Here are the steps you’ll need to follow in order to create a bootable USB flash drive with the Vail installer.
Having the install image on a USB flash drive means I can install Vail anywhere, plus it is faster to install than from optical media and reduces the waste of a DVD that you will throw away in a couple of months.
Most notably my HP MediaSmart Server EX475 does not recognize the only external DVD drive I own, which is an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, even though the drive works fine with every other model of MediaSmart Server as well as all the other PCs I use. No matter what type of server you are installing, I’ve found that having the Windows Home Server Vail Install DVD image on a USB flash key to be the easiest way to perform the installation.