New Ventoy eBook is now available - 'Getting started with Ventoy'

I have been slaving away over a hot keyboard for weeks now writing an introductory eBook (PDF) on Ventoy and it is now finally finished!

You can get this new manual/user guide now for only $5 from Payhip here (10% discount if you buy more than one eBook).

Even though it is written specifically for Ventoy users, it also applies to 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' which is a slightly modified version included with Easy2Boot.

As with all my eBooks, all future revisions are free - just keep the original confirmation email and download any later revisions if they appear (you can subscribe too).

This new eBook is up to date and can be used with the latest Ventoy v1.0.56 which was released today.

Please let me have any feedback (good or bad!).

P.S. The developer LongPanda provides Ventoy for free and also constantly maintains it. You can make a donation to support LongPanda and Ventoy here.

eBook: Getting started with Ventoy

If you would like to learn more about Ventoy and how to use the ventoy.json configuration file, learn what are the best options to use when creating your Ventoy drive, learn how to boot ISO and other payload files from Partition 3 of the Ventoy drive, run Linux files with persistence, automate the installation of Windows, install Windows 11 to a non-TPM system, create your own themes, etc. then it's all here!

Getting started with Ventoy (v1.00 - 2021-10-22)
Contents:
Chapter 1 - Introduction ...  5

Easy2Boot v2.10 is now fully released

 I have updated the easy2boot.xyz, easy2boot.com and FossHub sites with the new v2.10 of E2B.

I received no feedback (good or bad!) from the pre-release, so I hope its OK.

Here are the changes:

Which is the best Clonezilla-based backup ISO?

 If you have a large E2B USB drive (up to 2TB), then you can easily boot from a backup ISO file and save the backup onto the same E2B USB drive (or any other connected drive or network drive).

The E2B USB drive can be made using the 'Gear wheel' button on Make_E2B.exe so that the MBR partitions are as follows:

Ptn1: 127GiB NTFS
Ptn2: 1GiB FAT32
Ptn3: NTFS (remaining space)
Ptn4: (must be unused for E2B use)

We keep Pnt1+Ptn2 size below 128GiB because some Legacy BIOSes are buggy and will not access sectors beyond 128GiB on USB drives. If you are not concerned about these Legacy BIOSes (which can even be found on quite recent BIOSes) then you do not need to limit the Ptn1 size.

The following ISOs can boot on Legacy and UEFI64 systems using E2B\agFM\Ventoy.

Add Windows 11 to E2B and E2B v2.10 pre-release

You can download a Windows 11 ISO from the official Microsoft page here (3rd option). You need to select Windows 11, then the Country (note: 'English'=American whereas 'English International' = UK and all other English-speaking countries).

System specifications for Win11 are here.

The Microsoft checker app is here.

There is also way to install Win11 on a non-TPM system (or one that does not support Secure Boot or does not have enough RAM) - see the WIN11_TPM_FIX_README.txt file in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN11 folder for details and the screenshot below...

Note that Win11 may refuse to add any updates if your system is sub-spec.

You can also tweak Ventoy to install to a non-TPM/non-Secure-Boot system in a similar way (see here).

If you are using E2B v.2.10 then it will already have an \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN11 folder for the Win11 ISO.

E2B v2.10 Pre-release is here and has the following changes:

Add Strelec WinPE 21-07-2021 to E2B

 You can download the recent Sergei Strelec ISO from here.

Copy the ISO file to your E2B drive \_ISO\WINPE folder. I renamed the file to

WinPE10_8_Sergei_Strelec_x86_x64_2021.07.21_English_.isowin.iso

so that it will run from E2B and agFM. If using Ventoy and Legacy-mode, press Ctrl+W before selecting the .iso file to use the wimboot method of booting.

If you have problems booting to Strelec with E2B, please update to the latest E2B Beta v2.10g (extract .zip file and run UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD).

Boot directly from Sergei Strelec WinPE

Add CloudReady (ChromeOS) to Easy2Boot\Ventoy

 Ventoy v1.0.51 includes experimental support for CloudReady (Neverware\Google) and FydeOS (both are versions of ChromeOS).

Since 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.51 is now released, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I can boot to CloudReady from Ventoy from my E2B USB drive + IdeaPad 300 notebook!

CloudReady instructions

1. Update your E2B USB drive to the latest Ventoy version by double-clicking on the "\e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd" file on Partition 2 of your E2B USB drive.

2. Download a version of CloudReady. I use the free Home version 64-bit Image file from here.

3. Unzip the .ZIP file that you just downloaded and copy the  6GB file to your Easy2Boot USB drive. Since this will only work under Ventoy, I made a \_ISO\VENTOY folder on my E2B USB drive.

4. Rename the .bin file extension to .img.

CloudReady only supports UEFI, so you need to UEFI64-boot to agFM and then run Ventoy.

Now you should be able to sign into your Google account. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you will need to confirm via your mobile phone (enable Bluetooth and Location detection on your phone).

Once logged in successfully, any future boot to the CloudReady img file will just require your Google account email and password.

Note: You will need to test using a real system as Virtual Box did not seem to work for me. I successfully tested on an IdeaPad 300.

FydeOS

I used 'mirror 2' to download the 2GB .img.xz file and then unzipped it to make a 7.3GB .img file.

I had problems using the trackpad on the IdeaPad300 with this distro and it appears to be a version aimed at China, so I did not test it by logging in.

Ventoy for Easy2Boot v1.0.51 now available

 The latest version of Ventoy (v1.0.51) is now available for download.

See here for changes.

1. Download the Easy2Boot version of  Ventoy-1.0.51-windows.zip file from here.

2. Drag-and-drop the .zip file onto the \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd file which you will find on the second FAT32 partition of your E2B USB drive.

3. Follow the simple prompts (basically type Y and ENTER).

The server is now updated with version 1.0.51 as of 2021-08-30. You can now easily update Ventoy by running:

 \e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd.

The Transcend JetFlash 920 USB drive is fast - but is it legal?

I bought and received a Transcend JetFlash 920 (#Amazon ad link) today which was advertised as USB 3.2 Gen 1 and with a capacity of 128GB - but is it legal?

This is half the depth and length of the SanDisk Extreme!

Get the official Microsoft Win11 Preview ISOs

 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewiso

It seems to need at least 30GB of disk space.

It seems to allow an easy offline account option too.

Not sure why a fresh install from a new Win11 ISO needs to download a newer version?

Latest E2B+agFM Betas now support grub4efi

You can now have the same E2B menu system in both MBR\Legacy mode and UEFI mode! 

grub4efi by chenall\yaya2007/a1ive is the UEFI version of grub4dos.

Most of the commands in grub4efi are the same as used by grub4dos.

The latest Beta of E2B now contains grub4efi.

How to update your E2B USB drive