Add FreeBSD-based ISOs to E2B (+ new MPI Tool Pack released)

Bootable ISOs based on FreeBSD (e.g. FreeBSD-*11.1.iso) can now be booted by using .imgPTN image files.

I have just updated the MPI Tool Pack v.0.078.

Instructions are basically the same as for memstick images - see here (bottom of page).

For instance, you can MBR-boot to OPNsense ISOs (OPNsense-17.7.5-OpenSSL-dvd-amd64.iso) by creating a dummy .imgPTN file and removing the file extension from the ISO file so it is also loaded as a partition image.

To check if your ISO is compatible, load the ISO into 7Zip and look for a \boot\loader file inside the ISO.

Note: FreeNas .ISO files do not work using this method. You must use FreeNAS memstick images instead.

Geek notes

It is not possible to boot directly from the ISO using a simple menu such as:

Very useful additions to your E2B USB drive - Carifred Ultra Virus Killer and Tech Tool Store

If you have a sufficient knowledge of Windows to be able to repair a damaged or infected Windows system, you will know that it is not that easy.

For instance, although you may be able to boot to the infected Windows system, it may not allow you to run any .exe executable or use any browser.

So i just wanted to make you aware of Carifred's software for technicians. Not only do they offer free versions with very few limitations, but it also seems to provide the exact tools that an experienced Windows repair technician needs. The full licences are also very reasonably priced too.

This blog post is just a 'heads-up' to draw your attention to this software if you haven't come across it before.

SSL for Easy2boot and RMPrepUSB sites + how to increase your website earnings with Ezoic!

Because both sites go through Ezoic, it was super-easy to enable SSL for both sites.

I simply installed the SSL app (just one click on the Ezoic site) for each of my sites and waited a while.

https://www.rmprepusb.com

This should help the Google search ranking for these sites too and give people a 'warmer' feeling when accessing the sites.

This blogger site also has SSL too (you are probably viewing it now using the https URL).

https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com

About Ezoic

If you own a website, Ezoic can help you improve traffic, user experience and website earnings.

It is free to try and they will help you set it up (not difficult!), so you have nothing to lose.

Easy2Boot v1.96 full release now available

Changes from v1.95:

• Bugfix for .isofira01 as used for Strelec ISOs and fix some other .fira extensions (QRUN.g4b).
• Check for fixed type of .VHD\.VHDX file - dynamic VHDs won't boot (QRUN.g4b).
• If .txt file exists then don't suggest better extension, unless SCROLL LOCK is on (QRUN.g4b)
• Improve GIFtoIMA.cmd script to calculate size of .IMA file required.
  GIFtoIMA.cmd now will add code lines to your MyE2B.cfg file for you (optional).
• New 'rooftops' default wallpaper.
• New SWITCH_E2B.exe with improved file re-ordering for dual image payloads (see Method 4).  
• Check \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg begins with !BAT, and bugfix for falsely reporting a problem with MyE2B.cfg in some cases (menu.lst).
• Added some 'disk1' example XML unattended install files for Win7/8/10. 
• Larger cmd shell window for UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd so can see which files have been updated.
• Add linuxlite_persistence and linuxmint_persistence sample mnu files.
• Small text change to ENGlish Strings.txt (.imgPTN prompt, etc.).

Files are available from Alternate Download Areas.
The Main E2B site will be updated within a few days.

Please report any issues ASAP.

P.S. v1.96 could report a !BAT missing error under some conditions (e.g. no MyE2B.cfg), so I have released a bugfix version called 1.96A. If you already have v1.96, just download v1.96A and click the Update_E2B button to update your 1.96 E2B drive.

How I deleted unwanted gmail messages to save space on Google Drive

Google had started warning me that my Google Drive was starting to get full.

I used 'Empty Bin' in Google Drive but was still left with half of the storage space being taken up by Gmail messages.

So I went into Gmail and used the search filter larger:10m to list all files larger than 10MB.
This allowed me to find emails with large attachments.

I then went through and deleted any unwanted emails (which took a while!).

You can also use the search feature to search for emails from a certain person (from:amy) or older emails (larger:5m older_than:1y) . You can use OR like this (larger:5m OR older_than:5y).

Many more options are listed here.

Bob Omb's WinBuilder-based WinPe

I recently found another useful WinPE by Bob Omb (register to see Downloads).

I tried Bob.Ombs.Modified.Win10PEx64.v08.ISO (v8 does pick up the TheOven_Startup.cmd file automatically on startup).

A 2GB+ RAM system is needed for the 64-bit v08 version to boot directly from an ISO.

General overview of capabilities:

• Backup / Restore hard disks and partitions 
• Convert Disks to VHD 
• Test Hard Drives 
• Recover Lost Data on PC/Mac/Linux Drives 
• Recover Product Keys 
• Remove malware and viruses 
• Install any Version of Windows WinNTSetup
• ReFS Friendly (Now v3.3) 
• Backup Drivers 
• Remote connect to other machines -or- this drive from anywhere 
• Reset Passwords 
• FireFox Portable
• and much more!

P.S. v2 must be run as .imgPTN. v3 (2018) will boot as .ISO or as .imgPTN.

Updated PEStartup download

I have added a new PEStartup download to the RMPrepUSB tutorial #143.

Gandalf PE ISO with PEStartup_Papps files added to E2B USB drive (you can change the default wallpaper).

WinBuilder-based ISOs such as Gandalf's WinPEs will automatically be configured if you simply add the files to your E2B USB drive.

How to add Ubuntu\LinuxMint to E2B with MBR+UEFI persistence (and an unfixed bug in Ubuntu!)

Early versions of Ubuntu (pre-v14) and Ubuntu-based linuxmint distros (pre-v17.03) could be set up with persistence with no problem.

As long as you added the 'persistent' boot parameter, the kernel script would look for either:

1) a 'casper-rw' file (formatted internally as ext2/3/4)

    - OR -

2) a FAT or ext partition with a volume label of 'casper-rw' which has been formatted as ext2/3/4.

Ubuntu bug!

However, Ubuntu 14.04 and linuxmint 17.03 and (all?) later versions have a bug in the casper boot script which means that they may fail to boot when a casper-rw partition is present and if that partition is located after the filesystem partition in the partition table. This bug does not apply if you booted from an ISO file (only from a 'flat-file' partition), so the .mnu files used by E2B which boot from ISOs are not affected by this bug.

Bug report for Ubuntu here.

So there is no problem if you use a casper-rw file (except it must be on the same partition and it must be a FAT32 or ext partition). So you can create a very large (>4GB) ext3 file on the E2B NTFS USB drive and use a .mnu file to get persistence - but this only works in MBR\Legacy mode.

For UEFI-booting, we need to create a FAT32 .imgPTN file. However, this issue does affect E2B when using .imgPTN partition images...

E2B v1.96e available (bugfix)

There was a bug in v1.95 which means that (*for some reason) the .isofira01 file extension (as used for Strelec ISOs) does not seem to work.

v1.96e fixes this.

* The reason is that firadisk looks for a 'ramdisk' that is below 1MB is size, so using a larger ramdisk did not work!

E2B v1.96d now available

Just a small 'enhancement'.

In this version, if you have created a matching .txt file for your payload file, then E2B will not suggest an alternative file extension (unless SCROLL LOCK is on) and will boot straight to the payload file with no delay.

e.g.
\_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntux64.iso
\_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntux64.txt

I have reasoned that if you have taken the trouble to make a .txt file, then you have already tested it and it works and so has the correct file extension.

This message and delay is now suppressed if a .matching txt file exists.

If you don't like this new feature, please let me know and I will remove it.

E2B 1.96d is available from Alternate Downloads Areas as usual (see side panel on this page).

Modify any WinPE using PEStartup

Following on from my previous blog post on PEStartup, I have written Tutorial #143 on how to use PEStartup to configure any ready-made WinPE OS such as Strelec, Hirens, DLC, Dium and Gandalf WinPEs.

In fact, standard Win10PESE WinBuilder builds including the latest Gandalf Redstone 2 WinPE and Bob Omb's PEs 'just work' and will automatically run PEStartup when they boot, if you follow the Tutorial (you just extract files from a .zip file onto your E2B drive!).

If the WinPE does not have the correct plugin already, you just need to double-click on the \TheOven_Startup.cmd script to run PEStartup and configure your WinPE Desktop.
Many thanks again to Tứ Nguyễn for his PEStartup utility.

Add WinPE Reboot and Shutdown Desktop Shortcuts

Configure PEStartup to add Desktop shortcuts using wpeutil.exe

Add lightweight WinPE versions to E2B that you can easily configure yourself!

It is normally very difficult to tailor a WinPE project to your own requirements unless you rebuild the entire OS each time.

However, there is a way to make changes to your WinPE OS and have those changes remembered on reboots. For instance, you can specify your own wallpaper and Desktop shortcuts.

32-bit XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Win 10 PE builds are available.

See also the more recent blog post here for use with any WinPE.

Gandalf’s Win10PE x64 Redstone 2 build 15063 version 10-01-2017 is now available

Download from here. It is based on WinBuilder and ChrisR's Win10PESE project.

To add to E2B, just copy the .iso file to a menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\WINPE) and run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.exe to make it contiguous.

To suppress the tips and extension suggestions made by the QRUN.g4b script when you run it, just add the letter Q or q to the end of the filename. e.g.
Gandalf'sWin10PEx64Redstone2_10-01-2017q.iso

Do not uses spaces in the filename. If you want to change the menu entry and have spaces in the filename, use a .txt file - e.g. Gandalf'sWin10PEx64Redstone2_10-01-2017.txt

To change keyboard locale press CTRL+TAB.

Tip: if you add PEStartup to your USB drive and PortableApps.com (Start.exe) to the Desktop as Startup options. you can use the Shutdown/reboot button in the PortableApps GUI to shutdown/reboot (as the Start Menu Shutdown\Reboot does not work). You can also add lots of PortableApps apps easily too. Gandalf Redstone 2 will automatically run PEStartup 20 seconds after it loads the Desktop.

E2B v1.96c available

Just a few small changes (no bug fixes)

• QRUN.g4b now checks for fixed type of .VHD\.VHDX file - dynamic VHDs won't boot.
• Added help text for installing from puppy ISOs (.isopup)
• Improved GIFtoIMA.cmd script to calculate size of .IMA file required and now will optionally add the new code lines to your MyE2B.cfg file for you.
• New default wallpaper for E2B
• New SWITCH_E2B.exe version 1.0.17 with improved file re-ordering for dual image payloads
  (see Method 4). 
• Added extra Win7/8/10 disk 1 sample XML unattended install files for use with VMs where disk 1 is the target HDD instead of disk 0.  See here for more info.

Download from Alternate Download Sites as usual.

How to use E2B with Virtual Box to test unattended Windows installs

In a chat session with 'Nathan' today, he explained how he uses VBox to install Windows to a Virtual Machine using ISO files on an E2B USB drive.

Testing E2B's 'Install Windows from ISO' method in a Virtual Machine is problematic because Windows needs to detect a Removable drive (e.g. CD\DVD or USB flash drive) in the system - Setup will only pick up the \AutoUnattend.XML (or \Unattend.XML) file from removable drives.

However, under a VM, a USB drive is 'mapped' as a virtual (IDE\SATA etc.) hard disk when using a .vmdk file (so the drive is not seen as a Removable drive once WinPE\Windows Setup runs).

This means the Product Key and other settings in the XML file are not used by Windows Setup when testing in a VM.

We can get around this by booting in two stages and by adding a USB WinHelper drive: