Switch_E2B Windows application

I am now at the Beta stage of testing the Switch_E2B.exe 32-bit Windows application.

The idea is that this App will be added to the E2B and MPI Tool Pack so that the application is always on your E2B USB drive (whether the USB drive is in 'E2B mode' or 'CSM mode') and ready for you to run under Windows.

Linux Mint LMDE 2 "Betsy" with persistence .mnu for Easy2Boot

I have added a new .mnu file to the Alternative Download Area for Betsy LMDE.

The file is called lmde-2-201503-mate-32bit_Persistent.mnu in the MNU folder.

Because it is based on Debian, you will need to create an ext2 file with a volume name of 'persistence' (not casper-rw) and then create the persistence.conf file - instructions are in the .mnu file.

See previous blog for more details about making a persistence file here.

Google Drive download area

OneDrive download area

Add FreeDOS USB disk .img files to Easy2Boot

You can 'build' your own bootable FreeDos USB drive using RMPrepUSB, add any files you like, get it all working, and then use the MPI_FAT32 tool to make a .imgPTN file from USB stick.

However, some ready-made USB image files containing FreeDOS can be downloaded from here.

These are intended to be either PXE booted or directly written to a USB drive as an image using dd or some direct-write utility (e.g. RMPrepUSB - File>Drive). However, we can boot directly from them using the .mnu file below in Easy2Boot:

Add a full Arch Linux OS to Easy2Boot

Here are the steps to add a full install of Arch Linux to an Easy2Boot USB drive.

We will create an empty partition file (ARCH) and then use Virtual Box + DavidB's VMUB to install to the partition file.

Use the latest MPI Tool Pack (v.0.054 2015-08-21 or later). This includes CSM menu support for grub2/syslinux installations on the 3rd partition.

I used archlinux-2015.09.01-dual.iso for the test below.

Install ProxMox from E2B

I have updated the ProxMox instructions in a previous blog because the instructions only appear to work from a FAT32 USB drive.

To add ProxMox to an NTFS E2B USB drive, we need to create a FAT32 .imgPTN file.

The ammended blog post is here.

How to stop scam phone calls!

Nearly every day this week, at around 1pm, I get a call from a 'TalkTalk ISP help desk' scammer who says that I have a problem with my computer and she asks me to install and run TeamViewer so they can take over my computer and 'fix' the problem. They promised me £200 compensation too! I know this is a common scam - see here and here. I also get calls from the 'Microsoft Windows department' for the same 'problem'.

Add a DOS-based BIOS update program to E2B

Some older BIOS update programs such as AWDFLASH.exe are DOS-based and you need to boot to MS-DOS or FreeDOS to run them.

How can we do this from E2B?

Easy2Boot v1.72 now available

I have just uploaded v1.72

    New plain background! Smaller file size and loads faster too!

Windows Black Belt troubleshooting videos

Want to learn some neat tricks on how to gain full Admin access to a Windows system and be able to work with full user rights?

Watch Win 8.1 TechEd video.

• Use Intel vPro for remote control.
• Boot from a Win8.1 Install DVD to hack repair a system by replacing \Windows\System32\sethc.exe.
• Use robocopy to copy system files that Windows won't even allow an Admin account user to copy due to ACL problems (time @0:41:0)
• Use Sysinternals psexes -sid cmd.exe to get full access rights (@0:42:0)
• Debug problems by looking at threads not processes using Sysinternals Process Explorer (procexp)  (@0:45:0)
• Use TAKEOWN.exe or robocopy /B to access 'difficult' files (@0:54:0)
• Use iCacls /SetIntegrityLevel
• Check your admin level using whoami /groups (@0:55:30)
• Info on using Windows RE (recovery environment) (@1:0:0)
• How to use MSconfig.exe,  Sysinternals Autoruns.exe, 
• Turn on highly detailed error messages (@1:06:00)
• Logon without logging on! (@1:08:0)

There is also a Windows 10 Black Belt session.

Add a Debian Live ISO with persistence to Easy2Boot

You can download the latest Debian Live ISOs from here.

I used debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-mate-desktop.iso and added persistence by using a .mnu file.

The new .mnu file will be added to the E2B v1.72 Sample mnu files folder , but can be downloaded from the Alternate Download (Google Drive and One Drive) areas (look under 'mnu files').
OneDrive download area
Google Drive download area

The .mnu file should work for most Debian Live ISOs if you change the name of the ISO inside the .mnu file (occurs twice).