Wednesday 16 March 2016

E2B v1.78n Beta available (at last!)

Latest version 2016-03-16 of grub4dos included (seems stable)!

Default appearance, if you say 'Yes' to the Animation prompt when you make a
new E2B USB drive using MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd.
E2B Boilerplate + rotating E2B icon will overlay the menu.

New Templates

The new MyE2B.cfg template files can be found in the \_ISO\docs\Templates\Animate and LargeFont folders.


LargeFont MyE2B.cfg demo (set to GMODE=1024)
The E2B icon rotates + 4 stamps!




LargeFont MyE2B.cfg demo (set to GMODE=800) + DNA Animation file added
The DNA model rotates (120 frames)
Download the DNA Animation zip file and copy DNA.ima to \_ISO folder.


Protect.cmd scripts

Protect.cmd can now be used to protect and encrypt any file on the E2B USB drive (or just double-click on it to protect the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file). Just open two Windows Explorer windows on the USB drive and drag-and-drop a file onto the Protect.cmd file to protect or unprotect it from prying eyes. Grub4dos can still read any file you protect (such as all .mnu, .g4b, .lst, .cfg, .mnu, .txt).

Tip: configure Windows Explorer to display hidden and system files or you won't be able to see it afterwards!

Possible files you might like to protect are:

\ root folder:
  \menu.lst
\_ISO folder:
   MyE2B.cfg
\_ISO\e2b\grub folder:
  E2B.cfg
  menu.lst
  QRUN.g4b
  QAUTO.g4b
  tp.g4b (if you use the PIN entry password feature)

These can all be quickly protected or unprotected by running the Protect_E2B_Files.cmd script. It doesn't matter what User account you run the script from, it will lock the files to the file 'Owner' (usually, the account that created the files). Protect.cmd displays the Owner of the file before you choose an option (if the file is accessible).

The Owner of the file is shown by Protect.cmd...

You can add more to the script if you wish (but rename the .cmd file so that it does not get overwritten when you update the E2B drive with a newer version!).

When an NTFS file is protected, only the original 'Owner' can access it. You should not notice any difference, but if you log in using a different Windows account, the protected files will not be visible or accessible, even to an Administrator.

Protect.cmd displays the owner of the file (using dir /q) - if the file is accessible.
You can also determine the Owner of a file by right-clicking on the file and selecting - Properties - Security - Advanced. This is only possible if you have access rights though!



If you run the Protect.cmd script to protect the files when you are not using the 'Owner's' account (i.e. you are using a different Windows user account) then you can 'Protect' the files using the Protect.cmd script but they will disappear and become inaccessible because you are not the 'Owner' (usually the account that created the file is the Owner).

If you run the Protect.cmd script using a different user account, or even run it as Administrator, it will not unprotect the files. Only the Owner can unprotect them. You can distribute E2B with this script because it will not be able to access the protected files unless it is being run by the Owner.

If you are having problems with using the Protect.cmd script or accessing files on the E2B USB drive, first run Reset_Permissions_on_Drive.cmd to take ownership of all files on the E2B USB drive.

The script Reset_Permissions_on_Drive.cmd can be copied and run from anywhere (e.g. the Desktop) and resets the permissions on all files and folders on the specified drive. It sets the 'Owner' to the current username too. For security reasons, delete this file if you want to prevent users from being able to defeat the file protection. It does not work on XP systems due to the lack of an icacls command. You may need to run it 'as Admin' in some cases.

For information on icacls see here.

Other changes

  • E2B now supports up to ten stamps - STAMP1 to STAMP10.
  • Some of the .f24 fonts have been moved to the \_ISO\docs\Fonts folder.
  • A new Change_Fonts24.mnu sample menu file has been added so you can test the .f24 fonts.
  • If you just specify FONTH=24, then E2B will load the Simplified Chinese sft.f24 font and the developerbold.f24 font by default. User can specify any additional 24-pixel high font using the FONT variable.
  • MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd script now adds the E2B icon animation and the BoilerPlate stamp if you say 'Yes' to the Animation prompt.
  • Example of how to change date format of HEADING in Sample_MyE2B.cfg (new %year%, %month% and %day% variables can be used).
  • Various bugfixes
  • The suffixes 'pwd' '32' or '64' and 'AUTO' can be combined and 'AUTO' can be used on any .imgPTNxxx file extension. Suffixes must be in the order <AUTO><pwd><32/64>. .vhd files cannot be used with suffixes (must keep as .vhd).
          Example of filename extension suffix use:
          Dium.imgPTNlbaa23AUTOpwd64
          Clonezilla.isopwd32
          WinInst10.imgPTN64

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