Ive been scouring the internet all day.. and this should not be so damn complex. Making a bootable XP disk is a joke, but Microsoft has changed things with Vista... All I want to do is take a a direct ISO clone of the Vista DVD and burn a bootable disk.. There is not a boot ima file like in XP so i have no idea what to tell Nero to use as the Image file. why is this so complex. Please someone be my savior before i throw my laptop across the room. ahhhhhhhhhh.

Check to see if tacktech.com has an ISO that will do what you need. If you have an exact ISO image, however, you shouldn't need to do anything but create the DVD from the image. If the image isn't bootable for some odd reason... then you would require a bootable image and tacktech.com is a good place to check.

How to create a Vista SP1 slipstream install DVD
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/ [...] n-dvd.html

How to do a complete backup and restore:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/ [...] puter.html

How to create a Recovery Disc:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/ [...] -disc.html