Here's a very easy way and undocumented (I think) way to make a Vista boot disk.

1) In Vista, format a floppy disk. Do not make a MS-DOS startup disk.
2) Boot into another OS or WinPE or BartPE (whatever OS gives you access to Vista files).
3) Copy "bootmgr" file from root of Vista to the root of floppy.
4) Create a folder called "Boot" on floppy.
5) Copy "BCD" file from "Boot" folder on floppy. Rest of the files in "Boot" are not necessary.

If you are dual booting, then your "bootmgr" and "BCD" may be in your other OS partition.

Also, if you have a dual-boot system with XP and Vista, you can also boot XP from the floppy. Copy bootmgr, BCD as described above and also add to the root of the floppy ntdetect.com, boot.ini, and ntldr.

Note that bootmgr and BCD reside on the active, primary partition. So if XP is the active partition and is the primary partition, then Vista boot files will be in the XP partition. This occurs when you install Vista from within XP.

Addendum

Note: for the purposes of creating XP-only, Vista-only, or XP/Vista dual-boot floppies as described in Multi-boot Vista and Other OSes with Grub Menu, you should change your "Startup and Recovery Settings" in Advanced System Properties from within Vista. Save the settings, boot to XP, then copy the modified bcd file to floppy. You must do this each time you change the settings.

Addendum 2:

This boot disk will only work on your system and not some else's system. This is because bcd contains a unique GUID for your Vista installation.

Hi!
I think this is faster and doesn't require booting in another OS:

-> open a command prompt with administrative privileges and type these 3 commands:


The C:\Boot\BCD* files are locked because they are loaded as hives in registry.
Tested on my Vista 64 with sata-Raid0 C: and it works.

HTH
Davide.