How to add a WinPE USB Recovery drive to E2B or Ventoy (e.g. Lenovo Recovery USB)

If you have a working USB flash drive that contains WinPE, such as that made by the Lenovo USB Recovery Key app., you may need to follow this procedure if you want to add an image of that drive to your E2B USB drive.

See also the .imgptnREP3 section at the bottom of this article if you want to have multiple images on one E2B USB drive without temporarily replacing the first partition of your E2B drive.

Legacy Boot with persistence for Kaspersky Rescue Disk ISO 2025 using E2B (grub4dos)

Here is how to get the KRD2025 ISO to legacy boot on E2B with user file persistence and with update file persistence.

1. Download the krd.iso file and save it to \_ISO\LINUX folder as KRD2025.iso.

2. Download the Ventoy pre-made 'backend' persistence files contained within the images.zip and extract ONE of the following persistence files as a .dat file using 7zip. I tried the 2gb one.

Add DOS benchmarks to your Easy2Boot USB drive

DOS and DOS-based programs will only work if you legacy/BIOS boot to E2B.

Here are a few tools with instructions.

Phils Computer Lab DOS benchmark tools - download the zip file and extract the contents to a new folder named \DOSBENCH on the large NTFS Partition 1 of your E2B USB drive.  Then legacy boot to the E2B DOS menu and select the  'FreeDIS (from a floppy image)' option. This boots to FreeDOS - select the first 'with NTFS support' option. Now type  CD \DOSBENCH to change to the DOSBENCH folder and type DOSBENCH to run the menu.

The menu also allows you to play DOOM and a Quake demo!

Phils 386 Benchmark Pack

How to improve your Ventoy USB drive!

Ventoy is a very good multiboot solution but it lacks some features and has some legacy compatibility issues. A common problem is that Linux distros keep changing and they break Ventoy compatibility and so you find that you cannot boot to the latest Linux ISO any more and have to wait for a Ventoy update. Using E2B or grubfm can often solve this issue.

Here is how to enhance your Ventoy USB drive and make it much more compatible and reliable. E2B and grubfm use a more compatible and universal method to boot Linux ISOs (but it requires the ISO to be contiguous and USB partition 4 must be unused).

Download a 'LiveDVD' version of a Windows 11 ISO

NTDEV is the developer behind Tiny11, a slimmed down version of Windows 11 Pro which did not require a TPM and only needs 2GB of RAM, has now unveiled a new modified variant of Windows 11.

This is called Live11 (alpha): which is a live but cut-down version of Windows 11 22H2 64-bit which is loaded into memory. You can make a DVD from the ISO or legacy boot to it from Easy2Boot.

Test AMD Radeon GPU RAM memory using Linux Scripts

 First watch the Learn Electronics Repair YT videos (and subscribe :-):

Using Linux to diagnose a fault:

How to run the test scripts:

Adding the test to any E2B USB drive

1. Download and add the ArchLinux ISO and copy to \_ISO\LINUX folder and make the file contiguous.

2. Download the two scripts,  unpack and copy to a \scripts folder on your E2B USB drive.

3. Boot to  the ISO and follow the instructions in the video (see screenshot below):

Type the correct command as explained in the video

I used these commands to get to the scripts folder:

fdisk -l

mkdir /ss

mount /dev/sda1 /ss

/ss/scripts

dmgg - test Polaris and Navi AMD GPU (RX400/RX500/RX5000)

memtest - generic test

This can also be done using Ventoy, but you should use the VTOY_LINUX_REMOUNT option in the global control section of the ventoy.json user config file so that the volume is accessible once booted to Linux.

See Also - other video card tests

See also MATS/MODS test article here and Kings OverKill article here.

E2B and agFM updates

• E2B latest version is now v2.18 2022-10-28
• agFM latest version is now agFM v1.97 2022-10-29
• 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' is still at 1.0.79d 20220-09-13

You can download the latest version of E2B here. If you have v2.16 of E2B, you can run Make_E2B.exe and click on the Update E2B Drive to download and update to the latest versions without needing to manually download E2B.

E2B recent changes:

Boot pmagic_2022_09_04.iso from E2B\agFM\Ventoy with persistence

This version requires a 64-bit CPU and needs at least 2GB of RAM (and 4GB if not using save feature).

It is possible to boot Partition Magic 2022  from an ISO file and use the LIVE SAVE (persistence) feature which allows you to create a persistence file which is saved on exit and automatically loaded on boot.

My personalized purple Pmagic with persistence.

Boot or Install ReactOS Live from E2B

If you want to try ReactOS (which is at Alpha status - so still very buggy!) you can download a .imgPTN23 file here which should boot to the LiveCD ISO.

ReactOS itself does not fully support USB 2/3 AFAIK, so you may need to attach a PS/2 keyboard and mouse if using a real system. 

E2B v2.16 released

Changes in 2.16 are:

• New - Support new .wimboot file extension (can use xxxxx_.wimboot.wim to make E2B boot using iPXE wimboot method instead of NTBOOT and bootmgr\BCD).
• New - skip the prompt ‘Press ENTER to not use WIMBOOT’ if characters ‘WIMBOOT’ are in Windows Install ISO filename.
• New - Ctrl+F7 hotkey to switch display to text mode. Use Ctrl+F8 to reload menu in default mode.
• New - Alt+F7 hotkey to switch display to 1024×768 mode. Use Ctrl+F8 to reload menu in default mode.
• New - \_ISO\WINDOWS\SVR2022 folder added for Server 2022 ISOs/IMPTN files.
• New - Add support for Ventoy Linux VHD/VDI .vtoy files. \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\Linux Mint VHD_VDI (ventoy).mnu, \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\Linux\ventoy_grub.cfg added. 
• New - Check USB drive is not a GPT drive added. 
• New - Can use set QMENU=1 in MyE2B.cfg for faster loading of E2B menus (but no ISO volume info in descriptions and no ‘not contiguous’ warnings given). Improve menu loading time if many files in menu folder.
• New - Add “\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Download and update E2B.cmd” – this script will download the latest currently released version of E2B (or latest Beta if available) and then update the E2B version on the USB drive, then proceed to download and update agFM and Ventoy for Easy2Boot and Ventoy Plugins.
• Bugfix - SWITCH_E2B.exe fix not switching if partition 4 has start/size parameters but is Type 0.
• E2B Menu F1 ENGlish help text updated, hotkey grub4dos utility updated, \grldr grub4dos version updated.

Easy2Boot v2.16h Beta available

I have made a slight improvement to speed up the enumeration/loading time of an E2B menu folder.

In addition, if you add

set QMENU=1

into your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file it will also speed up the menu load time (but the ISO volume name and the contiguous file status will not be checked or displayed).

The E2B grub4dos+grub4efi Beta version has also been updated if you want to experiment and UEFI-boot to a UEFI E2B menu system.

I am thinking of releasing E2B 2.16 soon so please let me know if you spot any issues.

Beta downloads are in the Alternate Download Areas as usual - Latest Betas folder.

E2B Change History

Microsoft just made Secure Boot multibooting more difficult!

After the recent Windows update KB5012170 (August 9, 2022) was released, it seems Ventoy can no longer boot on some systems when Secure boot is enabled. This Windows update may also affect the Kaspersky EFI boot file used by agFM in E2B too.

Summary

This security update makes improvements to Secure Boot DBX for the supported Windows versions listed in the "Applies to" section. Key changes include the following:

Windows devices that has Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) based firmware can run with Secure Boot enabled. The Secure Boot Forbidden Signature Database (DBX) prevents UEFI modules from loading. This update adds modules to the DBX.

A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in secure boot. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability might bypass secure boot and load untrusted software.

This security update addresses the vulnerability by adding the signatures of the known vulnerable UEFI modules to the DBX.

KB5012170

See also this post.

Introduction

Ventoy (and the 'official Ventoy' .img files used by agFM) use an .EFI file which allows you to add any file or key onto the BIOS DB 'whitelist' by using MokManager. This basically allow you to secure boot to ANY unsigned .efi file and is therefore a very obvious security risk.

agFM uses a signed Kaspersky EFI boot file which has a security flaw because it allows you to load unsigned grub2 modules. The unsigned grub2 module can then disable the secure boot checks and then allow you to load unsigned .efi bot files.

Microsoft have released various Windows Updates which (if you have UEFI-booted to Windows) will add blacklist entries into the DBx non-volatile RAM of your BIOS so that it will now refuse to Secure Boot from the naughty EFIs that Microsoft should never have signed in the first place!

So this leaves us with a problem (that has been seen coming for several years) - how do we load a multiboot loader/manager such as Ventoy or agFM (which use unsigned grub2). Microsoft will not sign any generic grub2 version because they allow you to load other modules or run dd, etc. and thus potentially hack the secure boot mechanism.

Solutions

agFM v1.81 released plus E2B Beta v2.14h (with DLC Boot 2022 v4.0/4.1 ISO support)

agFM v1.81 is now released and supports the latest DLC Boot 2022 ISO.

E2B v2.14i Beta and v2.15 is also available which also supports the June 2022 DLC ISO and has UDF ISO bugfix in grub4dos.

For DLCBoot 2022 ISO UEFI64 booting from agFM please use agFM v1.88 or later.

Run nVidia/AMD GPU graphics memory tests from an Easy2Boot drive

I recently came across a YouTube video which booted from a large dedicated USB drive to run Nvidia and AMD diagnostics using MATS (Memory Automated Test System) and MODS (Modular Diagnostic Software).

Nvidia has a proprietary software tool called MODS (Nvidia MOdular Diagnostic Software) which has a standalone VRAM test called MATS. How to use MATS can be found below.

• Here is a written guide on how to use MATS Nvidia Memory Testing Guide.
• Here is a video by MV TechLabs on How to set up and use MATS
• Overview of MATS/MODS: https://rk.edu.pl/en/nvidia-modular-diagnostic-software-mods/

Note: To get the Kings_Overkill USB drive fully working - scroll down!

Also see this article.

To make a new bootable USB HDD with all three test images, see 'How to make a MODS and MATS USB drive' below.

The USB he created comprised of three separate Primary MBR partitions with each partition containing a separate set of bootable files:

• Partition 1: nVidia RTX 30xx Series And Before 5GB
• Partition 2: nVidia RTX 20xx, GTX 16xx/10xx/9xx/7xx/6xx/5xx Series And Before 5GB
• Partition 3: AMD RX4xx/RX5xx/RXVEGA64/R7/R9 Series/HD7xxx 60GB

I made a separate USB drive from the .rar files from the instructions in the video but for some reason the ext4 Partition 3 seems to be corrupt on my drive and would not boot at all :-(.

However I could legacy boot and UEFI64-boot OK to Partitions 1 and 2 of the new USB drive.

I wanted to add some sort of bootable images of these to my E2B drive so I used RMPrepUSB - File - Make grub4dos ISO file function to make a bootable ISO. However, the ISO file only worked when Legacy booting (it hung on a UEFI boot as did Ventoy).

Easy2Boot v2.13 is now released

The Webnode hosted site easy2boot.com is now out of service from today onwards and so easy2boot.xyz is the only site that you should use from now on. 

The E2B .cmd scripts in v2.13 have now been updated so that only the .xyz site is accessed for the latest files when making or updating an E2B USB drive.

The changes in E2B v2.13 are outlined below

2.13 2022-05-11 

• Fix issue of AtlasOS Install ISO not working with XML files. 
• Show NOT CONTIGUOUS under menu in Windows Vista-Win11 menu.
• Add ability to type in any extension when alternative extension suggested - e.g. type .isomem instead of Y/N/I/A. 
• Fix so does not use WIMBOOT if ISO is non-standard (e.g. AIO ISO). 
• Add Win11 XML file to bypass TPM/RAM/Secure boot checks. 
• Add .txt file in win10/11 folders on how to create a new local account. 
• Support latest versions of Zorin with persistence using .isopersist and a casper-rw persistence -rw file
• Make_E2B.exe small change if no USB drive detected. 
• Downloads now only fetch files from easy2boot.xyz website (not easy2boot.com). 

agFM is now updated to v1.79 but it is essentially the same as v1.78 except that old .com download URLs in some .cmd scripts have been removed to make downloads faster.

If you have problems updating agFM then run "\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Download and update agFM_v2.cmd" from the USB drive after updating it to E2B v2.13.

E2B v2.13c Beta now available

v2.13c Beta is here

 Changes from 2.12

• Fix issue of AtlasOS Install ISO not working with XML files. 
• Show NOT CONTIGUOUS for info under menu in Windows Vista-Win11 menus.
• Add ability to type in any extension when alternative extension suggested – e.g. type .isomem instead of Y/N/I/A.
• Fix to automatically not use WIMBOOT if ISO is non-standard (e.g. AIO ISO).
• Add new Win11 XML file to bypass TPM/RAM/Secure boot checks
• Add .txt file in win10/11 folders on how to create a new local account
• Fix Support latest versions of Zorin with persistence using .isopersist and a casper-rw persistence -rw file

This version also allows you to simply enter the file extension that you want to try (such as .isomem or .isopersist) without having choose from a list after pressing I.

To update, just unzip the download, run the Make_E2B.exe file and click the Update E2B button. You can delete the extracted files from your Windows drive afterwards.

E2B UEFI File Manager agFM v1.74c Beta.zip with new Ventoy partition image support available

It was previously possible to make partition images of Ventoy and then replace Partition 2 of the E2B USB drive with the Ventoy partition image, however in Ventoy v1.0.57 onwards, extra checks have been added into Ventoy and it now checks for Ventoy grub2 boot code in the MBR of the drive. This means that new versions will no longer work as partition images. :-(

However, I have modified the script and .cfg files so that it now also replaces the grub4dos boot code with the Ventoy grub2 boot code. The result is that we can now make Ventoy partition images again and boot to them and Ventoy still thinks the drive is an 'official' Ventoy USB stick.

Note that this exercise is only for someone who knows where their towel is and don't try it if you have not made a backup of your E2B drive just in case something goes wrong!

Instructions

Add Easy2Boot to your Ventoy USB drive

It seems that LongPanda has now put extra checks into Ventoy so that it now checks the MBR for grub2 boot code. This means that being able to make and add 'Official Ventoy' images as described here has now been updated! You can also use 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' which is included in E2B.

Add E2B to Ventoy

Ventoy is improving all the time and it is now pretty good at booting most payloads, however it does not support Legacy installs of  Windows 95/98/Me/XP/2000 and it's DOS and legacy ISO support is a bit weak. You may also find that E2B may work with some Linux payloads where Ventoy fails (but make sure the ISO files are contiguous as required by E2B!).

The good news is that you can easily add legacy E2B (not agFM) to an existing Ventoy USB drive as follows:

Latest Betas with bugfixes available and Puppy persistence

 E2B v2.09c

• Add check in various .cmd files to check for wmic command in PATH 'wbem' environment
• Remove Update E2B link from Launcher app.
• Memtest86 .imgPTN23 updated to v9 build 2020 free version
• Small text help changes to some Mainmenu .mnu files
• Bugfix - fix Puppy ISOs with .isopup extension not booting

agFM 1.71c

• Support for Strelec ISOs on UEFI32 devices with 64-bit CPUs (e.g. Asus T100).
• Memtest86 v9 build 2020 EFI files updated.
• Add DrWeb+persistence .grubfm example to \e2b\Sample agFM Menu Files folder
• Add slacko_v7.grubfm and .cfg sample file added to \e2b\Sample agFM Menu Files\Linux folder for Puppy booting.

The new Beta versions can be found in the 'Latest Betas' folder in either of the two 'Alternate Download Areas' (see sidebar).

Puppy (.isopup)

I discovered that the .isopup file extension seems to no longer work in recent versions of E2B (grub4dos seems to have changed and broken it!), so I have modified the code in QRUN.cmd to now work again. 

eBook #3 How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot new revision available

I have now updated eBook #3

How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot_v1.8.pdf

If you want the latest version, please use link in your original Payhip email receipt to download it.

Updates are free!

How to Install Windows using Easy2Boot (v1.8 2021-02-23)

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