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The computer will check the external and report that it has Windows Vista but it will not go any further, it justs stops with ‘this computer has no HDD and wants me to click OK to shut down. I try restarting even with the Toshiba repair wizard discs yet it will not do a full start using the USB. I am guessing the USB is to slow for the PXE ROM to communicate back and forth in coordination. It is quite frustrating, especially when the silly thing asks if I want to notify Microsoft of the problem booting up!

I've built a few computers, but honestly have never tried booting windows from an external HDD. Perhaps things are not always as simple as we think they should be. I'm afraid your problem requires more expertise than I can give you. Maybe someone else will chime in.

I just googled > boot windows vista from an external hard drive <

Looks like the answer is -- you have to virtualize the Vista system and the virtual hard drive can reside on any drive.

VMware Player

I may have to look into this myself. I have an old machine I would like to integrate with a new computer.