How to install Windows Vista from your USB stick

Make sure you set the hard drive you are installing Vista to as the default boot device. Setup will automatically reboot a few times, and after the first boot, it needs to boot from the installed hard drive.

For the first boot, obviously, you need to do a one-time boot from the usb drive though.

Select Vista Setup.

You will see the familiar loading screen, same as the dvd setup.

For unattended setup, this is the first and only option screen. Click next, and the rest of setup is completely automated.

When it finishes, you will be at your Vista Desktop.

Accessing System Recovery

Since Vista bypasses the "Install Now" screen whenever it finds autounattend.xml, you also loose the "Repair your Computer" option on that screen. It is still available however. At the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen from above, press shift-F10. This will bring up the command window. Enter "cd recovery" then "recenv".

Select English. Click Next.

It will search for a Vista installation on your hard disk.

Whether or not it finds one, you will then be at the Recovery Screen. To restore your bootmgr if it gets corrupted or deleted, just click on Startup Repair.