How to Create a Bootable Disk in Vista
- 1). Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
- 2). Select the "Accessories" folder under "All Programs" in the Start menu.
- 3). Right-click the "Command Prompt" utility and select the option, "Run as administrator" to open a command prompt window.
- 4). Type your administrator user name and password if prompted.
- 5). Type "diskpart" at the command prompt and press the "Enter" key.
- 6). Type "list disk" at the command prompt and press the "Enter" key. Note the disk information and disk number listed for your USB drive.
- 7). Type the following commands (insert the disk number for your USB drive identified in Step 6 for the bracketed information):
"select disk [usb drive number]" and press the "Enter" key.
For example, if the USB drive number identified in Step 6 is "2," the command will read, "select disk 2" before pressing the "Enter" key. - 8). Type the following commands to prepare your USB drive:
"clean" (then press the "Enter" key)
"create partition primary" (then press "Enter")
"select partition 1" (press "Enter")
"active" ("Enter")
"format fs=ntfs" ("Enter") - 9). Wait for the computer to format the USB drive and type the following commands:
"assign" (then press the "Enter" key)
"exit" (then press "Enter") - 10
Insert the Vista system installation disk into your CD/DVD drive. - 11
Click "My Computer" in the Start menu to display the drive information. Note the drive letters for the CD/DVD and the USB drives. For example, the CD/DVD drive is usually assigned the "D:" drive, and the USB removable drive is usually assigned as the "G:" drive. - 12
Switch to the command prompt window and type the following command (insert the CD/DVD drive letter for the bracketed information):
"[CD/DVD drive letter]: cd boot" (then press the "Enter" key)
For example, if the CD/DVD drive is assigned as the D: drive, the command would read: "d: cd boot." - 13
Type the following commands (insert the USB drive letter for the bracketed information):
"cd boot" (then press the "Enter" key)
"bootsect.exe/nt60 [usb drive letter]:" (then press "Enter")
For example, if the USB drive is assigned as the G: drive, the second line of command would read: "bootsect.exe/nt60 g:". - 14
Type the following commands to copy the contents of the Vista installation disk to your USB drive (be sure to replace the bracketed information with your CD/DVD drive and USB drive letters respectively):
"xcopy [CD/DVD drive letter]:\*.* /s /e /[usb drive letter] [usb drive letter]:\" (then press the "Enter" key)
For example, if the CD/DVD drive is assigned as D: and the USB drive is assigned as G:, the command would read: "xcopy d:\*.* /s /e /g g:\". - 15
Close the Command Prompt window, safely eject your USB drive, and eject your installation disk from the CD/DVD drive.
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