How to install Windows Vista with a USB flash drive

In general, to install Windows Vista, you need to use the Windows Vista installation CD, but Windows Vista is a fairly large operating system that requires a large number of files to be copied from the installation DVD during the installation process, which is very inefficient and Especially in the event of a CD with read errors, the need for frequent retries, efficiency is not guaranteed.

If you need to reinstall Windows Vista as often as I do, it might be a way to increase installation speed by copying Windows Vista to your hard disk, but you'll need to prepare a system boot disk for a new installation, which is relatively verbose. Therefore, if the conditions permit, the use of bootable USB memory (hereinafter referred to as USB disk) for Windows Vista installation is a choice.

Advantages of installing Windows Vista via U disk

First of all, the biggest advantage must be speed. Installation of Windows Vista via U disk, compared to CD-ROM installation, speed can be a considerable increase. -Of course, the premise is to use the better performance of the U disk.

Second, if you often need to reinstall Windows Vista, then maybe your Windows Vista installation DVD has worn out almost as much as the USB disk, and the damage to repetitive reads and writes is almost negligible, with no fear of damaging the installation media for multiple reloading.

How can I use a USB disk to install Windows Vista?

First of all, you need a high whole u disk, you need to note that the current market on the quality of U disk is uneven, and some quite poor, read and write speed is not guaranteed. Simple judgment can be checked if it can support the Windows Vista ReadyBoost function, in general, the USB memory that can support ReadyBoost function, 4K Random read speed is not less than 2.5mb/s, basically can ensure the efficiency of system installation.

Second, the U disk must have enough capacity. There are about 2.5GB of files on the Windows Vista installation DVD, and your USB drive needs to be able to accommodate these files. Of course, for high-end users, you can appropriately for the installation of the file "slimming", control it under 2GB, so you can use the capacity of 2GB u disk, otherwise, perhaps you will have to consider the 4GB u disk.

Third, the original Windows Vista installation DVD and a system with Windows Vista installed.

To create a USB Setup disk

First, we need Windows Vista, use DiskPart to partition, format, and activate the USB disk, and then copy the files from the Windows Vista installation DVD to the U disk. The specific steps are as follows:

Enter Windows Vista and open the command line with administrator privileges;

Run the DiskPart, and then enter the following command, in turn;

Select disk 1; Choose disk, of course, here's "Disk 1" For example only, if you have more than one hard drive installed on your system, the serial number will change accordingly. For the sake of safety, you can enter "list disk" in the DiskPart window to query the exact number of the U disk.

Clean; erase All information

create partition primary;

Select partition 1; Choose the partition

active; active

Format Fs=fat32;

assign; assigning mount points

Exit DiskPart

Insert the Windows Vista installation CD into the system and copy all files on it to the USB drive:

xcopy [optical drive letter:]*.*/e [u disk Letter:]

So, that's it.

Install Windows Vista with a USB drive

After the USB Setup disk is created, the next step is simply to reboot the system, enter the BIOS, and choose to boot from the USB drive--Most PCs should be able to support it--to install Windows Vista as normal as usual.

You can clearly see that the installation speed is much faster than the DVD installation.