Run grub4dos commands from the Ventoy (or any grub2) menu system

Ventoy is based on grub2 and although it is very good at booting most legacy payloads, it is not that good at booting some DOS floppy images and some other legacy BIOS payloads.

If you need to boot using grub4dos, you can define your own grub2 external user menu (\ventoy\ventoy_grub.cfg) which can be run from Ventoy by pressing F6 in the Ventoy menu system.

My eBook 'Getting started with Ventoy' gives a few examples of how to do this.

Easy2Boot v2.19 released

Changes to E2B v2.19 (Jan 2 2023 version):

• New grub4dos /grldr to fix changing wallpaper bmp/jpg whilst animation is running in background.
• Revise E2B Launcher.exe to add ‘Download and Update E2B’.
• Update some files - hotkey utility, Add_Ventoy.cmd, CheckForUpdate.cmd, CreatePersistentFile.sh,Download and Update E2B.cmd also tells user which version is installed on USB drive.
• Add new INDONESIAN menu language (thanks to mikail)
• Add ‘+DPMS’ or ‘ – No DPMS’ to default MAIN MENU heading so user can tell which version is installed.
• Add “\_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\GetWindowsProductKey.vbs” – run this to get the current Windows system Product Key.

Formatting, copying and writing floppy disks

Personally, I have not used a floppy disk in over 15 years, but if you are into retro computers and still use them, then you must check out this excellent Adrian's Digital Basement YT video:

In the video, he describes how to use the DOS ImageDisk program to test, read and write all sorts of  floppy disks.

Latest eBook (PDF) 'Getting started with Ventoy v1.14' is now available

I have updated the eBook for Ventoy v1.0.86 and added some more exercises, etc.

If you have already purchased an older version of the PDF, just use the link in the confirmation email to download the new version of the PDF for free.

The Ventoy eBook contains many hints and tips such as how to make an external F6 user menu that can run grub and grub4dos commands (including how to use grub4dos paths/filenames with spaces).

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

Here is a list of the current versions, most have been updated within the last few months:

• E2B #1 - Getting started with Easy2Boot_v2.22.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_v1.26.pdf
• Getting started with Ventoy v1.14 (for Ventoy v1.0.86).pdf
• Getting started with grub4dos_v1.03.pdf
  

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

Free Christmas games

Don't just watch TV at Christmas, enjoy the time that you are together!

After a hearty and boozy Xmas lunch, many families play Charades, but here are two more games my family like and play quite often:

Call my Bluff

This is just like the TV game. You will need two large dictionaries (or online dictinaries) and split into two teams each with a captain.

1. Each team finds an obscure word in their dictionary. One person in the team must give the true definition and the others must make up false definitions.

2. One team starts first, states the word and then each team member 'defines' the meaning of their chosen word. The person giving the true definition can, of course, adjust it and embelish it, as long as they don't change the core meaning. The person(s) giving their own made-up but plausible definition must sound as convincing as possible.

3. The other team can ask questions (say 2 each) and then the captain must decide which one was giving the true meaning and then ask if they were correct. They score one point if they guess right.

4. Now its the other teams turn.

This can be quite hilarious, especially if you can lie well and can keep a straight face!

Like or Hate

Going round the table or room one person at a time, each person must say out loud one thing that they either hate or love, e.g. horror movies, Marmite crisps, oysters, Mr Bean, yellow cars, etc. and write either LOVE or HATE on a card.  The others must put their hand on their heart if they think you love that thing or stick their finger in their mouth if they think you hate it. You then must show the card and explain why you love/hate it. You record the scores as one point for anyone who guessed correctly and as you take the scores, each person must explain if they agree with you or not and why, as they lower their 'voting' hand.

 Instead of points, you can substitute shots (but maybe not for granny).

What are your favourite family games?

How to prevent DropBox interfering with compilers and other programs

I have good internet performance and I use a local DropBox folder which is synchronised to the 'Cloud'. This works well for all the files that I want to backup and preserve.

I also put all my development folders in the DropBox folder so that, should I have a disk failure or damaged/corrupted filesystem, I will not lose any recent changes and days of work.

Of course, I make offline backups too, but this maybe only once a month or at the finish of a new project or project update.

One of my projects uses Inno Setup to make a self-installing .exe file, however, I noticed that very often the Inno Setup compile operation would fail to complete when using a project which contained files situated in a DropBox folder. I could try compiling maybe five times before the last attempt would work. If I used a non-DropBox folder then there was never any problem. Presumably, DropBox was busy synchronising any recently changed files and this interfered with the compiler.

To fix the issue I decided to write a small batch file to temporarily suspend dropbox, run Inno Setup and then re-enable DropBox. Here is a simplified example:

REM suspend dropbox

pssuspend dropbox  >nul 2>&1

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" .\_InnoE2B.iss > nul

if errorlevel 1 echo FAILED! & PAUSE

REM re-enable dropbox

pssuspend dropbox -r > nul

This seems to do the trick!

E2B v2.19c Beta available with INDONESIAN language menu option

A user, Mikail, has kindly spent a lot of time and effort adding the two language files to support INDONESIAN for the E2B menu system.

If you can understand Indonesian, please test the latest E2B v2.19c Beta and check all menu entries, help text and the F1 help menu pages.

Check the 'Latest Beta' folder in the 'Alternate Downloads' 1Drive or Box depositories to download the new Beta.

https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/p/e2b-alternate-download-areas.html

Quickly improve the Windows Explorer right-click context menu

The Windows Explorer right-click menu seems to be getting worse (especially in Windows 11)!

For many years we have had to put up with the 'Send To'  option not sending a file to somewhere else but instead copying that file to somewhere else! If I send a parcel or letter to someone, I don't expect it to be cloned first!

The Shell utility by Nilesoft solves some of these issues by adding extra useful entries to the Explorer right-click menu list.

How to run DOS utilities directly from an Easy2Boot USB drive

You may need to run a DOS-based test utility, BIOS Flash update utility or game on an x86 PC or notebook. Quite often the utility will be in the form of a bootable .ISO, .IMG or .IMA file which you can simply copy to a menu folder on your E2B USB drive. In some cases you may need to tweak the extension slightly, e.g. use xxx._isodos01.iso instead of .iso, depending on how the ISO has been constructed. Check the 'Tested Payloads' page to see if any special treatment is needed for any particular payload.

However, sometimes the DOS-based utility is provided as just a bunch of files and folders which you are supposed to copy to a floppy disk (remember those?).

Dr Hardware SysInfo is a typical example of a DOS-based test/report utility provided as a zip file which just contains the DOS files but no boot files...

Black Friday website host deals

Approx. 60% of all websites use Wordpress. So I highly recommend the power and flexability of Wordpres versus any other content management system. By using WordPress you will not be locked in to a particular 3rd-party system where you need to pay for a 'premium' feature and you will also know that if you do have a problem with WordPress or Wordpress plugins, then many other people will also have had the same issue and will be able to help you (or any bug will be fixed very rapidly as it will affect many thousands of sites).

If you have read my eBook 'How to make $1000 a month from the Internet' you will see that I highly recommend (and use) Hostinger (#Ad link) as a WordPress web site host. At the moment they have a special Black Friday deal and offer up to 80% off  a 4-year hosting plan + 1 free domain & 1 free SSL for their 'Premium' web hosting plan. This works out at $2.49/month and it will allow you to create up to 100 websites.