How to move my Windows bootloader to USB?
How to move my Windows bootloader to USB?
I have an old PC running Windows XP, specifically an i3 3250 with Radeon HD 7850. I use it for classic games on XP and modern ports of those games on Windows 10. I want the nostalgic feel of playing on a 20-year-old keyboard and a 4:3 screen, even though my newer 3950X can handle everything just fine. The system has two separate drives—one for each OS—but because it’s set up to dual boot, the boot loader needs to be accessible from the first drive. This means if Windows XP is on drive #1 and Windows 10 on drive #2, the boot loader must still be on drive #1 during XP booting. It’s causing file system issues, with XP trying to check and deleting around 900,000 reparse points in files. I suspect both Windows 10 and XP are having compatibility problems. My idea is to move the boot loader to a small USB flash drive, which would let each OS boot independently without interfering with the other. This should prevent the drives from clashing and reduce the conflicts. To be honest, this wasn’t an issue before; I’ve dual booted since 2019 without any trouble, but recently it’s started happening again. I think a change in Windows 10 around summer might be responsible. Also, I’ve been facing problems with Windows 10 overwriting BCD data repeatedly, forcing me to re-run EasyBCD.
You're unsure about compatibility with Windows XP, especially since you haven't used that system in years. However, it might work on Windows 10. To proceed, you'll need a second USB drive and install a Windows 10 installer there. Start the USB, select "Repair your Computer," then go through Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Command Prompt. Follow the instructions to install the bootloader. After that, run diskpart, list disks, and identify your flash drive (likely disk 2). Change the selection in the bootloader setup accordingly. You might also want to try running two bootloaders on separate drives and choose one during BIOS setup for simplicity.
It feels simpler when you press F2 to enter BIOS and select the correct boot drive.
It's what I'm accustomed to and much more resistant to mistakes.