Add a Virtual Hard Disk to the Boot Menu

Native Boot allows you to create a virtual hard disk (VHD), install Windows to it, and then boot it up, either on your PC side-by-side with your existing installation, or on a new device.

A native-boot VHD can be used as the running operating system on designated hardware without any other parent operating system. This differs from a scenario where a VHD is connected to a virtual machine on a computer that has a parent operating system.

VHDs can be applied to PCs or devices that have no other installations of Windows, without a virtual machine or hypervisor. (A hypervisor is a layer of software under the operating system that runs virtual computers.) This enables greater flexibility in workload distribution because a single set of tools can be used to manage images for virtual machines and designated hardware.

You can also deploy the VHD to a PC that already has Windows installed on it, and use a boot menu to select between the existing version of Windows, or the version on the VHD.

Step 1: Create a VHD from diskpart

On the technician PC:

1. From the Command Prompt, open Diskpart.

   diskpart
   

2. Create and prepare a new VHD. In this example, we create a 25 GB fixed-type VHD.

   create vdisk file=C:\windows.vhd maximum=25600 type=fixed
   

3. Attach the VHD. This adds the VHD as a disk to the storage controller on the host.

   attach vdisk
   

4. Create a partition for the Windows files, format it, and assign it a drive letter. This drive letter will appear in File Explorer.

   create partition primary
   format quick label=vhd
   assign letter=v
   

5. Exit Diskpart

   exit
   

Step 2: Apply a Windows image to the VHD

On your technician PC, apply a generalized Windows image to the primary partition of the VHD that you created and attached in Step 1.

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:install.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:V:\

Step 3: Detach the VHD, copy it to a new device, and attach it (optional)

You can deploy the VHD to a device that already has a copy of Windows installed on it, or you can clean and prepare the destination PC's hard drive to use the VHD.

Detach the VHD and save it to a network share or storage drive

1. Use diskpart to detach the virtual disk from your technician PC.

   diskpart
   select vdisk file=C:\windows.vhd
   detach vdisk
   exit
   

2. Copy the VHD to a network share or removable storage drive. The following maps a drive letter to a network share, creates a directory for the VHD, and then copies the VHD.

   net use n: \\server\share\
   md N:\VHDs
   copy C:\windows.vhd n:\VHDs\
   

Clean and prepare a new device for native boot

On your destination PC:

1. Use your bootable WinPE key to boot the destination PC to WinPE.
2. Clean and prepare the destination PC's hard drive. Create a system partition (S), and a main partition (M) where the VHD will be stored.
   BIOS:

   diskpart
   select disk 0
   clean
   rem == 1. System partition ======================
   create partition primary size=100
   format quick fs=ntfs label="System"
   assign letter="S"
   active
   rem == 2. Main partition ========================
   create partition primary
   format quick fs=ntfs label="Main"
   assign letter="M"
   exit
   

   UEFI:

   diskpart
   select disk 0
   clean
   convert gpt
   rem == 1. System partition =========================
   create partition efi size=100
   format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
   assign letter="S"
   rem == 2. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition =======
   create partition msr size=128
   rem == 3. Main partition ===========================
   create partition primary 
   format quick fs=ntfs label="Main"
   assign letter="M"
   exit
   

3. Connect to the network drive or storage location where you copied the VHD in step 3.2.

   net use N: \\server\share
   

4. Copy the VHD from the network drive or storage location to the destination PC's main partition.

   copy N:\VHDs\Windows.vhd M:
   

Attach the VHD

1. While still booted into WinPE, attach your VHD to the destination PC.

   diskpart
   select vdisk file=M:\windows.vhd
   attach vdisk
   

2. Identify the attached VHD's volume letter. (Optional: Change it to another letter that makes more sense, for example V, and leave the diskpart command line open for the next step).

   list volume
   select volume 3
   assign letter=v
   

Step 4: Add a boot entry

1. From your destination PC, open Diskpart (if necessary) and identify the drive letters of the VHD and the system partition, for example, V and S.

   diskpart
   list volume
   exit
   

2. Add a boot entry to the device. You can add multiple VHD files using this method.
   BIOS:

   V:
   cd v:\windows\system32
   bcdboot v:\windows /s S: /f BIOS
   

   UEFI:

   V:\
   cd v:\windows\system32
   bcdboot v:\windows /s S: /f UEFI
   

3. Remove the Windows PE USB key.
4. Restart the destination PC.
   If there's only one boot entry, the device immediately boots to Windows. If there's more than one boot entry, you'll see a boot menu where you can choose between the available versions of Windows on the device.