You're very welcome.
You are right to here...
"download and install on the borrowed computer the windows vista SP1 WAIK
download the .exe and the 2 .wim files
start the exe and wait for the files to unpack to the new folder hopefully it is to C:\Vista
cancel the the setup"
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Then you need to download two free programs:
1. 7 Zip
http://7-zip.org/download.html
2. Download WinSetUpFromUSB right click it, and select 7zip to extract the files.
The link to download the above program is right on page 302 at the very bottom of the Vista screen shot.
Then you run the WinSetUpFrom USB, choose the WinSetUpFromUSBx64.exe file, since you are creating a 64 bit installation file, and it does the work.
You just follow the instructions & look a the WinSetUpFromUSB screen shots on pages 303-305.
It is a bit confusing to decipher all of this, but it does work, because I tested it myself.