Bootable CD to a Bootable USB

 USB cable, close up

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Most operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) 

include a bootable CD or DVD that your computer can 

boot from if the operating system goes bad. Many netbooks 

and ultraportable laptops, however, no longer include the 

optical drive necessary to use these discs. Fortunately, 

if your computer has no optical drive, you can still use 

a boot disc made from an inexpensive USB flash drive. s

You'll need to use a computer with an optical drive to 

set the USB drive up, but once it's bootable, you can use 

it on almost any newer computer.

Windows

Step 1

Put the CD into your computer's optical drive and plug 

the flash drive into a USB port on your computer. 

Open the Command Prompt (found under "Accessories" in the Start menu).

list

Step 2

Type "diskpart" at the command prompt and press the 

"Enter" key. Type "list disk" and press "Enter." 

Find and note the number next to your flash drive 

in the list that appears. If you're not sure which 

entry represents your flash drive, try looking at the 

disk capacity part of the list for a hint.

clean

Step 3

Type "select disk 1", substituting the number by your 

flash drive for "1". Type the following commands one at 

a time and press "Enter" after each command: "clean", "

create partition primary", "select partition 1", "active", 

"format fs=fat32", "assign" and "exit".

Step 4

Type "xcopy d:/s/e/f g:", with the drive letter of your

 CD drive instead of "d" and the drive letter of your 

flash drive instead of "g". Press "Enter." 

When the files have copied, your flash drive is bootable.