Latest news and updates for E2B + rEFInd

I have been testing various combinations of partition types on different systems and also had some feedback from users.

The latest version of E2B and SWITCH_E2B.exe has a few changes and bug fixes.

The X4 file can now also be placed on the 2nd partition of your E2B USB drive. This solves the problem of having to re-order the two files if they are not in the correct order for UEFI-booting.

e.g.
Ptn1: \_ISO\MAINMENU\Ubuntux64.imgptnX4SwitchPE   (FAT32 .imgPTN file with rEFInd)
Ptn2: \_ISO\SwitchPE                              (partition image containing WinPE)

The latest versions at the time of writing are:

Add Notfall 13 2019 ISO to E2B

Here is how to add the German Notfall 13 2019 ISO to E2B.

You can simply add the ISO to one of the E2B menu folders.

If you want to change the menu system configuration files or want a 'flat file' installation so it can store updates (?), etc. and UEFI-boot you may want to create a .imgPTN file for it.

These instructions stems from a thread on reboot.pro here.

Note that to test it under VirtualBox, you need to pick one of the Safe Mode (old PC) options or else it will crash!

Create 'flat file' .imgPTN image

MPI Tool Kit v0.093 Beta with rEFInd (UEFI-multibooting of different .imgptn files is now possible)

New Betas for UEFI-multiboot support without needing to MBR-boot!

E2B v1.B0i Beta and MPI Tool Pack v0.093v7 Beta will allow you to select any UEFI-bootable .imgPTN file without needing to CSM boot or needing to run SWITCH_E2B on a different Windows system.

Each .imgPTN file must include rEFInd so that when it UEFI-boots, the rEFInd manager is loaded.

You can then choose to boot to the UEFI payload (linux, KonBoot, Windows Installer, etc.) OR boot to WinPE and run SWITCH_E2B.exe where you can choose to load a different .imgPTN file.

The new MakePartImage only fully supports adding a 64-bit WinPE UEFI, but you can add both 32-bit and 64-bit WinPEs using the X4 method or the second partition method (see below). Since pure 32-bit UEFI systems are quite rare, I have not catered for them in MakePartImage.

Outline of new changes:

E2B v1.B0h available

This version v1.B0h has a few very small tweaks to the Make_E2B.exe GUI but I also have removed nircmd.exe from the SDI_CHOCO folder because this was causing some AV software problems when downloading or extracting E2B.

nircmd.exe is still used by SDI_CHOCO and it still speaks to you as the installation proceeds, because it extracts the file during the Specialize pass.

Add 'SuperinSecureUEFI-Boot' to your E2B USB drive

There are two projects on GitHub which are of interest to USB-booters.
This was mentioned on reboot.pro recently and also pointed out to me by Alex G.

The first project (by thias) is a multiboot menu system based on grub2 called 'glim'. It automatically detects .iso files and builds a menu each time it boots (does it sound familiar?). It supports UEFI and MBR booting.

The second project (by ValdikSS) includes 'glim' and is a UEFI+MBR multiboot project which allows you to UEFI Secure Boot, UEFI-boot or MBR-boot and then run secure or unsecure payloads from the grub2 menu system.

The downside is that for Secure Boot, you have to register the bespoke grub2 efi file using a certificate that is provided. This adds the certificate into the NVRAM of the system UEFI firmware and so it 'changes' the target system.

Set the timeout so it autoboots if you like!

Use the GRUB Live ISO Multiboot menu entry...

I only added one ISO...

Comparison between UEFIinSecureBoot and E2B grub2 menu system v10

• E2B grub2 allows Secure Boot without using MokManager and so does not change the target system.
• Both systems can Secure Boot (using MokManager for insecureBoot) and run both secure and insecure ISOs and other non-EFI payloads.
• UEFIinSecureBoot should Secure Boot and run non-secure EFI payloads ??? (not tested).
• UEFIinSecureBoot can Secure Boot and access files on an NTFS partition, when Secure booted however, E2B grub2 can only access a FAT partition.
• Both systems can be expanded by adding more menu files.
• UEFISecureBoot uses a graphical grub2 theme menu, this type of menu runs very slowly on some systems (E2B grub2 menu system does not use a theme for this reason).

If you want to try this you can download the ready-made .imgPTN23 file here.

Instructions

E2B v1.B0g Beta now available (Make_E2B.exe now automatically creates 2nd partition if large USB disk)

v1.B0g is now available.

If you make a new E2B USB drive and the USB drive is larger than 128GiB, then the cmd script will now use Windows Diskpart to create a second maximum-sized partition. Note that if you have a >128GiB USB Flash drive (removable-type) then Windows 10 Build 1703 or later is required, otherwise you will just get the usual small 31K 2nd partition.

The filesystem choice is left up to Diskpart to decide - if the second partition is less than 32GB, it will be formatted as FAT32, if larger then it will be formatted as NTFS.

You can still make a single large first partition if you wish, if you run the .cmd file instead of the clicking the big red button in Make_E2B.exe.

Changes from the current v1.A0 released version are:

E2B 1.B0f available

The latest version is v1.B0f Beta version which has a few small bug fixes.
Check the Version History for details.

At least two pupils in the same school class will have the same birthday - probably! (the 'Birthday Paradox')

Our old Maths teacher always used to do this trick with every new class intake each year...

First, he would ask the question 'What are the chances that at least two pupils in this class have the same Birthday'?

After asking for our guesses, he would ask anyone in the class to raise their hand if they had a Birthday in January. Then he would ask each of the pupils who had raised a hand to shout out the day they were born on, e.g.Tom shouts '21st', Victor shouts '12th', etc. and then he would go on to February, etc. until someone else shouted out 'YES' if they had the same Birthday.

Theoretically, with a class size of 30 pupils, there is a 70% chance that two or more pupils in the same class will share the same Birthday (and probably the same birth-year as well). Our Maths teacher would tell us that he would explain this when we came to study probabilities, but he also said something else which peaked our curiosity...

He said that he had been doing this test for many years now and with many classes, and that he has found that the probability was actually much better than the theoretical 70% figure!

He would then ask if anyone could think of why this should be?

E2B v1.B0b Beta available (install windows 7 on modern USB 3 systems)

Download latest E2B v1.B0 Beta

• Bugfix in countfiles.g4b for windows ISOs with .iso324GB suffixes not being counted properly (the Windows folder had to have at least one .iso or .imgPTN file to be shown in menu - now it will work even if only one .iso32 or .iso4GB etc. file is present).
• ALT_ISO variable support added and \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\Windows\Install Windows 7 with USB 3 (WinNTSetup).mnu for installing Win7 on modern systems.

E2B v1.B0a Beta now available

This version (E2B v1.B0a Beta) has a few new features:

• Some new file extension suffixes are now recognised:
     NCQ (non-contiguous+quiet)
     QUIETP (redir+redirp)
     QUIET   (redir)
• .isoboot file extension now supported - will boot a non-contiguous linux iso using isoboot only