How to Create Windows To Go USB Portable Workspace in Windows 10 Version 2004
https://techjourney.net/deprecated-removed-features-in-windows-10-version-2004/One of the features that are removed from Windows 10 May 2020 Update, version 2004 is Windows To Go, aka Portable Workspace. Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education that enables the creation of a Windows To Go workspace that can be booted from a USB mass storage device such as USB flash drive or USB external drive on PCs.
Beginning from Windows 10 Version 2004, Microsoft has officially removed Windows To Go Workspace feature, as the feature does not support feature updates and therefore does not enable you to stay current.
However, it appears that Microsoft only removed the Windows To Go applet in Control Panel, together with pwcreator.exe (the app that is used to create the Windows To Go Portable Workspace, i.e. bootable USB drive) and its associated .mui language file, hile all underlying system processes and programs, if Windows To Go requires them, is still present, continue to exist and function properly, at least up to Windows 10 Version 2004 Build 19041.264. This is probably because Windows 10 Version 2004 continues to support booting from Windows To Go workspace USB drive.
How to Run Windows To Go Creator to Create Portable Workspace in Windows 10 Version 2004
As only a few components missing, it’s possible to run Windows To Go creator in Windows 10 Version 2004 by copying the missing executable from older version of Windows 10, e.g. Windows 10 Version 1903 Build 18362 or Windows 10 Version 1909 Build 18363. If you don’t have any system running older version of Windows 10, you can temporarily install it on a virtual machine without activation just to copy the files. The files that you need to copy are as follow:
The “pwcreator.exe.mui” is the language file for pwcreator.exe. Depending on your display language, the file may located at another folder of your display language, e.g. de-DE for German, fr-FR for French, en-GB for British English and etc.
Once you copy the two files to system running Windows 10 Version 2004, put them into the exact same folder, i.e. %WinDir%\System32\ and %WinDir%\System32\en-US\ (or the folder matching your display language).
You can’t get back the Windows To Go applet in Control Panel though, so you cannot access Windows To Go from Control Panel. So in order to run Windows To Go to create workspace, manually run the pwcreator.exe from %WinDir%\System32\ folder. You can also use Run (Win + R) dialog, or make a shortcut on Desktop for easy access to Windows To Go workspace creator.
LK is a technology writer for Tech Journey with background of system and network administrator. He has be documenting his experiences in digital and technology world for over 15 years.Connect with LK through Tech Journey on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
