Not really TOTALLY Vista, but I did it in Vista, so ‘nuff said.
You’re going to want at least 2GB for this. They’re hella cheap nowadays, too, so just pick up a new one if need be!
1. Download the USB version from here:
http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html
2. Extract it (use 7-Zip or another unzipping utility). Don’t delete the image just yet in case you mess up. 
3. Format your stick – and not a Quick Format, a proper format.
Computer > Right click > Format > FAT32 > Format.
4. Copy the /boot and /BT3 directories over to your newly formatted flash drive. (once the format is complete).
5. PAY ATTENTION.
IF YOU GET THIS WRONG, YOUR COMPUTER WILL NOT BOOT.
On your flash drive (NOT your hard drive) launch the X:/boot/bootinst.bat file. FROM your flash drive – so go to Computer, open your flash drives folder, enter the boot directory and double click bootinst – you might not see .bat. NOT bootinst.sh
This window will show up:
NOTE It says This installer will setup disk Z: to boot only Slax.
Z: is the drive letter of my flash drive. If it says C:, abort this as your current installation will no longer boot. DONT TYPE “X” as the window implies, close it at the top right.
I hit any key, and then it will either say Install Successful OR Install Failed and throw an error about permissions. If this happens, return to /boot and right click the bootinst.bat file, and hit Run As Administrator.
However, for me, I had a tiny problem.
When I launched with elevated permissions, I’d get C:, but when I launched normally I’d get Z:. to combat this, I turned UAC off, rebooted, and tried again. Problem solved.
6. Danaaaa! Done.
7. Now, reboot your PC with the USB flash drive plugged in. For some people, not all USB ports work, so if it refuses to work, try a different port. Also, ensure that your boot order is correct – enter the BIOS on boot (hit F2, F10, whatever it says on the bottom as you boot) then head to Boot Order and ensure that Hard Disk Drive is below all USB devices.
8. Exit and Save all BIOS changes.
9. It will boot into BT3.
10. If your screen goes black, leave it for a while – if it’s still black after five minutes, mash some random keys. If this still doesn’t work, push your power button as if you were turning the PC on again (not to reset it). This happens to me a lot. Then the screen will show up again.
Congratulations. You just created a bootable BackTrack 3 USB flash drive.
By the way, if you guys liked this/used it, just drop me a comment to let me know.
thanks a lot I kept getting the c: as a drive and turned UAC off and worked great
thnx for this i will try
Glad to help!
@Phil remember to re-enable it, just in case
thanks bro!
the note on turning off UAC control was a huge help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is another way that works well:
1) Create a shortcut to the Command Prompt on your desktop, run it as admin
2) CD into your usb drive then into the boot folder
3) Finally, run bootinst.bat, it should work perfectly
Hope this helps
Ok i am in the process of formatting my usb stick so if this does work then thanks a bunch i have been trying to find a way to do it with out having to compile a bunch of stuff in backtrack!
nice job
hai lloyd, thanks for the tutorial.
instead of running it from the drive can i just open command prompt and switch to the drive the flash drive is on. then type id cd boot then bootinsh.bat =. is that the same thing?
Hey Gabe. I’m not too sure, I’d be careful though, since you could overwrite the bootloader for your Operating System if you do it wrong, rendering your system useless!
Proceed with caution
LOL, just run cmd with admin privileges and then cd into your USB stick to run that install bat. Advising someone to turn off UAC and restart is kinda reckless and lame..
Haha, it does sound a bit dodgy but I can assure you it works
How did you start W-Lan under bt3?
My card doesn’t work at all
Hey. As far as I know, it only works with specific cards – namely ones with a scan function. Take a look on Backtracks website to see the approved ones, I use a Linksys WB500GL (or something like that, I forget the name). I have an external dongle, since the broadcom chip inside my laptop doesn’t work.
Hello. Thanks a million for the tutorial. I’m having a slight problem however. Whenever I boot on my USB, I get the ‘Operating System Not Found’ Error. Any ideas?
Did you copy all of the appropriate files?
hello ty for the tutorial
i have a problem i boot from usb then it runs a black screen with letters and stuck in something like ‘ triggering …..’ how long i have to w8?
something i forget i have vista theres any problem??
and this code where i stuck said ‘triggering udev event : /sbin/undevtrigger’
@Costas I’d wait 10 minutes before giving it another go (and if that fails, reformat and start again with a new download).
balls to 3… get on 4!
This is great, all other tutoriaLS are BS
Cool site
looking forward to reading more.
Dont worrry about blowing away your vista or windows 7 computer. fixmbr and bcdedit will resolve any mistakes.
Using Diskpart to wipe USB flash Clean:
Type in the following:
1. diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk
(enter the number that corresponds to your USB drive)
4. clean
5. create partition primary
6. select partition 1
7. active
8. format fs=fat32
9. exit
Thats a genuinely great post with needed Info. Thank you for your support.