Thanks to this thread I finally got Windows 8.1 proper (not PE) booting up successfully on my modern laptop using both SATA and NVMe SSDs in USB3 enclosures using Win2Go through Rufus. Works great although obviously can't have GPU drivers and sound would probably be a tough ask but I anyway use an external audio dongle so that's not an issue. HOWEVER, it seems to just randomly BSOD with the wdf01000.sys file and for the life of me I can't figure out what is wrong. The only other indicator of any kind of hardware issue is that if I open CrystalDiskInfo, one of the two internal NVMe SSDs shows that is completely dead which it is not and it works fine and delivers perfect SMART data to any other OS. These issues are non-existent in WinPE images. It seems that Windows 8.1 and 10 1511-1703 (all non-PE of course) are cursed on Ryzen as I've also had issues when trying to run modded Win10 1511 off external media on my desktop although the desktop is generally more compatible with 8.1 ISOs so it's not as bad as the laptop situation. The common denominator for the old Win10 build issues and the Win8.1 issue this post is about is that it is always a an IRQL not less or equal BSOD. I am guessing it may be some platform weirdness of simply some older generic Windows drivers not playing well with the not exactly fully intel-compatible instruction support on Ryzen. I know 8.1 also has problems on 8th gen Intel chips unless you use custom PE images, and of course 8PE on my current laptop just throws a BSOD. Anyone know what is going on with Win8.1 non-PE and/or the 8PE problem?
Laptop specs:
Asus FA507RE
32GB DDR5-4800
RTX3050Ti
Ryzen 7 6800H
Samsung 9801TB + 970 EVO 2TB (internal Win10 and storage space respectively)
Desktop:
HP TG01-023W
32GB DDR4-2667
GTX1650 Super
Ryzen 5 3600
Samsung 980 1TB (Internal Win10) + Crucial 2TB SATA of some kind in an enclosure (external storage, internal SATA ports are messed up)