By Jack Collins

Do you still have that external USB hard drive you purchased freshman year to back up your schoolwork? Is just sitting there collecting dust? Why not turn it into a full-blown portable Windows 8 device! With Windows 8 To Go you can plug it into a PC, boot, and you are ready to go!

As a student in the Tech Department here at SMCC having a windows 8 To Go device has been invaluable. I use it to take notes in class, write school papers, check emails, work on projects, to check my Microsoft xbox live profile, or even use it on my MacBook Pro so I don’t need to install Windows on it using bootcamp. I don’t even need to bring my laptop to campus anymore if I don’t feel like it. I can put my To Go hard drive in my backpack (or pocket for that matter), and plug into one of the PCs on campus. With the To Go device you can install programs, use the Windows App Store, and use other Windows 8 features the same way you would on a Windows 8 PC. In fact, this article was written on my Windows To Go device.

When I created my To Go device I used the recommended hardware, and used Windows 8.1, so this will be a guide on how to create Windows 8.1 To Go using recommended hardware. Here is a list of the recommended hardware. When these steps are completed you will be able to run Windows 8.1 on any computer for FREE! Everyone likes free! Since we will be using an evaluation version, the device will only last for 90 days. Once the 90 days are up, you will just have to make it again following these same steps.

Step 1. Have a host machine with Windows 8.1 Enterprise (evaluation version) installed. 90 day evaluation version can be downloaded here

Step 2. Connect your Windows To Go USB drive to the host machine.

Step 3. Search for “Windows To Go” on the host machine and press enter. Start the Windows To Go Creator

Step 4. Select the drive letter that represents the USB device you connected in step 2.

Step 5. Click “Add Search Location” and select The Windows 8.1 Enterprise WIM file

Step 6. For this guide we will skip the Set a BitLocker password, so click Skip

Step 7. Click Create and wait for the process to complete. This may take several minutes.

Finished! You can now reboot into your Windows To Go device. Enjoy!

The online version of this article can be found here

Jack Collins is a member of the Computer Technology Senior Seminar course and is planning on a career in Information Technology Field