(Step-by-step Guide) How to Install Windows 10 on Hard Drive for Another Computer

Computers have become an essential and integral part of our life, both official and personal work. Nonetheless, we could want to switch to a new computer if the hardware or software has a problem. Have you ever imagined you could use your Windows 10 operating system wherever you go? If so, follow this page to learn how to install Windows 10 on hard drive for another computer.

Can You Install Windows 10 on Hard Drive for Another PC

Have you ever been stuck on a question like "Is it possible to install my Windows 10 on a hard drive for another PC?"

The answer is in the affirmative. You can install your Windows 10 on an external drive for another computer. All you need is to perform a universal restore.

Universal restore can help restore a system image to new hardware. Moreover, it lets you restore the operating system to a PC with dissimilar hardware. Thus, you can recover your OS in case of a hardware failure and apply the same OS to different computers.

Installing Windows 10 on an external drive for another computer is not easy for average users. Don't worry! Here you can find a solution to installing Windows 10 on an external hard drive for different computers.

Preparations for Installing Windows 10 on an External Hard Drive

To ensure the successful installation of the Windows 10 system on the external hard drive for another PC, you should make the following preparations:

• Prepare an external hard drive. The external drive should be big enough to install Windows. And you should create a backup of its data because the installation will format the external drive. In addition, you should prepare a USB-to-SATA adapter to connect the drive to your computer via a USB port.
• Choose the universal restore software. Since Windows To Go has been removed from Windows 10, you must try other ways to install Windows 10 on a hard drive. As mentioned earlier, performing a universal restore is a good choice and worth trying. EaseUS Todo Backup can help you in such a situation.

Best Universal Restore Software Free Download

Universal restore can help you to run the same operating system on a new computer. For example, if you want to install your Windows 10 on an external drive for a new computer, performing a universal restore is the easiest and quickest way. You just need to create a system image of your Windows 10 computer, store the system backup on a hard drive, and then restore it on a new computer.

Under such circumstances, professional universal restore software, like EaseUS Todo Backup, comes in handy.

EaseUS Todo Backup Home is a practical, easy-to-use backup and recovery utility for Windows 11/10/8/7. It can help you automatically back up your files, systems, disks, etc., and store the backups in different locations. Besides, it lets you create an iso image of your current operating system and create an image of your SD card. The following are some other key features:

• Create full, incremental, and differential backups.
• Compress a backup to save space.
• Migrate Windows 10 to SSD.
• Clone a hard drive.
• Image a hard drive on Windows 10.
• Provide 250G free cloud storage and a Security Zone to protect data.

If you want to install Windows 10 on a hard drive for another computer, EaseUS Todo Backup can suit you well.

How to Install Windows 10 on a Hard Drive for Another PC

Among many universal restore software available on the market, why do we suggest you use EaseUS Todo Backup?

EaseUS Todo Backup is also very easy to use, except for the features above, because you can finish the installation process in a few clicks. The following are the steps to use this tool. You can follow these steps to install Windows 10 on a hard drive for another computer.

Part 1. Create a system image of the Windows 10 computer.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup on your computer, and click Create Backup on the home screen and then hit the big question mark to select backup contents.

Step 2. To back up your Windows operating system, click "OS" to begin the backup task.

Step 3. Your Windows operating system information and all system related files and partitions will be automatically selected so you don't need to do any manual selection at this step. Next, you'll need to choose a location to save the system image backup by clicking the illustrated area.

Step 4. The backup location can be another local drive on your computer, an external hard drive, network, cloud or NAS. Generally, we recommend you use an external physical drive or cloud to preserve the system backup files. 

Step 5. Customiztion settings like enabling an automatic backup schedule in daily, weekly, monthly, or upon an event, and making a differential and incremental backup are available in the Options button if you're interested. Click "Backup Now", and the Windows system backup process will begin. The completed backup task will display on the left side in a card style.

* To perform system recovery on a none-bootable machine, try to boot the computer through the EaseUS Todo Backup emergency disk.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup, click "Browse to Recover".

Step 2. Guide to your backup destination, choose the system backup file you need. (The backup file created by EaseUS Todo Backup is a pbd file.)

Step 3. Choose the recovery disk. Make sure that the partition style of the source disk and the recovery disk are the same.

Step 4. You can customize the disk layout according to your needs. Then click "Proceed" to start system backup recovery.

The Bottom Line

This article offers a practical and common way to install Windows 10 on hard drive for another computer. As long as you use EaseUS Todo Backup, installing your Windows on an external hard drive for another PC is not hard.

EaseUS Todo Backup Home can not only help you to perform a universal restore but also help you to create a WinPE emergency bootable disk and help you solve the Windows cannot create a recovery drive error. More practical features are waiting for you to unlock. Just download and try it.

FAQs

1. Can I boot Windows from another hard drive?

If you wish to boot your computer from another drive, you must first install an operating system on the drive. You have two choices: the first is to use a third-party tool to migrate your operating system from your old boot drive to the new hard drive, and the second is to clean install your Windows 10 on a new hard drive.

2. How do I install Windows 10 from one computer to another?

By logging into your account on the Microsoft website, you can remove it from your old device, install Windows 10 on your new computer, and link it to your Microsoft account to activate it.

3. Can I clone Windows 10 to another PC?

Yes, you can clone Windows 10 to another PC. You can do this by cloning the Windows 10 installation to another computer using cloning software like EaseUS Todo Backup. This will allow you to have a replica of your Windows 10 installation on the other computer.

4. Can I install Windows on a hard drive and put it in another computer?

You can, indeed. Windows will load normally if you install it using the same hardware. However, before it can be used, Windows will first detect any additional hardware and install the required drivers.