Windows 10: thunderbolt 3 nvme ssd external drive, windows boot problem on mac

I'ver been trying to boot windows 10 from an external thunderbolt 3 ssd nvme drive with the INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE bsod coming up when booting with every try. I figured sometimes the thunderbolt drive was not available even when connected as a secondary storage device either on windows or OSX whenever I restarted the computer when I shut it down completely and turned back on, the drive was started So I tried disconecting and reconecting the drive during windows boot logo right after selecting "efi boot" on the OS option screen on mac and to my surprise, windows did boot. I really dont know if this is a problem with the imac or windows boot, I've noticed the drive gets detected by the imac on startup OS selection, but somehow its not detected as a windows boot device unless disconnected and reconnected. I get to boot windows, but this situation is not ideal for me or for anyone and I don't think its good for the ssd drive lifespan. Is there a way to troubleshoot from here? I've tried messing up with partitions, with volumes with bcdedit, with no luck. Does this workaround means I have to try something else? please help

:)

 

New Samsung Portable NVMe SSD X5 Thunderbolt 3 Drive

Read more:

• Samsung Portable SSD X5 | Samsung External Storage | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website
• Samsung Electronics Advances External Storage Innovation with New Portable SSD X5 - Samsung US Newsroom
• Samsung Electronics Advances External Storage Innovation with New Portable SSD X5 – Samsung Global Newsroom

 

New Samsung Portable NVMe SSD X5 Thunderbolt 3 Drive

Read more:

• Samsung Portable SSD X5 | Samsung External Storage | Samsung Semiconductor Global Website
• Samsung Electronics Advances External Storage Innovation with New Portable SSD X5 - Samsung US Newsroom
• Samsung Electronics Advances External Storage Innovation with New Portable SSD X5 – Samsung Global Newsroom

 

Window To Go / WintoUSB on a PC with an external Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drive

I've hit information overload in terms of trying to figure out how to get windows 10 up an running on an external drive. I recently purchased an external 500 GB Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD drive with the intention of using it as a boot drive. I made the mistake of not educating myself enough first and now trying to salvage the situation.

I did a lot of reading and now I feel like I am running in circles in terms of possibilities and some article appear to contradict other articles. The biggest problem I find is the articles I am reading tend to be for externally mounted USB drives, or installing windows 10 on macs.

I really liked this article and the first paragraph describing why you might want to do this describes my situation bang on.

I have a Dell Precision 5520 from work that I don't want to mess with the O/S. I do have admin rights on it, but policy will prevent certain software from executing/installing. Its also the only computer I have that has a Thunderbolt 3 port.

I also have Windows 10 installed on two separate USB 3.0 sticks using WINtoUSB. This works great when its up and running but the write speeds to the sticks are so slow that the last windows update took 2 days to complete.

What I have tried so far

My original thought was to use WINtoUSB to install Windows 10 on the external Thunderbolt 3 SSD (ETB3SSD) but its not a USB drive so it does not show up in the list of applicable devices to install to.

My second thought was to use Windows To Go since the laptop its connected to is running Windows 10 Enterprise. However Windows Enterprise ISO is only available through the Licensing Portal. So stop pursuit on this one and did more reading.

Another idea I had was to clone the USB stick to the ETB3SSD, and then repartition the drive to its full size. However I only tried doing this so far while booted off WINtoUSB thumbstick and as a result, not only is the internal SSD not acesible but neither is the ETB3SSD when I plug it in.

Next steps as I see them:

Try cloning WINtoUSB stick to ETB3SSD while running the original windows 10 enterprise on the laptop

Try using Windows To Go to install Windows 10 Pro on the ETB3SSD

Try installing Windows 10 professional on the ETB3SSD and see if it will register with the laptop since the laptop is already authenticated with windows 10 enterprise.

As a last resort when all other options have been exhausted I could install windows 10 professional and purchase an activation key for it. I am only a little scary as I read that windows OS does not like to install on external drives.

Question:

What is the best approach for installing Windows 10 on the ETB3SSD?

This is one of the other articles I read on here that relates to mac.

If someone knows better tags for this question, please let me know or edit the question to add them.

UPDATE: 18/11/03 09:10 EDT

I tried cloning the USB stick to the ETB3SDD and it is either not supported or I cloned it wrong. Either way, it did not work.

I also tried Windows To Go but it is looking for a USB drive and the ETB3SSD is not showing up as its not a USB device.

UPDATE: 18/11/05 08:25 EDT

I also have Windows 10 Pro available from another machine if it makes any difference. I do not care if it is windows 10 Enterprise or Professional that winds up being installed on the ETB3SSD.