Monday 30 March 2015

E2B 1.64 released

Just fixes two issues in 1.63

  1. Long-standing issue - If you run XP Setup, when it gets to the first 'Welcome to Setup' blue screen, it will change the Disk Signature of the internal hard disk that you are about to install XP to. If you then abandon the install by rebooting, the OS that you had on the internal hard disk may no longer boot (BSOD - 0xc000000e  inaccessible boot device).  This has now been fixed.
    Tip: It could be repaired by using 'bcdboot D:\Windows /s C:' after booting to a Windows Install ISO console window.
  2. The new version of  \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B TXT Maker.cmd caused a problem if you try to make a .txt file for a Windows Vista/7/8/10 ISO file. The 'if exist' conditional code has now been removed because it is not needed in .txt files, because the .txt file is only used if the ISO already exists.
Files are available from here as usual.

To update your E2B USB drive, download and extract the smaller non-DPMS version to a new, empty folder and then run the UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD script.

Saturday 28 March 2015

Add HitManPro to your Easy2Boot USB drive

A previous blog post here described how you can add and run HitManPro from an E2B USB Removable Flash drive (NTFS or FAT32). The E2B USB drive must be of the 'Removable' type - it won't work if your E2B  flash drive is of the Fixed-disk type (a USB HDD will not work either - Hitman will not auto-run when you boot to Windows).

HitmanPro needs to see a Removable USB drive which has some special code in the sectors at the very end of the USB drive (currently they use the very last 55 sectors).

I have written a grub4dos batch file HitManXfer.g4b (included in Easy2boot) which will transfer these sectors from a valid HitManPro USB Flash drive to the end of your E2B USB flash drive.


Friday 27 March 2015

UEFI-booting Ubuntu\Xubuntu\Voyager with persistence

As a follow-on from my previous blog post, I thought you might like to see how to boot Voyager from a .imgPTN partition image AND have a persistence file too.

Add Voyager Live to your E2B USB drive

I came across the Xubuntu-derivative Voyager today.
It also includes 'Kodi Media Centre' in the hidden right-hand menu which is Xbox Media Centre (XBMC) and it ran fine booting from an E2B USB drive under VBox (set VBox Audio to ICH AC97 to enable audio) and I was quickly watching Al Jazeera (with persistence)!


Thursday 26 March 2015

Easy2Boot v1.63 released

Changes from v1.62
  • QRUN Auto-suggest feature  - now suggests a 'better' file extension, 
  • Make_E2B and Update_E2B cmd files now asks to create a MyE2B.cfg file for language/kbd support. 
  • New grldr grub4dos 0.46a version to fix NTFS bug with + improved USB 2.0 grub4dos driver.
  • \_ISO\isoboot.g4b supported for user's own version of isoboot.g4b.
  • QEMU test boot files added to root. 
  • FreeBSD, pfSense and GhostBSD memstick images now supported. 
  • Make_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd now will detect all drives if no USB drive found in system. 
  • XP 32-bit Mass Storage DPMS drivers updated for latest chipsets.
  • Sub-Menu Maker script file improved.


Monday 23 March 2015

Add a Clonezilla Backup/Restore menu to your Easy2Boot USB HDD

If you have Easy2Boot on a large (e.g. 2TB) NTFS USB HDD, you can add a clonezilla ISO and a .mnu file to E2B. This allows you to quickly and easily make a backup of the first hard disk in all your systems (PCs, notebooks, tablets). You can then perform a 'bare-metal' restore at any later date.

The Tutorial 118 on the RMPrepUSB website gives you all the details. You don't have to save the backup images onto the E2B drive, you can connect a second USB HDD to act as the backup device and then keep it in a drawer, happy in the knowledge that you can restore any of your systems at any time in the future.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Easy2Boot DPMS now with updated XP 32-bit Mass Storage Drivers

E2B v1.63 Beta 5 (Easy2Boot_v1.63DPMSBeta5.zip) has the latest XP 32-bit Mass Storage Drivers added + a few bug fixes to fix a few issues in the DriverPack. The new version will hopefully allow XP to be installed from an ISO file onto newer systems that have more modern chipsets - e.g. Z87/Haswell.

If you have any systems (new or old) that you can install XP onto to test it, please do so and let me know if there are any problems as there may be bugs in the new DriverPack files.

As a very quick preliminary test, try the Utilities - List matching XP DriverPack.ini entries  menu option - this should identify your systems Mass Storage (e.g. AHCI) controller and tell you what driver it will use from the DriverPack. If that works then go ahead and try a 2-Stage XP install from ISO and see if it works. If it cannot find a driver, please report the PCI ID to me by using the 'Show Mass Storage Controller PCI IDs' menu entry.

Don't forget to use a USB 2.0 port and not a USB 3.0 port for the E2B USB drive!

The new Beta is in the Alternate Download Areas as usual. Unfortunately, the E2B zip file is larger than before (38MB instead of 31MB), due to the extra drivers.


Saturday 14 March 2015

MPI Tool Kit v0.045

Running .imgPTN Windows Install from a Virtual Machine

If you convert a Win7 Install ISO to a .imgPTN file and then boot in a VM to the .imgPTN file in E2B and run Setup from the CSM menu, there was a problem in that Setup would overwrite the boot code on the USB drive and thus both the E2B USB drive and the Virtual Hard Disk would not be bootable after a reboot!

Wednesday 11 March 2015

MPI Tool Kit 0.044a

Recently, there have been several instances when you cannot run the MPI_FAT32 or MPI_NTFS scripts because you need to enter a larger size than the calculated default size for the .imgPTN file.

This new version has a small change to the MPI_FAT32 and MPI_NTFS scripts.

Instead of running automatically with no user prompts, it now always prompts for the size of the .imgPTN file that it needs to create.

Normally, you will just press [ENTER] to accept the default size, but you can type in a different size instead.

Although this means it is now no longer fully automatic, I don't think pressing the [ENTER] key is too much of a price to pay for being able to override the default size.

If you wish, you can edit the .cmd files and add a * to the command that runs MakePartImage, in order to return it to its normal 'fully automated' mode.

Monday 9 March 2015

Add Knoppix+Persistence to your E2B drive

Note: this must be done using an NTFS E2B USB drive rather than a FAT32 E2B drive, because usually the .imgPTN file will be greater than 4GB for a full Knoppix OS + persistence file.


Sunday 8 March 2015

Easy2Boot 1.63 Beta 3 now supports FreeBSD 9 and 10, GhostBSD and pfSense 'memstick' images



Versions 9 and 10 of FreeBSD will not boot as an ISO, but the 1.63 Beta 3 version of Easy2Boot and the new MPI Tool Pack v0.044 do support FreeBSD 9 and 10 and pfSense 'memstick' non-UEFI images.

E2B v1.A5 and later versions now support the .isoBSD file extension and can directly MBR-boot some BSD ISO files using a small .imgPTN partition image file - see here.




GhostBSD.img files are also in the memstick format and work too.


You will need to make a dummy .imgPTN file and then add and rename the memstick .img file to remove it's file extension, as described below...

Thursday 5 March 2015

Adding FreeBSD, FreeNAS, PCBSD/TrueOS to Easy2Boot


Update: E2B 1.63 now supports FreeBSD, pfSense and GhostBSD .img files! See blog post here.

Recent versions of FreeBSD, FreeNAS, PCBSD/TrueOS ISOs do not 'just work' when copied to the E2B USB drive. However, if you can make a bootable FAT32 USB Flash drive that works correctly (e.g. using Unetbootin), then it is often possible to use the MPI Tool Kit's MakePartImage to make a .imgPTN partition image file directly from the working USB Flash drive.

Saturday 28 February 2015

E2B v1.63 Beta 2 now available


Changes from v1.62

  • QRUN now suggests a 'better' file extension than .iso if appropriate (see previous blog post)
  • \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Make_MyE2B.cfg.cmd - this will create language\keyboard settings in a new MyE2B.cfg file.
  • MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd and UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd files now will ask if you want to create a MyE2B.cfg file for language/kbd support (if one does not already exist) by calling Make_MyE2B.cfg.cmd.
  • New grldr grub4dos 0.4.6a version to fix NTFS bug
  • Small tweaks to QRUN.g4b to use language file error messages for 'not contiguous' etc.
Download it from the E2B Alternate Download Areas at bottom of page here as usual.

P.S. RMPrepUSB v2.1.728 now available, includes grub4dos 0.4.6a latest version instead of 0.4.5c version - same as latest E2B.

Thursday 26 February 2015

Add Liberte Linux with persistence to E2B


Liberte Linux is a secure, reliable, lightweight and easy to use Gentoo-based LiveUSB/SD/CD Linux distribution with the primary purpose of enabling anyone to communicate safely and covertly in hostile environments. Whether you are a privacy advocate, a dissident, or a sleeper agent, you are equally likely to find Liberté Linux useful as a mission-critical communication aid.

The latest version is 2012.3 and supports MBR and 64-bit and 32-bit UEFI-booting.

Liberte will automatically make a persistent file at \otfe\liberte.vol if an empty \otfe folder exists in the root of a FAT32 writeable storage medium. It does not seem possible to boot from the ISO with persistence however, so we must use a .imgPTN file:

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Easy2Boot v.1.63 Beta 1 suggests an alternative file extension!

I have added some more code to QRUN.g4b which looks at the file extension and the file name and will suggest an alternative file extension if it thinks that it will work better. You are only prompted if E2B thinks that it will not run correctly as a .ISO file.


As you can see, the file in the screenshot above is called ERDCommander2005.iso, but QRUN has suggested that using a file extension of .isomemwinv might be better for this ISO file.

The user must type Y within 5 seconds in order to run the ISO as if it had a .isomemwinv file extension, otherwise after 5 seconds, E2B will continue to boot the file as a .ISO file (and in this case it will fail to successfully boot!).

This feature means that naive users will be warned if they need to rename the file extension. It also means that for quick testing, you don't need to rename the file extension yourself if you forget, as you will be prompted by QRUN anyway.

Currently, it will suggest a better alternative file extension for:

  • Windows ISOs
  • WinPE ISOs
  • MSDaRT ISOs
  • MS ERD ISOs
  • XP/Bart/MiniXP/MicroXP/Windows Legacy ISOs
  • WinBuilder ISOs
  • Hirens\DLCD\Falcon 4 ISOs
  • Partition Magic ISOs
  • TrueCrypt ISOs
  • Puppy Linux ISOs
  • macpup linux ISOs
  • WDE ISOs
  • winflp ISOs
  • POS 2009 ISOs
  • ubcd4win ISOs
  • ubcd ISOs
  • haiku anyboot .image files
As it looks at the name of the payload file, it will only work if you have the correct strings in the filename - e.g. 'WIN' or 'POS'+'2009' or 'XP' or 'winbuild' . These are not case sensitive.

Please let me know if you think I could add any more or it does not suggest a correct alternative.

Thursday 19 February 2015

Minimal QEMU files for Easy2Boot


If you need to boot to Easy2Boot under a VM on a system that does not have RMPrepUSB or a VM Manager such as  Virtual Box or VMWare already installed, you can keep a copy of MobaLiveCD.exe on the E2B drive.

MobaLiveCD.exe will boot to QEMU (a CPU and system emulator) and then boot the QEMU virtual machine from the E2B USB drive.

As an alternative, you can download and unzip the BOOT_ME_USING_QEMU.zip file from the E2B Alternate Downloads Area to your E2B USB drive (it must be on the USB drive and not your internal hard disk) and then double-click on the BootUSB.cmd file to boot from the USB drive under QEMU. This should only be used to boot to the menu system or select .imgPTN files however as it does not create a virtual hard disk, does not lock the drive like RMPrepUSB does, and uses a fixed memory size of 500MB.

I may add this QEMU folder into the E2B download file, if anyone thinks this is useful, as it is only an extra 1MB.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

E2B - easily make more sub-menus with the new version 1.62

\_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd

The E2B has 7 'normal' sub-menu folders ANTIVIRUS, BACKUP, DOS, LINUX, UTILITIES, WIN, WINPE. To make a new submenu entry folder, create one and then drag-and-drop the new folder onto the Make SubMenu.cmd file to make a Main menu entry for it (it creates the required .mnu file in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder for you).



Note: with the latest version uses \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd , you can double-click on this file and it will prompt you for the name of the folder and create it for you (it still supports drag-and-drop too).

Easy2Boot v1.62 released at last!


E2B v1.62

Changes and additions since v1.61
  • New grub4dos versions 0.4.6a (default boot) and  0.4.5c
  • Clearer 'Not-Contiguous' file warning when booting directly from payload files
  • Revised Spanish language files (and small changes to German)
  • Patches for silent grub4dos startup in SampleMyE2B.cfg added. 
  • \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities .txt and .mnu maker.cmd batch files updated (can test for 32 or 64-bit CPUs). 
  • \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\Make SubMenu.cmd added - just drag-and-drop a new \_ISO\XXX folder onto it, to make a Main menu entry for it (creates the required .mnu file in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder for you).
  • grab.g4b utility added (can copy screen text to a text file - useful for reporting issues). 
  • CRC feature - if you hold down the Left-CTRL key (think 'Ctrl=Crc') whilst selecting a payload file (not a .mnu file) and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will calculate and display the CRC32 value of the file before it runs the payload file. For instance, if an ISO file does not seem to boot correctly, you can find it's CRC32 value and compare it with the CRC32 value of the original file. Note that this feature only works with files that run using QRUN.g4b  - so this CRC32 feature does not work with .mnu menu entries and Windows Install ISOs in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xx folders.
  • Run ISOBOOT - If you hold down a SHIFT key whilst selecting a (linux) ISO file (think 'Shift to isoboot') and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will run it using only isoboot.g4b - in this way you can test out the E2B isoboot feature even if your ISO file is contiguous. Note that isoboot is a 'last resort' attempt to boot a non-contiguous linux ISO - it probably won't work for old or non-standard linux ISOs and quite a few others too!
  • Monthly PIN code - use the MyE2B.cfg file to request a 4-digit pin number from the user before it will load the E2B Main menu. The user PIN code required automatically changes every month, so you will need to tell the users\technicians the new PIN code each month (prevents theft/misuse). A small Windows utility can be provided which displays the  monthly PIN numbers. The seed value can be changed so that your E2B version will have a unique set of PIN numbers. If security is compromised, just re-issue a new version with a different Seed value.
  • WinContig added to E2B USB drive - just double-click on \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd to make all files on the USB drive contiguous - no need for RMPrepUSB.
  • XP Winnt.sif ISOs supported - patches "oempreinstall=yes" line in winnt.sif file so that E2B can install some XP versions (e.g. Micro XP Pro 1.11b.iso). 
  • The payload file extensions are now not shown in menu entries by default (only their file names). Can be overridden in MyE2B.cfg (set EXTOFF=)
  • Re-organised \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files folder
  • PassPass added to Sample mnu Files folder.

File extension support

  • suffixes pwd, 64 and 32 supported - e.g. Ubuntu.iso64 will only appear in the menu on a 64-bit system. MsDaRT8.isope01pwd will ask for a password before you can run it
  • MyE2B.cfg file can contain menupwd setting to specify a different password needed to run any payload file from the menu that ends in pwd - e.g. XYZ.isopwd. 
  • .dmg, .hfs, .dmgHFS and .HFSptn for Hackintosh installer images - e.g. Yosemite-Zone.dmg supported (MBR boot)
  • .isomacpup file extension added for macpuppy ISOs
  • .haiku file extension - Haiku 'anyboot' image support - just copy haiku.image files and rename the extension to .haiku.

ISOBOOT

  • Parted magic ISO support added
  • If using 0.4.6a, the ISO files do not need to be contiguous if using ISOBOOT. i.e. no need to load the ISO into memory first.

New sample .mnu files

  • Parted Magic + persistence mnu file
  • Arcabit mnu file
  • Fix for knoppix boot from non-contiguous ISO file in isoboot.g4b
  • macpup sample .mnu file added for saving sessions on exit
  • True partition Hide/Unhide sample menu file added. 

Sunday 15 February 2015

Easy2Boot v1.62I now available


This version uses the new grub4dos 0.4.6a grldr version just released by chenall\yaya today and fixes the bug for the partnew command. Unless anyone reports any problems, this version will be released as the new 'official' v1.62 version in a few days. Please update your E2B drives and try it.

OneDrive download area

Google Drive download area

P.S. There is a new MPI Tool Pack download available - this just adds support for Acronis True Image .imgPTN files and allows you to boot a 'registered' version as well as the free\demo version.