In one or more embodiments, hardware configuration state data for specialization of a portable installation of an operating system may be stored on a per hardware configuration basis. Specializations may include designation of boot start drivers, driver settings, device settings, and other state data that may vary based on hardware configurations of different machines on which the portable operating system is loaded. In a pre-boot environment, an identity of the current computing device is resolved and used to look-up corresponding hardware configuration state data that is available. When booting of the operating system on a new computing device is detected, the operating system is loaded using default state settings. An optimization routine may then be performed to create and store hardware specific hardware configuration state data for the computing device that defines specializations for subsequent boots of the operating system on the computing device.