How to install multiple VHD(X)-based Windows on the same USB drive as multi-boot Portable Windows?

This tutorial will step by step introduce how to install multiple VHD(X)-based Windows to the same USB drive with the help of Hasleo WinToUSB. Please note that you must install the highest version of Windows last, for example you want to install Windows 8, 10 and 11 to the same USB drive, then you should install Windows 8, 10 first, and finally install Windows 11.

 

Tutorial to install multiple VHD(X)-based Windows on the same USB drive as multi-boot Portable Windows.

Step 1. Connect the USB drive to the computer, create a small FAT32 partition (must be primary partition) as the only system partition on the USB drive and create a separate NTFS partition (must be primary partition) for each Windows operating system you want to install. In this tutorial we will install Windows 8, 10 and 11 to the same USB drive, as shown in the picture below.

Windows operating system can only be installed to the primary partition, we know that an MBR disk can only have up to 4 primary partitions, and one of the primary partitions will be used as the system partition, so we can only install up to 3 Windows operating systems to a MBR USB drive. If you want to install more than 3 Windows operating systems to the same USB drive, you should use the GPT disk format, but please note that you will only be able to boot Windows on UEFI computers if you use the GPT disk format.

Step 2. Run Hasleo WinToUSB, click "Select installation source", then click "Browse image file" and select the the VHD(X) file that already has windows 8 operating system installed from the open dialog box as installation source. Please note that if you don't have a VHD file that already has Windows installed, you can also choose to install Windows from a Windows installation ISO, WIM file.

Step 3. Select the destination USB drive in the drop-down list. A pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, check the "Keep the existing partition scheme" checkbox and click the "Yes" button.

Step 4. Select F: as system partition and G: as boot partition for Windows 8, then click "Next" to install Windows 8 to the USB drive.

Step 5. After the installation is complete, manually format the system partition (F: drive) to the FAT32 file system format.

Step 6. Install Windows 10 to F: and H: using the same steps above (Please refer to steps 2 ~ 4).

Step 7. After the installation is complete, manually format the system partition (F: drive) to the FAT32 file system format.

Step 8. Install Windows 11 to F: and I: using the same steps above (Please refer to steps 2 ~ 4).

Step 9. After the installation is complete, manually format the system partition (F: drive) to the FAT32 file system format.

Step 7. After installation restart the computer and change BIOS to boot from the USB drive.

Step 8. Since Windows 11 is the last Windows operating system installed, Windows 11 normal installation starts up and you have to complete all the Windows 11 installation steps.

Step 9. After the installation is complete, boot Windows from the USB drive. Assign drive letters to the system partition and other partitions on which Windows is installed, as shown in the picture below. Since Windows 11 is installed in a VHD(X) file, the C: drive is located on a virtual disk, which is numbered Disk 2.

If the USB drive is in the GPT disk format, you will not be able to assign a drive letter to the system partition using Windows Disk Manager, please use diskpart to assign a drive letter to the partition.

Step 10. Open Windows Disk Management, right-click "Disk Management", and select "Attach VHD" in the popup menu.

Step 11. Click the "Browse..." button, and select the Windows 8 VHD(X) file in the D: drive from the open dialog box, then click "OK".

Step 12. After clicking "OK", the Windows 8 VHD(X) file will be mounted as Disk 3, right-click Disk 3 and select "Online" in the popup menu.

Step 13. After the virtual disk is online, if Windows does not automatically assign a drive letter to the partition on the disk, please manually assign a drive letter to it.

Step 14. Run cmd.exe as a administrator, then run "bcdboot.exe H:\Windows /s G: /f all" (H: is the the drive letter for Windows 8 partition on the VHD(X) disk, G: is the the drive letter for system partition on the USB drive, as shown in the screenshot above, you should change the command according to the actual assigned drive letter.) in cmd.exe to add Windows 8 to the Windows boot menu.

Step 15. Follow the same steps (Please refer to steps 10 ~ 14) to add Windows 10 on the VHD(X) disk to the Windows boot menu. Please note that the drive letter assigned to the partition on the Windows 10 VHD(X) in this tutorial is I:, you should change the command according to the actual assigned drive letter.

Step 16. Detach mounted Windows 8 and Windows 10 VHD virtual disks. Just need to right-click Disk 3 and Disk 4 and then select "Detach VHD" in the popup menu..

Step 17. Restart the computer and choose to boot from a USB drive, you can now choose to boot different operating systems from this USB drive.

 

Follow these simple steps, you can create a VHD(X)-based multiboot Windows USB drive with the help of Hasleo WinToUSB. After that, you can choose to boot different Windows operating systems from this USB drive to meet your different working environment requirements.