USB Boot?

[BScottRockr]

I have been trying to get my external USB drive to be bootable. I have used WinUSB Maker and it has said that the drive was successfully created but when I try to boot from it, nothing happens. I am trying to reinstall vista business on my sisters old laptop so she can use it for her college courses online. 

Before you tell me to go get a new laptop, I am flat broke with $.38 to my name (thanks covid) and she is not much better. it is a Dell Inspiron 1300, Pentium M @ 1.7GHz, 2G Ram, 5400rpm HDD, WLAN and a dead DVD-R/W. the USB drive is an old 320G laptop drive I have hooked up to a USB-IDE/SATA adapter. I could use some ideas on how to fix it please.

[ProjectBox153]

It isn't going to be fast, but have you looked into using Linux on that laptop? Windows Vista hasn't been supported in years and no software supports it anymore.

[AndreiArgeanu]

It might be a better idea to install Ubuntu, it runs better and the setup allows you to install it to a USB drive instead of a hard drive.

[BScottRockr]

She is older than me by 8 years (I'm 49) and she barely knows how to use XP plus I have about 3 different Vista Business Product keys/ Licenses already. I run it on one of my Dell Latitude laptops and it runs perfect. I think the vista business is based on the XP platform. I tried putting linux on it (Mint, Debian, Ubuntu) and I could not get the WLAN drivers to install so I could do a net install and the same issue with the USB install. (damn dead DVD R/W, ISOs would be so easy to use right about now)

[ProjectBox153]

7 minutes ago, BScottRockr said:

She is older than me by 8 years (I'm 49) and she barely knows how to use XP plus I have about 3 different Vista Business Product keys/ Licenses already. I run it on one of my Dell Latitude laptops and it runs perfect. I think the vista business is based on the XP platform. I tried putting linux on it (Mint, Debian, Ubuntu) and I could not get the WLAN drivers to install so I could do a net install and the same issue with the USB install. (damn dead DVD R/W, ISOs would be so easy to use right about now)

Vista Business is not based on XP. I understand that Linux is a bit different than Windows, but for such an old and slow laptop it's a far better option than Vista. It may be worth your time to get the Wi-Fi drivers installed on Linux (I would recommend Mint) if that laptop is going to be put to use. 

[BScottRockr]

she has a HP Pavilion x360 lap with windows 10 that I just fixed for her today too.  That one was easy to fix. just reboot and download/install all the updates from the last 1-2 years (43 in total) it took 3 hours to finish. LOL. Her inspiron is where she downloads all her school files and completes her assignments since it has way more room on it. keep in mind, she is stubborn and she is the client so I have to give her what she sks for.