I use Ventoy here. I installed it to a 128GB SAMSUNG FIT Plus 3.1 USB Flash Drive using Windows 11, and I’ve never encountered issues with it. Interesting . . . but I don’t doubt you that it’s a box of tricks.
The thing I like about my Ventoy disk is that I can use it with Secure Boot enabled on my computers, and when I disable the feature for those images that don’t support it, Ventoy tells me Secure Boot’s disabled when I boot it up - nice for those times when I forget to re-enable Secure Boot after using something like my System Rescue image (I use System Rescue to manage partitions or troubleshoot issues) that doesn’t support Secure Boot, then re-boot into the Ventoy drive to use another live image/install another distro, etc.
Hi Ernie,
I am not running down Ventoy.
It is just not the best thing to use when there are problems like Rosika has at present.
When facing a difficult issue, you want every tool as simple and bug free as possible.
Regards
Neville
I didn’t think you were doing that. It’s not in your nature , and I agree, she will probably be best served to put the image she wants to install onto it’s own USB drive, just to see if that resolved her issue.
I just wish we had more/better information about the features offered in the computer’s UEFI interface. She could complete the Windows setup, then create a whole disk image (saved to an external drive), wipe the system drive (including the EFI partition). That should remove any boot-up configuration. With all that done, she may be able to boot from the Ventoy (or another) USB drive successfully. I know that’s a nuclear option, but at this point, she seems to be running out of choices.
If she still can’t boot the USB drive after wiping the system disk, she can restore the contents of the image she created before wiping the disk What do you think?
Once the CI policy is enabled on a system, it is enabled in two places:
Windows 11 in S mode, enforced at boot.
EFI firmware policy, enforced during firmware load and OS boot.
If I read it correctly, UEFI provides a way to be locked down to serve purposes of the “S mode” .
So you may be right, and I pledge for your pardon, please forgive me my strong disbeliefs in your statements! - Still wondering how it was possible to boot Ventoy that one time?
If it were Rosika’s own machine, the simplest thing would be to take the SSD out, and use a new clean one for Linux.
but that is not an option.
So I guess she has to backup and wipe the disk , if Linux is required.
The only other option is to keep W11.
Ventoy may have opened but nothing would run, since no commands will run under S mode.
Also if one digs a little deeper S mode becomes even more intriguing, W10 and W11 have, in the “Windows directory” a folder called “panther” that contains an “unattended xml file” that contains the code for S mode, I do not have any S mode devices to confirm, but I do have the “panther” folder in both of my W11 machines.
Since software can only be installed, in S mode, from the App Store, the switch to take the device out of S mode, will indeed have to be ran from the App Store.
Or download an W11 ISO and mount and install W11 from within W11 S mode.
Agreed . . . but I still wouldn’t ignore the nuclear option provided she tell her friend what she’s about to do and all possible ramifications.
If her ex-neighbor agrees, a clean new drive may be the safest option. Since the computer is booting with an unformulated drive and a USB device, it may successfully boot from the USB device. If so, she may be able to install Linux then.
Rosika, if your ex-neighbor is willing to get a new, clean SSD drive for her computer, you may be able to install GNU/Linux using it. When I look on Amazon, I see 1TB SATA III drives starting as low as $42.99(US), and M.2 1TB drives starting as low as $43.99(US). What do you think?
That time when I met a laptop in S mode, it was impossible to install anything useful. I mean, NO Thunderbird, NO Firefox, NO Chromium, etc…
I agree, @Rosika 's friend won’t need GIMP or Total Commander on WindowS, but how can one live without an acceptable browser?
Maybe, but if this is true, that poses a big problem from my point of view: If the drive in the computer fails (all drive fail sooner or later), and it’s replacing is impossible without getting it out of “S” before, but doing it is impossible because of the failed drive…
Do we have a brick then?
To summarize, what I would try in the situation in this order:
1 - check that Ventoy drive if it works as usual in othe computer? (make sure it is not defect)
2 - try to boot dedicated install/Clonezilla pendrives without Ventoy involved. If they work, goto 4.
3 - if step 2 still fails, finalize Windows installation, and get out of “S”.
After that retry step 2, maybe retry with Ventoy too.
If pendrives are still unbootable, stop here, and do more investigation why they aren’t bootable.
4. So Clonezilla and install medium are bootable. Fire up Clonezilla, backup the whole internal drive. After that wipe it completely, even dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4K count=4096 where sdX is the internal drive. That wipes partition table, and it’s possible to start over with the drive as it was brand new, never formatted.
Then install the desired distro…
For email their is Outlook, for the browser their is Edge, which has become very stable. Other browser can be installed from the app store and perhaps even Thunderbird, and I am sure Firefox, only the default browser cannot be changed.
If all this users, is doing, is checking email I simply see no need to exit S mode, especially for a user that expresses no interest in learning, anything about using any computer.
Yes, I did.
There are just 2 USB ports available. A 2.0 and a 3.0.
I read somewhere it´s best to use USB2.0 for booting as the 3.0 protocol might not be supported at that time. I don´t know whether this is correct though.
Hmm, does WIN offer the possibility to do that?
Can it be done from a running WIN system?
Well, I don´t think she would be willing to go down that road.
Thanks for the link, Daniel. I´ll have a thorough look at it.
Not quite so, I think.
As mentioned earlier I could get clonezilla to run (via ventoy ) once.
Clonezilla live started and I was about to save WIN.
In the end I ran into some difficulties. But that had something to do with the attached external HDD.
To be precise: clonezilla actually did start via ventoy.
I´ll have to look it up. No idea how that´s done.
Damn business… .
Great.
Thank you so much, Laszló.
This sounds like a plan.
I just want to add the following:
Not running WIN on that very laptop seems to be desirable (if it can be done).
Here are some points to consider:
It has always been me who has used her laptop. She herself never switched in on. Not even once. So it´s basically me who has to put up with the OS.
And - to tell you the truth - I don´t have the slightest inclination to deal with WIN.
Any problem she (or rather: I ) would run into would have to be tackled by me. No way I´m going to do that.
I very much doubt that this laptop would be able to handle WIN well.
The other laptop (the HP one, which she gave to her daughter) was exactly the same price and it couldn´t handle WIN in the least. To save it I had to put Bodhi Linux (later Linux Lite) on it. That was the only way.
Why should it be different then with this one? Odds are the installed hardware is overwhelmed with trying to get some use out of it…
It should be a matter of principle to get some Linux distro going on the device.
It might be important for anyone of us in the future. So it´s gradually becoming some kind of personal concern for me.
If you - for whatever reason - need to power up a rescue system…
… in this case booting from a usb port or optical drive is essential
Many thanks to all of you and many greetings from Rosika
A fully updated Win-11 Pro system has a brand new backup function, but I don’t use it here. I use Macrium reflect instead. It creates image files containing all the partitions you select in the UI. The only issue would be that you’ll have to complete the initial Windows setup, then get it out of S-mode (I’ll look up how to do that and add a new reply to this item) and download Macrium Reflect (you can use it for free for a limited period of time with no restrictions, so that should work for your needs).
UPDATE:
I dis a web search and found this item:
In the article the reader is directed as follows:
How do I disable Windows S Mode?
Again, once you disable Windows S Mode, you cannot go back to it.
O.K., that should be doable.
Hang on, I think I already found it out:
On your PC running Windows 10 in S mode, open Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
Find the Switch to Windows 10 Home or Switch to Windows 10 Pro section, then select the Go to the Store link.
On the page that appears in Microsoft Store (Switch out of S mode or a similar page), select the Get button. After you confirm this action, you’ll be able to install apps from outside Microsoft Store.
P.S.:
I just saw you updated your answer.
Thanks a lot, Ernie. I will definitively try to opt out of WIN´s S mode.
Thanks also for the link
That’s great, at least you’ll figure out whether the issue is with Windows ‘S’ mode or not. I hope that’s the only issue you’ll have to deal with . . .
Hi Rosika,
That external hdd was on a usb port?
and
you cant boot from a usb port
I hope the usb port is not defective… have to get out of S mode to be able to test it.
Regards
Neville
Yes, Neville, it was.
There are just 2 usb ports available on that laptop (USB2.0 and USB3.2).
One of them hosted the ventoy USB-stick, the other hosted the external HDD.
The WIN backup was supposed to be stored on that HDD.
I fear I don´t quite understand, Neville.
The ventoy stick is a USB device after all.
Apart from that: I myself do it every day.
My Linux Lite 6.2. OS resides on an external 1TB HDD, which is attached to a USB port.
It even is USB2.0.
Booting from it has been working just fine for years now.
I meant that both the boot failure and the clonezilla failure involved usb ports. Therefore there may be a fault in the
internal usb hub.
When you get into W11, see if the usb ports work.
, and I agree, she will probably be best served to put the image she wants to install onto it’s own USB drive, just to see if that resolved her issue.
) once.
.
