium Reflect Home V8
Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
Ricardo, you keep saying NVME - is it really an NVME? I'm thinking you are attaching an NVME drive into a USB enclosure - if so, what you are posting isn't correct. If I'm right, you are actually trying to boot Windows from a USB drive and that isn't supported (unless you want to get into Windows On the Go). An NVME drive in a USB enclosure is a USB drive - that is what it appears to be.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

V21H2
OS
V21H2

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Win 11 ProAMD Ryzen™ 7 7730U24GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 1596MHz (22-22-22-52)512MB ATI AMD Radeon Graphics (ASUStek Comput...
    OS
    Win 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen™ 7 7730U
    Motherboard
    M1605YA
    Memory
    24GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 1596MHz (22-22-22-52)
    Graphics Card(s)
    512MB ATI AMD Radeon Graphics (ASUStek Computer Inc)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1200@60Hz) - P1 PLUS (1920x1080@59Hz)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    953GB Western Digital WD
    PSU
    45 Watts
    Mouse
    Lenovo Bluetooth.
    Internet Speed
    500 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender

  • At a glance

    Windows 11AMD Ryzen 7 5800H / 3.2 GHz32 GB DDR4 SDRAM 3200 MHzNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB GDDR6 SDRAM
    Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ACER NITRO
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5800H / 3.2 GHz
    Motherboard
    CZ Scala_CAS (FP6)
    Memory
    32 GB DDR4 SDRAM 3200 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6 GB GDDR6 SDRAM
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio. NVIDIA High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" LED backlight 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) 144 Hz
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    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB NVMe M.2
    PSU
    180 Watt, 19.5 V
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    Lenovo Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    500 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
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