Booting from External HDD/SSD

FireDust

In Runtime
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113
Location
Slovakia
Hey guys, recently I tried putting OS on a external hard drive, taking my OS SSD from my PC and booting up. After few minutes It finally showed me the "Starting Windows" logo and after that I got a really really fast Blue-Screen. Then I tried putting my SSD with OS that I'm actually running right now into the external HDD enclosure and booting up from that. Same problem, any ideas what is going on?
 
It doesn't really work like that. When windows (and I'm sure this is true for other OSes as well) get installed they install a base set of drivers one of which links the boot medium (your hard drive) the the kind of controller it's linked to. If you're plugged into your motherboard it's linked then to your SATA port's RAID,AHCI or legacy controller depending on how your BIOS is setup. When you pull the drive out and throw it in an enclosure suddenly the controller is USB/firewire based and the OS freaks out because it doesn't mount the same.

In order to boot from an external, you'd need to install it to the hard drive while it's in the enclosure you want to use.
 
Won't changing the subject settings on the BIOS help?

I have a serious note here. Do not attempt to run the OS on another system if the OS is genuine, specially Window 7 and up. The OS will find a change in the hardware and lock itself. This requires re-activation which can be a pain in the neck.
 
Try repeating the process but after changing the storage connectivity between AHCI, IDE and XHD if available, in the bios.

This is highly expected to not work, but just maybe windows will try to change the drivers on the fly.

Unless this is to be tried on the same system, I don't guarantee that Windows will not turn off the serial because of hardware change.
 
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