E2B v1.A7e available

This version v1.A7e just has two Robocopy .cmd scripts added which you can use to quickly backup the files of your E2B partition to a folder (E2B_MASTER) on your Desktop and then you can restore it to the same USB E2B drive or a different E2B drive using the Restore script.

Files which are already present are not re-copied so only the changes are updated.

The contents of the target USB drive will be a duplicate of what is in the backup folder. This means that if you have extra files on your USB drive which are not in the backup folder, then the extra files will be deleted from your USB drive - i.e. it will be an exact duplicate.

Adding DBAN with UEFI 64-bit support to E2B

The standard Legacy-boot DBAN ISO is currently version 2.3.0 and can be simply added to your E2B drive. Version 2.3.0 should not erase USB drives (unless you select them!) even if you select an 'autonuke' option from the boot menu.

The current version does not support UEFI booting but if you have a 64-bit UEFI system which does not support MBR\Legacy\CSM booting, you can  use the Beta UEFI DBAN ISO here. It does not support 32-bit UEFI systems though.

Note: On some systems (e.g. Lenovo IdeaPad 300) DBAN v2.3.0 does not boot and gives a
"cat: can't open '/proc/cmdline': No such file or directory"
error. This new version however does seem to boot OK.

UEFI Beta 2017 version

Tip: Once DBAN starts to boot, remove the E2B USB drive in case of accidental erasure!

E2B v1.A7d Beta now available

E2B v1.A7d now supports the .isoDPMS file extension. If you have an XP WinPE-based ISO such as DaRT5 or ERD2005, it probably will not be able to see SATA hard disks once it has booted because it lacks the correct SATA drivers. By booting it using the DPMS feature, the correct SATA\RAID\SCSI 32-bit XP driver should be automatically added. This saves having to create a new .mnu file based on the ERD5_DPMS.mnu found in the Sample mnu files folder.

List of changes since v1.A6:

• .help files now don't display the first three UTF-8 bytes in a UTF-8 file
• Support for multiple .help files with different background images using a .mnu file
• Small bug fix to Update_E2B_Drive.cmd when an empty USB drive is selected
• Small fix to Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd if empty floppy drive in system
• Small changes to Make_Ext.exe, Make_MyE2B.cfg.cmd, isoboot.g4b, QAUTO.g4b, QRUN.g4b (now does not warn if .help file is not contiguous)
• Fix bug in SDI_CHOCO - the %BIT% variable is now available in MyStartup.cmd and MySetupComplete.cmd
• Update WinContig.exe to latest version
• Minor bug fixes to some .cmd scripts in case your Windows TEMP path variable has spaces or other funny characters in it.
• .isoDPMS file extension supported for DaRT5\ERD ISO (will load 32-bit XP SATA\RAID\SCSI driver). You must have the DPMS version of E2B for this extension to work.

Download here or from the Alternate Download Areas as usual.

P.S. The Halloween 'surprise' code has been removed from this version.

Fix for occasional 'freezing' in Chrome browser when editing web pages (Windows 10 64-bit)

I use the WebNode online page editor to the edit pages of the Easy2Boot site.

For a long time now I have experienced a problem of 'freezing' for between 5 - 200 seconds after the first few edits which is very annoying. If I wait long enough, the cursor 'comes back' and I can continue using the mouse and keyboard - during the 'freeze' period I can use other Windows tasks such as other browser panes or other apps, I just cannot continue editing in the browser page I was using. If I save the page and then re-open it for editing, the freezing seems to stop for a few minutes before it starts again.

I noticed that the CPU fan was spinning faster when this freezing occurred and so I used Task Manager to find out what was using the CPU. I noticed that when the freezing occurred, the CTFLoader task was using over 50% of CPU resources, but when the freezing stopped, CTFLoader went down to about 2%. I also found that by using right-click - End Task in Task Manager on CTFLoader, the freezing could be stopped and I could resume typing in that browser tab.

So CTFLoader seemed to be causing the issue. SFC /scannow showed no problems however.

Then I read a post on reddit here which described how to solve it by stopping the 'Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service'. Since my PC did not have a touch panel and I do not use handwriting input services on the PC, I disabled and stopped the Service.

Win+R > services.msc >  'Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service' service > right click > properties > click STOP and change Startup type to Disabled. Then click OK. A reboot is only necessary if you find keyboard input no longer works in some apps (e.g. Edge).

Now all is good. I still get occasional freezing, but it only lasts a few seconds now instead of minutes!

P.S. I am not sure if this is relevant, but I do have Office 2007 installed on my PC but the freezing occurs before I use any Office 2007 applications.

[UPDATE] Well the 'freezing' has not completely disappeared whilst using the webnode web editor, however I have found a simple fix - when it freezes,  I just need to select a different Chrome Browser tab and then re-select the webnode browser tab.

XMLtoE2B v2.0.47 released

You can download XMLtoE2B v2.0.47 (updated) from here.

This includes a blank .diskcfg file - load this file to allow the user to select the install disk\partition instead of automatically wiping a disk.

I think this is near to release, so please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions.

New XMLtoE2B v2 Beta

XMLtoE2B.exe is a Windows 32-bit utility that can modify an XML file for use with E2B Windows Setup.

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the source files of the current v1.0.39 version so it has not been possible to maintain it.

However, I have been spending many days working on XLMtoE2B version 2.

XMLtoE2B v2

The new version has a few extra options such as:

E2B v1.A7b Beta available (with special surprise 'Easter Egg')

Download of v1.A7b Beta is here. Only some very minor bug fixes since v1.A7a.

See E2B Version History

This Beta version contains a special, hypnotic 'Easter Egg' surprise... so be sure to boot your E2B drive  on a real PC (the hypnosis does not work properly if using QEMU or Virtual Box) on the 31st of October!!!

P.S. If you can't wait till the 31st, then just press the 'h' key on your keyboard as soon as E2B starts to boot if you want to be hypnotised today! You can also press F8 from the Main menu and then very quickly press 'h' to see it again.

About guitar amplifiers and fixing my old Marshall MG15DFX guitar amp (effects not working)

I do have a very nice Vox AC30 CC1 valve amp (no longer made). Although this sounds great when cranked up, it is not very good at practice volumes, and being full of valves, it does make funny noises, chirps, farts, etc. It's also very heavy to move around.

VOX AC30CC1 valve amplifier

I had recently heard good things about the new Boss Katana guitar amplifiers, so I decided to buy a Boss Katana 50...

E2B v1.A7a Beta available

v1.A7a Beta has the following changes:

• Bugfix - .help files now don't display first three UTF-8 bytes in UTF-8 file if no colour value on first line.
• Support for background images and multiple .help files using a .mnu file.
• Small bugfix to Update_E2B_Drive.cmd when used to copy files to an empty USB drive.
• Small bugfix to Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd if empty floppy drive in system.

see http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/help-text-file/ for details on .help file support.

E2B v1.A6 released (yet another bugfix + new help text file feature)

I just found yet another bug - the AUTO folder menu is not working in the last few versions, so I have fixed it in v1.A6 (not many people use the AUTO folder anyway)!

I have also added a new help file feature. You can now have a menu entry to display plain or UTF-8 text files - just give the text file a .help file extension.