If you haven’t already, plug in your USB stick. Open your Start menu and click “Computer”. From here you should be able to see your USB stick.

Next right-click on your USB stick and select “Properties”. Go to the “ReadyBoost” tab and make sure “Stop testing this device” is checked. If there is no checkbox, your USB stick already works with ReadyBoost and you shouldn’t even be reading this tutorial. Click “OK” and unplug your USB stick.

Now comes the fun part where you have to dig around in the Windows registry. Open your Start menu, type regedit in the search field, and press enter. After accepting the UAC dialog, the Registry Editor should open up.

Using the left folder pane, navigate your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > EMDMgmt. In the left pane you should now see a list of USB devices that Vista has tested. Find the one for the USB stick you’re using and click on it. A list of values concerning your USB stick will be displayed.

Double-click the DeviceStatus entry, change the value to 2, and click OK. Use the same method for the entries ReadSpeedKBs and WriteSpeedKBs, but change their values to 1000. Go ahead and close the Registry Editor. Phew! You’ve made it through the toughest part!

Pop in your USB stick, go to the Start menu, and click Computer. Open up the Properties for your USB stick once again and click the ReadyBoost tab. Select “Use this device” and adjust the amount of reserved space for ReadyBoost to whatever you want. Click OK to save the changes.

That’s it! You’re done! Now Windows Vista will use your USB stick to run system tasks in the background.