Boot Fedora and CentOS directly from ISO using grub4dos

I have added another small tutorial on how to boot Fedora 20 and CentOS 7 directly from an ISO file using grub4dos.

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/126_Fedora

I found that they are rather fussy in their requirements...

E2B v1.61Beta 2 available

v1.61 Beta2 has these additions (compared to v1.60):

1. Italian language files added (thanks to Fabrizio)
2. Can specify both a specific ISO and XML file for a single Windows Install ISO from a mnu file.
3. German language STRINGS.txt improved.
4. isoboot.g4b added to boot some non-contiguous linux ISOs,
5. Fix problem with F1 menu heading
6. Better menu heading positioning using HEADPOS variable, menus left-aligned, Footer Help text directly positioned by HBTM variable.

MPI Tool Pack updated to v0.040

Devadev found that the default partition size calculated by MakePartImage was not quite large enough for one particular ISO, so I have slightly increased the volume size in the new version.

However, whilst testing this on my Windows 7 64-bit notebook, I found that the code I use to display the amount of free space in the virtual volume did not work. The code I used was this (simplified):

WMIC.EXE LogicalDisk Where DeviceID="C:" Get DeviceID,FileSystem,FreeSpace  /Format:csv

It turns out that the /Format:csv part was causing the problem and generating the error message:

Invalid XSL format (or) file name.

By Googling I found that this switch only works on en-US locale systems! Nice one Microsoft - not everyone in the world lives in the US! Still not fixed by a Windows 7 update!

Easy2Boot 1.61Beta1 available

v1.61Beta1

• STRINGS.txt files updated.
• Can now have .mnu files for Windows Install ISOs menu entries in Main menu which specify both the .ISO file AND the .XML file to use. The ISOs must go in the usual \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxx folders.
• Updated grub4dos versions.
• Menu Heading positions changed and HEADPOS now easier. Menu headings are now left-aligned instead of being centred. 
• Help text Footer text no longer padded out by HPAD, so HBTM determnes it's absolute position in the menu.
• \_ISO\docs\mythemes and \_ISO\docs\Templates files updated
• \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file updated (HEADPOS)
• Bugfix - menu headings on submenus not always moved if HEADPOS used.

Add multiple WindowsToGo MBR+UEFI payloads to your E2B USB drive

If you want to UEFI-boot from a WindowsToGo .imgPTN file on Easy2Boot, the system partition needs to be FAT32 to support UEFI-booting.

Easy2Boot v1.60 now released

No problems reported in last two days, so I have released v1.60.
This version should be faster to boot to the Main menu on slower systems (especially if you make a new E2B drive from scratch).

Don't forget to use the new \UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd file to update your existing E2B USB drive (requires RoboCopy which is already included on Vista/7/8 systems), otherwise you will get multiple menu entries for the sub-folders!

E2B v1.60 Beta6 now available

• New grub4dos (fixes minor issue of cursor left on screen when p for password is pressed)
• wimboot file added

Two new Introductory E2B videos uploaded

E2B 1.60Beta2 now uploaded. Includes an Update script that will automatically update your v1.5 E2B drives.

Easy2Boot 1.60 Beta 1/2/3/4

In an attempt to speed up file enumerations as E2B boots, I have modified E2B so that the number of .mnu files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder is reduced.

Easy2Boot_v1.60Beta1.zip is now available on the Alternate Download sites at the bottom of the Download page.

Use RoboCopy to update your E2B USB drive

I use RoboCopy (included in Windows Vista and later versions) to update all my E2B USB drives to the latest version.

I have a UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD file in the same folder as my new E2B files (after unzipping them).

To update any E2B USB drive with the new version, I just double-click the CMD file and enter the drive letter. It then copies the new files over but does not bother copying any unaltered files, resulting in a much faster update as only the files with a different size or timestamp are copied.

Only 1 file has been updated as all the others were already present and current,

My version excludes copying over all .zip files and the UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD file itself by using the /XF switch. Note that the /MT:1 parameter ensures only one execution thread is used (the robocopy default is 8) and this ensures that the files have the best chance of being contiguous (a multi-threaded copy tends to cause fragmentation of large files).

@echo off
cls
echo.
color 1f
echo %~n0
echo.
echo COPY ALL FILES FROM %~dp0
echo.
echo TO THE ROOT OF ANOTHER DRIVE
echo.
echo Only new and changed files are copied.
echo.
set ask=%1
if "%ask%"=="" set /P ask=Enter Drive Letter to copy files to (e.g. E) : 
if "%ask%"=="" goto :EOF
REM exclude .zip files and this file
robocopy %~dp0 %ask%:\ /E /NFL /NDL /NJH /MT:1 /XF *.zip %~nx0
pause