Testing a Ventoy USB drive using VirtualBox under Windows 10/11 (and why it didn't work!)

I usually test Ventoy, Easy2Boot, Rufus bootable USB drives using Oracle Virtual Box 5 under a Windows 10 OS.

To do this I use the VMUB utility (only works with VBox v5 - not v6 or v7). This removes the USB drive from Windows immediately  before running VBox so that VBox will have full rd/wr access to the USB drive and can Lock it for access. If VMUB is not used then strange issues can occur because VBox will snapshot all changes to the USB drive whilst under control of the virtual BIOS\Firmware.

I have always had problems running Ventoy under VBox +VMUB however - usually with Legacy booting which would sometimes fail on VBox but work OK on a real system. However, I did find that some of my Virtual Machines seemed to work better than others with Ventoy.

E2B v2.16g and agFM v1.92 now have .vtoy support for full Linux OS VHD\VDI booting

Ventoy has the ability to boot from full Linux installations which have been installed onto a fixed .VHD file, fixed .VDI file or a disk raw image file. However, the code used can also be used under grub2 and grub4dos too. If you have an existing disk with Linux on it, you should be able to use the RMPrepUSB - Disk>File button to capture a .img file (although I haven't tried it with a Linux disk).

This means that a E2B USB drive (or any drive or partition) can contain multiple VHD or VDI Linux files and you can boot to a full Linux and run it at full speed (no persistence file is used). The only problem is that you cannot update the Linux kernel when booting in this way. If you wish to update the Linux version, you should do this by booting the VHD/VDI file under a Virtual Machine again - update the kernel - and then re-run the vtoyboot.sh script again. Then you can copy the new file to the E2B USB drive.

To update your E2B USB drive

See Alternate Downloads - Latest Beta folder for latest E2B version. If you wish to also test grub4efi, you can download the experimental 2.16gEFI version.
agFM v1.92 supports .vtoy files - run Ptn2:\e2b\Update agFM\Download and update agFM_v2.cmd to get the latest version of agFM.

'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.79d released

The current release of the official Ventoy v1.0.79  does not currently support Windows .7z file injection if you use the Ctrl+W  WIMBOOT override key (some PCs will not boot Windows ISOs without using WIMBOOT).

My latest version includes the latest Beta code so that WIMBOOT mode will also work with file injection (the next official version - Ventoy v1.0.80 will probably have this fix too).

Also, my new version will respond to the w, i, u and r keys (with or without the ctrl key) which means you can use those modifier keys on a Mac AirBook or other non-standard computer which does not recognise the Ctrl key.

Please run \e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd on Ptn2 to update to the latest version of 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot'.

'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.79c released (bugfix)

Another problem was found with 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot 1.0.79' - Windows zip file injection was not working.

The issue has now been fixed in 1.0.79c.

Problem seems to be to do with the FAT code needing to specify ".xz " as file extension rather than ".xz" for FAT32 filesystems (three character extensions worked but not two character extensions) and also a bug in LongPanda's code created a file on X: even if the source file did not exist.

The new version is 1.0.79c (press F7 in Ventoy Menu to show version number).

Please run \e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd on Ptn2 to update to the latest version.

Check that the \ventoy\vtoyjump32.exe and vtoyjump64.exe has a date of 2022-09-09.

I have given details of the code changes here.

Major bank security loophole exposed - don't be a victim - use this simple fix!

Did you know that there is a major security flaw with most banks?

Did you know that if someone steals your bank card and your phone then they can easily clean out ALL your bank accounts in just a few minutes!

That's right - if a thief has stolen both your bank debit card and your phone - he/she can find out your bank card PIN number very quickly and can then use your bank card + PIN to steal all your money. They can even transfer all your money from your bank's savings accounts into your bank's current account too so that they clean you out completely!

Here is how it works...

E2B v2.16f Beta

I have added the Ctrl+F7 and Alt+F7 hotkeys to the new Beta version of the E2B menu system.

Some people have been experiencing blank screens when booting to the E2B menu system in legacy mode on systems with certain display adapters+monitors. So pressing Alt+F7 or Ctrl+F7 will instantly switch to a different graphic mode and screen resolution which may allow them to see the menu in the new mode.

Current changes in 2.16f are:

• Add .wimboot file extension support. Use xxxxx_.wimboot.wim to make E2B boot using iPXE wimboot method instead of NTBOOT and bootmgr\BCD.
• Add Ctrl+F7 hotkey to switch display to text mode. Use Ctrl+F8 to reload menu in default mode.
• Add Alt+F7 hotkey to switch display to 1024×768 mode. Use Ctrl+F8 to reload menu in default mode.
• New SWITCH_E2B.exe to fix not switching if partition 4 has start/size parameters but is Type 0
• New \_ISO\WINDOWS\SVR2022 folder added for Server 2022 with XML and KEY files.
• F1 ENGlish help text file updated.

Please Contact Me if you have any issues or suggestions.

eBooks updated

I have revised some of the eBooks to bring them up to date.

Here is a list of the current versions:

• E2B #1 - Getting started with Easy2Boot_v2.21.pdf
• E2B #2 - How to install Microsoft Windows using Easy2Boot_v1.9.pdf
• E2B #3 - How to make a UEFI multi-boot Easy2Boot USB drive using .imgPTN files v1.03.pdf
• E2B #4 - UEFI-multiboot using the a1ive grub2 File Manager_v1.25.pdf
• Getting started with Ventoy v1.11 (for Ventoy v1.0.79).pdf
• Getting started with grub4dos_v1.02.pdf
  

Just use the download link in your conformation email to download the latest version. All updates are free.

'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.79 bugfix for Windows Install ISOs and WinPE ISOs

I found a problem with 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.79 - it does not load a Windows/WINPE ISO as a virtual drive as it seems LongPanda has added an additional check into the code. This means Windows Installs and some WinPEs did not work correctly.

Please update 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' using the instructions here.

The new version is still called v1.0.79 - so please update even if the cmd file says that you already have v1.0.79 installed.

The \ventoy\vtoyjump64.exe file on Partition 2 should be dated 2022-08-28 after updating to v1.0.79b.

Quick! - check out the Amazon 'End of Summer' sale bargains

Apparently Amazon is having an 'End of Summer' sale.

Amazon affiliate links below:

• Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) for 54% off!
• Fire TV Stick with 38% off.
• Sandisk Extreme Pro 512GB USB 3.2 with 37% off.
• 20%-50% off laptops - e.g. LG gram Laptop 16Z90Q - 16 Inch, Intel Evo Core i5 - 12th Gen, 80Wh Battery, (2560 x 1600 px), 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD Memory, Windows 11 OS
• Up to 38% off Crucial Memory modules
• 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD 23% off
• Large discounts in Kitchen Electrical appliances (some -38%)

Ventoy for Easy2Boot v1.0.79 is now fully released

To update to the latest 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.79 just run

\e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd

from Partition 2 of the E2B USB drive.

You can run Download and update agFM_v2.cmd to ensure your version of agFM is up to date first.

The .cmd file will also download and update the Ventoy plugin files and copy on a version of VentoyPlugsonE2B.exe that will work on E2B USB drives.