That is, a Windows must be booted and run completely from an external drive, be able** to save settings** and data, and all other stuff – perform all the things that a Windows installed normally, on an internal drive, does.
As far as I know, WinToGo doesn’t work anymore. And I even have never used it anyway.
What works nowadays? Will Rufus be able to do this?
Put the drive inside the machine. Install Windows. Put drive in external enclosure. I’ve done this and it works. Windows doesn’t want to install to an external drive but once it’s on there it chugs along without issues.