E2B v1.A1h Beta now available with new default background

You can download E2B v1.A1h here. It includes the new default background file.

eBook #2 (in PDF format)

The first draft revision of the eBook #2 is entitled 'How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot' and mainly deals with the various scenarios for installing Windows 10 from E2B.
It goes into some detail about the Windows Setup stages and XML configuration files, as well as how to automate a Windows 10 build. Windows XP is not covered.

The eBook contents are listed below:


If you are prepared to work through the eBook and the Exercises and give me constructive feedback, I will send the first five people who contact me a free copy of the PDF (if you promise to give feedback within 14 days).

Contents (rev 0.1)

Glossary. 5
Introduction - Please read! 9
'Fixed-disk' or 'Removable-disk'?. 9
'How-to' articles. 9
Free Bonus! 9
Feedback. 10
Important tips. 10
Choosing your USB drive. 12
Testing USB drive speed. 13
Size is important - 'BIOS BAD'! 13
Removable USB drives. 14
Fixed-disk USB drives. 15
SD cards (not recommended) 17
Using USB drives with computers. 17
Make an E2B drive. 18
Make an E2B WinHelper Flash drive. 19
How to use the WinHelper Flash drive. 20
Troubleshooting when using an E2B USB WinHelper flash drive. 21
What is on the E2B drive?. 23
Files in the top level (root) folder 23
E2B Menu folders. 24
\_ISO\docs folder 24
\_ISO\e2b folder 24
Adding your personal files. 24
Updating E2B. 24
Booting to E2B. 25
Legacy\MBR\BIOS\CSM... 25
UEFI 25
Test the E2B menu using ‘QEMU Menu test’ 26
Exercise 1: Test using QEMU.. 26
Booting on a real system.. 29
Legacy BIOS. 29
UEFI Systems. 29
Exercise 2: Boot to the E2B menu. 31
Using E2B. 32
Add some ISOs (add payload files) 32
About the E2B Menu Folders. 32
The 'Special' Sub-Menu folders. 33
\_ISO\AUTO.. 33
\_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxx. 33
Where to put Windows Install ISOs. 34
All-In-One Install ISOs. 35
Adding Windows Install ISOs and .imgPTN files. 35
List of tested payload files. 36
Make files contiguous. 37
Defraggler. 37
Methods of Installing Windows 8\10 using E2B. 38
Windows Install - the traps, pitfalls and workarounds. 38
About Windows 8\10 Activation. 40
Installing Windows from an ISO.. 41
MBR Windows 8\10 Install from ISO file. 43
Exercise 3: Windows 10 Install from ISO (MBR-boot) 43
Exercise 4: Windows 10 Install from ISO (MBR-boot) automated install 47
Exercise 5: Windows 10 Install from ISO (MBR-boot) with pre-set UserName and ComputerName. 48
Exercise 6: Windows 10 Install from ISO (MBR-boot) with ComputerName pre-set to the PC Serial number. 51
About Windows Setup XML Answer Files. 54
How Windows searches for a valid XML file. 54
WindowsPE pass. 56
Setup log files. 57
Specialize pass. 57
oobeSystem pass. 57
Windows Product Keys and Image Index Numbers. 57
How to add more .KEY and .XML files to E2B. 61
.KEY files. 61
List of installation-only Product Keys. 62
.XML Files. 62
How to make your own unattend XML file. 64
Exercise 7: Make your own Windows 10 unattended XML file. 64
XMLtoE2B. 67
Tips and Tricks with XML files. 68
ComputerName. 68
Product Key. 68
User Accounts\User Name. 69
SkipMachineOOBE. 69
Administrator Account 69
WipeDisk. 69
Troubleshooting Windows Setup errors. 70
SDI_CHOCO (automated install of drivers and applications) 71
How SDI_CHOCO works. 71
Order of execution. 72
.tag files. 72
The \_ISO\WINDOWS\installs folder structure. 73
Exercise 8: Automating a Win10 installation using SDI_CHOCO.. 74
Testing Chocolatey. 77
SDI (Snappy) 78
How to add another SDI_CHOCO configuration set 79
Exercise 9: Add the SDI_ONLINE_APPS configuration set 80
SDI_CHOCO tips. 81
SDI_CHOCO - installing offline packages and ChocBox. 83
Exercise 10: How to add an offline Chocolatey package using ChocBox. 83
How to add your own offline packages. 87
Exercise 11: Create a WinRar 64-bit offline package. 87
WinNTSetup. 89
Exercise 12: Use WinNTSetup to install Windows 10. 90
Using WinNTSetup on UEFI-only systems. 94
UEFI Booting. 96
UEFI and E2B. 96
MemTest86 .imgPTN file. 98
Exercise 13: UEFI-boot to MemTest86 using an .imgPTN file. 98
MakePartImage and the MPI Tool Kit. 103
.imgPTN File extensions. 103
Adding suffixes. 103
Switching in a .imgPTN image. 104
Exercise 14: UEFI Windows 10 install 105
About installing Windows from 'flat-files' and the unattend.xml file. 109
Exercise 15: Automated UEFI Windows 10 install 109
Workarounds for \AutoUnattend.xml not detected. 111
Exercise 16: How to add multiple XML files into a .imgPTN file (+files >4GB) 111
What if the Windows Install file is larger than 4GB?. 114
Alternative method for >4GB files using an NTFS partition. 116
Exercise 17: UEFI-boot to an NTFS partition (no need to split a large Install.wim file) 116
Support for E2B. 118
Appendix. 119
Valid file extensions for files in the \_ISO\WINDOWS subfolders. 119
.ISO files. 119
.imgPTN files. 119
.TXT files. 119
Acknowledgements. 120

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