How can I boot my own OS from a flash drive?

Question

I have written an os and put it into an iso format on my mac.

I want to put it on my flash drive, plug the flash drive into a netbook (that had windows 7 starter pre-installed when I bought it) and have the computer boot the os that I wrote instead of windows 7.

How would I do this?

Answer 1

The stick must be set with a boot-flag, and within the first blocks a special bootloader image must be placed, recognizable by the BIOS. e.g. on newer Windows NT-Systems this is bootmgr.

1. Format the USB Stick and choose the Option to format as bootable in a program that offers this option.
2. Execute BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H: (H being the Drive of the Bootstick), Bootsect is in your Boot-partition in the hidden folder 'Boot' e.g. C:\Boot
3. Copy the bootable files.

See also: http://www.intowindows.com/bootable-usb/

Answer 2

Provided the BIOS on the netbook supports booting from USB media, you will likely need to check the BIOS settings on the netbook (check the manufacturer documentation) to enable booting from USB devices. Sometimes this is enabled by default, sometimes not. You may also need to add USB devices higher in the boot order than the on-board hard drive for it to work.