KSGER soldering iron reduced in price!

If you are thinking of buying a new soldering iron, it is now available for less than £30 ($35.55) at the moment (via email offer only)!

Create an account with Banggood and subscribe to get newsletters. Use the link in the email that will be sent to you for over £10 discount!

I recommend getting some extra bits at the same time.

See here for details.

A1ive grub2 File Manager for E2B v1.1 now available.

The latest version has a few improvements and bug fixes to make it more reliable for booting .WIM files.

I have also added a MEMTEST86 folder so that you can boot to the MemTest86 EFI files whenever you like.

Just extract the files straight to your FAT32 2nd partition to update the old version 1.0 files.

v1.1 1Drive Download link
v1.2 includes UEFI32 support

Bugfix in grub_filemanager.mnu (booting .wim files did not work)

If you are using the grub2 File Manager with Easy2Boot and have used the grub_filemanager.mnu menu file in the Main Menu  AND you have an animation on the menu, you may find that direct booting of some WinPE NT6 .WIM files does not work.

To fix this, we need to unmap the floppy drive that the animation uses before we load the grubfm.iso file.

Here is the new grub_filemanager.mnu file (the additional lines are in red)

iftitle [ if exist (hd0,1)/grubfm.iso || if exist (hd0,2)/grubfm.iso ] Grub2 File Manager (a1ive)\nBoot a file using grub2
splashimage --animated=0
map --unmap=0:03 > nul
map --unhook
find --set-root /grubfm.iso
map --mem /grubfm.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
boot

E2B v1.B9b (with bugfix for unattend answer file error when installing Windows)

Alexander reported a problem with E2B v1.B8.

When using an E2B USB Flash drive (removable type), after the Windows Setup 'copy files' stage had completed and the system reboots, if you allow it to boot directly from the internal hard drive, you will see an error message:

'Windows Setup encountered an internal error while loading or searching for an unattend answer file.'

grubfm grub2 menus to install Windows+XML files

I have added two examples to the Alternate Downloads - a1ive grub2 file manager folder.

Direct UEFI64 boot from Tails 4.2/4.16 ISO file using a1ive's grub2 File Manager

Note: Later versions of Tails Live DVD ISO files (e.g. Tails v5.1, now have a UEFI-boot grub2 menu with a 'Tails (External Hard Disk) option. So just use a _.isodef.iso file extension and choose that option if you have an E2B USB HDD - otherwise choose one of the first options.

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This .grubfm menu can be added to the same folder as the ISO to get a 'User Menu' option when you select the .iso file. This allows us to UEFI-boot to Tails ISOs.

You must test on a real system (not a Virtual Machine) as it needs to detect a USB boot device.

Note: for Tails 4.6, and 4.16 you must delete the union=aufs parameter (why do the devs keep changing linux parameters every distro?).

As Tails seems to change on every version (!), you should look at the isolinux\live64.cfg file to get the correct 'params' parameters if you have a different version.

Tip: If you are booting from a VM or a Fixed-disk type of E2B USB drive (e.g. USB HDD or Corsair GTX flash drive), then you will need to press TAB at the Tails grub menu and edit the kernel parameters to remove the 'live-media=removable' entry each time you boot. For E2B, you can instead use the Tails_generic_for_USB_HDD.mnu from the sample mnu files folder (copy it and the ISO to the \_ISO\LINUX\MNU folder and edit the .mnu file with the name of your tails ISO file in two places).

tails-amd64-4.2.grubfm

E2B "UEFI version"

I have added a new page to the E2B website.

It describes how to add a second FAT32 partition to your E2B USB drive instead of using a .imgPTN file. This means it is more compatible for E2B Removable flash drives when booting Win7/8.1 ISOs.

UEFI-boot and then directly boot from ISO, VHD and WIM files using a1ive's grub2! 

No need to create .imgPTN files for most payloads. It also supports SDI_CHOCO configuration installs and other XML files.

Download (version 1.0).

Latest a1ive grub2 File manager v1.4 (with Windows 8.1 and XML support)

The new version 1.4 now supports the ability to run a Windows 7/8/10 install ISO with an XML file.

This allows us to:

1. Install any Edition of Windows from a Win7 ISO
2. Install Windows 8.1 without needing to enter a Product Key
3. Install Windows 10 with an unattend.xml file

Just copy your .XML files into the same folder as your ISO

e.g. on your large NTFS partition:
\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN8  (contains .iso and .xml files)
\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 (contains .iso and .xml files)
etc.

Download and unzip the latest version of the a1ive .imgPTN23 file (e.g. grub2 File Manager v1.4 (by a1ive).imgptn23auto) - see Alternate Downloads - Other folder for this. Place it in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder.

Download the Sample_WIN8.1_XML_Files.zip, unpack and place in your Win8 folder.

For Win7 - to choose any Edition, use this XML file.

Use the XML file to choose any Edition in the Win7 ISO.

You can also add .xml files for Windows 7 (to install Home from a Pro ISO file for instance, because Win7 Retail ISOs contain all versions of Windows 7).

Win8...

Navigate to your WIN8 folder and choose an ISO file.

Try this UEFI multiboot E2B drive (just add ISOs)

This E2B drive should run most UEFI payloads once you switch-in the a1ive File Manager.

Once it has been made, just copy your .ISO, .VHD, .VHDX, .WIM, .IMG. EFI, .IPXE payload files to the 3rd NTFS partition then run WinContig or Defraggler to make the ISOs contiguous.

You should then have a USB drive which will Secure or non-Secure UEFI64 boot or non-Secure UEFI32 boot (and MBR boot on some systems too).

It will also allow you to run SWITCHPE so that you can switch out the a1ive File Manager partition and switch in a different .imgPTN file should you need to.

This system is much easier to maintain than the E2B grub2 menu system because you just add (or delete) payload files. No other .imgPTN files need to be made. You can create grub2 menus if you wish however (e.g. UEFI\MBR booting Ubuntu-based ISOs + persistence in my previous blog).

Note: Win8.1 ISOs will require you to enter a Product Key. This can be an installation-only generic key (or you can add a \sources\ei.cfg file into the ISO). Version 1.4 or later also accepts XML unattend files too!

See also here for a E2B UEFI USB drive.

Instructions

a1ive grub2 file manager menu for Ubuntu with persistence

Here is how to add multiple Ubuntu-based ISOs+persistence to your a1ive grub2 drive.

Instructions