Pentoo ISO with persistence on E2B

The pentoo FAQ says you can use changes=/dev/sdXY kernel cheat code to specify the persistence volume. This is incorrect!
It seems that we must use aufs=/dev/sdXY for pentoo.
As pentoo is based on gentoo, we can use a similar .mnu file for persistence with pentoo.

The .mnu file is shown below:

UEFI-boot to Porteus with persistence from E2B

I have added another section to my previous blog post on Porteus to show how you can UEFI-boot to Porteus with persistence.

Add the Norman Rescue and Antivirus ISO to E2B (with persistence)

The XUbuntu-based Norman Rescue Disk ISO file (English+German supported) can be downloaded and added to your E2B USB drive (you can supply any junk email address to get the download).

However, when it first boots from the ISO file, it will download over 170MB of updates and virus definitions.

Add salix+persistence to E2B

Following from a request from kasep, here is how to boot salix with persistence from E2B.

Salix with Persistence (folder STEVE was created)

From various experiments, I could not get salix to recognise an ext3 persistence file when mapped to partition 3 of the E2B drive. It seems that salix specifically looks for a 'persistent' file in the root of a FAT32 or ext3 volume with a volume name of  'LIVE'.

So, we need to convert the .ISO file to a FAT32 .imgPTN file. Here is how I did it:

Chromium OS (Cub Linux) with persistence

Cub Linux is Chromium+Ubuntu. Unlike ChromixiumOS, it comes in a nice LiveCD ISO format and so we can easily run this from an E2B drive. As it is based on Ubuntu, we can also add persistence.

Here is the .mnu for the 64-bit version (also added to \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\linux\CubLinux-amd64_Persistent.mnu in E2B v1.84d).

A persistent parrot

Kevin asked me how to add persistence for Parrot linux.

Parrot speaks to you when it loads!

Since  this is based on Ubuntu, I simply modified the Ubuntu_2016_Persistence.mnu file.

I have added a copy of Parrot_3.1.1_Persistent.mnu to the Alternate Downloads Area - mnu files - linux folder, if you want it.

Add Gentoo + Persistence to E2B

Here is how to boot from a Gentoo ISO file with persistence.

I used the livedvd-x86-amd64-32ul-20140826_gentoo.iso download.

The cheat code needed is in the form aufs=/dev/sdX3  where X is the USB drive.

Since the USB drive number will vary from system to system, we have to try to guess what Gentoo will assign the USB drive as!

Instructions

Add Slackware+persistence to E2B

Slackware will use either a \persistence folder or a \persistence.img file (by default) for persistence.

However, it appears that this needs to be in ext4 format.

I could not find a way of pointing the LiveCD ISO to the persistence file when booting directly from an ISO, so here is how I went about adding Slackware with persistence to my E2B USB HDD.

1. Drag-and-drop the slackware64-live-mate-current.iso file onto the MPI_FAT32 Decktop shortcut to make a slackware.imgPTN file - when prompted for a size, add enough for your persistence requirements - e.g. add 500MB (max. you should add is 4GB because we are using FAT32 for the partition so we cannot create a persistence.img file larger than 4GB in step 5 below).
2. Copy the slackware.imgPTN file to your E2B drive (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX folder)
3. Switch to the slackware.imgPTN file (e.g. by booting to the E2B menu).
Do NOT use SWITCH_E2B.exe to switch to the slackware.imgPTN file for the first time as it can cause problems with syslinux booting. Once you have booted via E2B once, you can use SWITCH_E2B.exe afterwards.
4. The files in the new partition should now be accessible to Windows.
5. Run RMPrepUSB - Create Ext2 FS and create a new persistence file on the USB partition called persistence.img   (note: case sensitive). Make the size as big as any remaining free space on the partition (e.g. approx 500MB). Any Volume name will do.
6. Now boot to slackware (to the CSM menu) by choosing boot option #2 (the #1 entry may not work unless you are using SWITCH_E2B.exe v1.0.11 or later) and boot to slackware.
7. Log-in as root (pwd=root) and run a terminal window
8. Type the following commands:

  mkfs.ext4 /mnt/livemedia/persistence.img
  tune2fs -m 0 -c 0 -i 0 /mnt/livemedia/persistence.img

9. Now when you next boot, persistence should be working.

Tip: Use CTRL+S during booting when you see the 'SLACKWARELIVE:' text, to check that the persistence.img file has been found (CTRL+Q to resume):

Note: Slackware would not boot from my USB HDD  UASP drive caddy (e.g. Inateck FE2005) on my Z87 PC. It reported it could not find the 'livemedia' during booting. Using fdisk -l  , it did not list the E2B USB hard disk. If I removed and re-inserted it, it did not allocate a device name, but if I inserted a USB 3 Flash drive, it reported sdd1 was found. I conclude from this that slackware does not contain a UASP driver, so you cannot MBR-boot from USB 3 UASP drives/caddies (I tried both USB 2 and USB 3 ports).

10. I recommend you take a backup (at least of the persistence.img file) in case of later boot problems!

UEFI-Booting

You should also be able to UEFI-boot via Clover or your system firmware in UEFI-boot mode.

How to add Phoenix OS+persistence to E2B

Here is how to add Phoenix OS to E2B with an ext2 persistence file (data.img)

New Desktop folder 'Steve' is persistent.

You will need to extract the contents of the downloaded PhoenixInstaller exe file. I used 7Zip on PhoenixOSInstaller-1.0.7-beta.exe.

E2B drive added files:
\phoenix\initrd.img
\phoenix\kernel
\phoenix\data.img
\phoenix\(other files from ISO)
\_ISO\LINUX\Phoenix_Persistent.mnu

 Then you need to use the Phoenix_Persistent.mnu file as below.

# Extract PhoenixInstallerxxxx.exe contents to \phoenix folder on E2B drive
# Use RMPrepUSB to create ext2 or ext3 data.img file and move to \phoenix\data.img
# Copy this .mnu file to any E2B menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX)
# file/folder names are case-sensitive!
# On first boot - 'system initializing, please wait...'

title Phoenix OS with persistence\n Boot to android Phoenix OS
kernel /phoenix/kernel root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86  DATA=/phoenix vga=788 SRC=/phoenix quiet
initrd /phoenix/initrd.img
boot

Create a data.img file using RMPrepUSB and move it to the \phoenix folder.
Note that paths are case sensitive.

If the data.img file becomes corrupted, Phoenix OS may not boot until you delete or remake it.

Alternative (image a flash drive)

1. Use the PhoenixOSInstaller (e.g. PhoenixOSInstaller-v3.6.1.564-x64.exe) and make a bootable USB flash drive (FAT32 partition is required by the installer).
2. Drag-and-drop the Flash drive letter icon (e.g. D:) onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop icon (MPI Tool Kit)
3. The suggested size can be used which should be approx. 4GB. I used Syslinux 5 and AUTO-convert (defaults).
4. Name the file as .imgPTN23 so it can be used with E2B+agFM. Persistence should work and well as UEFI64 booting (UEFI32 untested). Note: It does not seem to UEFI-boot under VirtualBox but does on a real system.

Add Mepis antiX MX-15 with persistence to E2B

MX-15 ISOs can be booted straight from E2B - just copy the ISOs to the E2B drive (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX folder), make them contiguous (run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd) and boot.

Fedora + persistence using grub2

In Tutorial #67 on the RMPrepUSB.com website, I describe how to get Fedora booting as a flat-file configuration with persistence.

I decided to try this using the new grub2 menu system, and here is the final menu:

Booting Dr.Web LiveDisk ISO with persistence from grub2

A DrWeb_Persistent.imgPTN23 file can be found here. It was made as follows:
1. Make a 800MB FAT32 partition on a USB drive
2. Download and run the DrWeb USB creator utility drweb-livedisk-900-usb.exe
3. Run it to extract the files to the USB drive
4. Boot the USB drive on a real system - this prepares it
5. Refresh the updates - reboot and check updates are persistent
6. Drag-and-drop the USB drive letter onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop icon to make a .imgPTN23 file (syslinux 603, auto-convert). I modified the \syslinux\txt.cfg and the \boot\grub\grub.cfg files to add nomodeset vga=ask ignore_uuid. 

Note: Updates are not persistent even on their own flash drive!  So it obviously has a bug!

Booting from ISO

The Dr.Web ISO boots fine in MBR mode from E2B and can be booted from the ISO with persistence by adding a .mnu file.

However, during testing of the new GRUB2 menu system for E2B, I tried the Dr.Web LiveDisk ISO (drweb-livedisk-900-cd.iso - free), but it did not boot using the grub2 menu that I 'borrowed' from the 'Multiboot USB Flash drive' project here (I got a 'squashfs not found' type error).

After many attempts to get it booting from an ISO using the cheat code 'iso-scan/filename=', I finally looked at the 'casper' linux shell script file located inside the initrd file in the scripts folder (using 7Zip), and found this code...

ESET + persistence from ISO

I finally figured out what the problem was with the ESET SysRescue ISO+Persistence menu that I did have working but then didn't work when I retested it. I had missed out the lines in the .mnu file which set the UUID of the 'live-media' - this meant that the live-media value was invalid and so it resorted to the CD updates. Also, you need to copy the ext3 partition from a working Eset flash disk (I cannot figure out what it is in a working ext3 image that is different from a non-working image made using RMPrepUSB 'Make ext2 FS' and copying over contents)!

I have also edited the menu now in the previous post (see lines in red).

So you can now boot from ISO with persistence if you wish, instead of using a .imgPTN file.

Add ESET antivirus with persistent updates to E2B with UEFI booting (Take 2!)

The method used in the previous blog uses an ISO with an ext3 file for the updates volume.

See also: ESET SysRescue 2020 with persistent updates and agFM UEFI support

Here is a different method using a partition image. The two methods are similar but you can add UEFI 64-bit booting if you use this method.

Note: Recent 2019/2020 versions of ESET use Ptn2 (488MB) for the persistence partition. Since the persistence partition must be at Ptn2 in the partition table, the method below will not work for the new partition arrangement because the old ESET used Ptn3.
For the 2019/20 version, the persistence partition must be labelled ESR-USB-DAT and must be ext3 and must be in Ptn2 (here is casper-bottom/12fstab init script extract: 

if ! /lib/udev/cdrom_id "$boot_device" > /dev/null; then
    # boot device is not a CD, so source the blkid info
eval $(blkid -o export ${boot_device%%[0-9]*}2)
if [ "$LABEL" = "ESR-USB-DAT" -a "$TYPE" = "ext3" -a -n "$UUID" ]; then
cat >> $FSTAB <<EOF
UUID=$UUID /mnt/eset-live-rw ext3 defaults 0 0
EOF
    fi
fi

Add ESET antivirus ISO with persistent updates to E2B (revised!)

For a different method using a .imgPTN file, please see the  next post!
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E2B can boot the ESET System Rescue ISO easily, but each time you have to download the latest updates which can take a while.

The current ESET disk eset-sysrescue.1.0.9.0.enu.iso does not support UEFI booting, but here is how to MBR-boot with persistence for updates, direct from the .iso file:

Run android x86 + >4GB persistence via UEFI & MBR (from an NTFS partition)

In a previous blog post, I described how you could MBR-boot to android x86 with a persistence file.

To UEFI-boot, we need to create a FAT32 .imgPTN partition image. However, this limits us to a <4GB data.img persistence file.

Here is how to have a >4GB persistence file and UEFI-boot by using an NTFS partition to hold the android boot files and persistence file.

Add archbang linux + persistence to E2B

The archlinux ISO must be installed, it is not a 'LiveCD', however archbang does come in LiveCD format. Here is the .mnu file for getting the ISO to boot with a persistent volume.

Files on E2B drive (FAT32 or NTFS or exFAT):
/_ISO/LINUX/MNU/archbang-010316-i686.iso
/_ISO/LINUX/MNU/archbang-010316-i686_persistent.mnu
/arch-rw-010316

Run android x86 with persistence from E2B

android-x86-4.4-r5.iso can be added to your E2B USB drive, but to get it booting with persistence, we need to create a .imgPTN file as follows:

Add PepperMint 6 + persistence to E2B

PepperMint 6 can be booted as a 'LiveCD' from ISO with persistence.
Britec has a YouTube video on how to install it as an OS.

However, we can run it from an ISO file with persistence from E2B too using a .mnu file.
It is based on Ubuntu and so uses a casper-rw persistence file.

Q4OS with persistence on E2B

Q4OS is a rather nice, clean debian-based linux OS. The LiveCD ISO will boot directly from E2B.