Can I run another Windows from external drive?

chocolate_lover

Hi everyone. I have a laptop from university and it restricts any installations on apps or programs. 
I have a spare external hard drive - if I install another version of windows on it, can I run it via the university laptop at all?
Many thanks

JustAnotherSaver

I was able to run Linux off of an external drive. Wasn't the smoothest of things but it worked.

I know that doesn't answer your question but it's been over an hour now and i'm your first reply. I suppose i'm saying i don't see why not but someone with infinitely more knowledge will be in in the post after mine

Neil_Jones

chocolate_lover said:

Hi everyone. I have a laptop from university and it restricts any installations on apps or programs. 
I have a spare external hard drive - if I install another version of windows on it, can I run it via the university laptop at all?
Many thanks

If the laptop is set up properly by the IT department it won't boot off any device other than the internal hard drive.

But to answer the question - in theory yes if you were able to install Windows to it on that device (and not on another other device and transfer to USB enclosure) and were able to boot off that (see above), but in practice... depends on the laptop.

esuhl

Neil_Jones said:

But to answer the question - in theory yes if you were able to install Windows to it on that device (and not on another other device and transfer to USB enclosure) and were able to boot off that (see above), but in practice... depends on the laptop.

I vaguely remember trying to boot Windows from an external drive and discovering that it's not possible... with a standard installation at least.  Perhaps there are workarounds for that...?

In the days of Windows XP, I played around with "Preinstalled Environments" -- mostly CD-ROMs containing a minimalist WinXP installation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BartPE

Are you saying that you can install Windows on an internal drive, then put that drive in a USB enclosure, and it would boot normally (if the BIOS isn't locked)?

Neil_Jones

esuhl said:

Are you saying that you can install Windows on an internal drive, then put that drive in a USB enclosure, and it would boot normally (if the BIOS isn't locked)?

In theory.  What happens in reality is a different matter.

Windows has never been any good at running from external drives as its primarily designed as a desktop operating system, running off an internal drive.  Linux on the other hand isn't as fussy (and can be quite powerful as a software base to be built on for loads of functionality).

unforeseen

And if they have implemented Bitlocker then you are in danger of screwing up the machine by mucking about with the BIOS. 

[Deleted User]

chocolate_lover said:

Hi everyone. I have a laptop from university and it restricts any installations on apps or programs. 
I have a spare external hard drive - if I install another version of windows on it, can I run it via the university laptop at all?
Many thanks

Pretty much covered in the answers above, yes it will work in theory, it will even run from a USB stick or flash drive but I don't think this is going to happen for you.

Your laptop will probably locked down to prevent boot from other devices. Even if it isn't, it will be very slow on a typical USB connected external drive - unless the laptop has an eSata or Thunderbolt port which is unlikely on a budget student machine.

And finally installing Windows on the external drive will be a challenge unless you have an unlocked PC or Laptop which I guess you haven't otherwise you wouldn't be asking.

Your best be would be to get tech support to allow you to install Oracle Virtual Box for educational reasons and then you can spin up your own virtual machine and do what you want with it.

a

JustAnotherSaver said:

I was able to run Linux off of an external drive. Wasn't the smoothest of things but it worked. 

I have done this often on various PCs and laptops. Depends a lot on the speed of the usb connection and device. Admittedly it is not windows 10 ssd start speed, but it also not as slow as a messed up xp installation on a rust spinner speed either Once loaded it was not a slouch either.

Windows PE was generally the quickest, but often less useful - could only run small exe's but good enough for some disk imaging, chkdsk, hive manipulation and file extraction, there was a limit to what could be installed, and Acronis was too large to install into memory. Linux was slower  to boot but you could install more - like SMART software for hdd and  virus checkers plus its updates. I am not saying that the live version was limitless but I never encountered one. Saying that, the windows packages are often much larger.

tehone

If the university restricts installation, they will most likely have a policy that allows you to request installations of other software - they might want to check licensing for example before perhaps by giving you temporary admin rights etc. Failing that if you're trying to install anything else on their property via unapproved methods, you will undoubtedly be breaking university regulations, and therefore should be mindful of any consequences of that.