How to create a Windows 8 “Windows to Go” Bootable USB 3 Drive

Here is what you need to create the mobile “Windows to Go” USB Drive that boots Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

 - A PC running Windows 8 Consumer Preview (32 or 64 bit)
 - Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO image 32-bit
 - Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8 Consumer Preview
 - A USB 3.0 disk at least 32GB or larger - Don’t worry you don’t need a USB 3.0 port on the computer where you will use “Windows to Go”.

Install the Deployment Tools feature when running the Windows ADK installation onto PC running Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Prepare the USB 3.0 disk using DiskPart:

 - Open a Command Prompt (Admin)
 - Run DiskPart from the Command Prompt
 - Run List Disk
 - Select the USB disk, run Select Disk X (where X is the USB Drive #)
 - Wipe the USB disk clean, run Clean
 - Create a partition on the USB disk, run Create Partition Primary
 - Format the partition, run Format FS=NTFS Quick
 - Make the partition active, run Active
 - Exit DiskPart, run Exit

Right-click the ISO and select Mount to mount the Windows 8 ISO.

I’m running 64-bit so I run CD C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\DISM to change the command prompt to the directory that contains the AIK Tools.

To install the files from the wim, run imagex.exe /apply X:\sources\install.wim 1 Y:\ (Where X is the mounted ISO image and Y is the USB disk drive letters.

To make the USB disk bootable, run bcdboot.exe X:\windows /s X: /f ALL where the two Xs are the drive letter for the USB disk.

You are finished; you can now use this USB disk to boot into Windows 8 from any capable computer. This is a fairly locked down version of Windows 8, so some features won’t be available.