Easy2Boot v.1.63 Beta 1 suggests an alternative file extension!

I have added some more code to QRUN.g4b which looks at the file extension and the file name and will suggest an alternative file extension if it thinks that it will work better. You are only prompted if E2B thinks that it will not run correctly as a .ISO file.

As you can see, the file in the screenshot above is called ERDCommander2005.iso, but QRUN has suggested that using a file extension of .isomemwinv might be better for this ISO file.

The user must type Y within 5 seconds in order to run the ISO as if it had a .isomemwinv file extension, otherwise after 5 seconds, E2B will continue to boot the file as a .ISO file (and in this case it will fail to successfully boot!).

This feature means that naive users will be warned if they need to rename the file extension. It also means that for quick testing, you don't need to rename the file extension yourself if you forget, as you will be prompted by QRUN anyway.

Currently, it will suggest a better alternative file extension for:

• Windows ISOs
• WinPE ISOs
• MSDaRT ISOs
• MS ERD ISOs
• XP/Bart/MiniXP/MicroXP/Windows Legacy ISOs
• WinBuilder ISOs
• Hirens\DLCD\Falcon 4 ISOs
• Partition Magic ISOs
• TrueCrypt ISOs
• Puppy Linux ISOs
• macpup linux ISOs
• WDE ISOs
• winflp ISOs
• POS 2009 ISOs
• ubcd4win ISOs
• ubcd ISOs
• haiku anyboot .image files

As it looks at the name of the payload file, it will only work if you have the correct strings in the filename - e.g. 'WIN' or 'POS'+'2009' or 'XP' or 'winbuild' . These are not case sensitive.

Please let me know if you think I could add any more or it does not suggest a correct alternative.

Minimal QEMU files for Easy2Boot

If you need to boot to Easy2Boot under a VM on a system that does not have RMPrepUSB or a VM Manager such as  Virtual Box or VMWare already installed, you can keep a copy of MobaLiveCD.exe on the E2B drive.

MobaLiveCD.exe will boot to QEMU (a CPU and system emulator) and then boot the QEMU virtual machine from the E2B USB drive.

As an alternative, you can download and unzip the BOOT_ME_USING_QEMU.zip file from the E2B Alternate Downloads Area to your E2B USB drive (it must be on the USB drive and not your internal hard disk) and then double-click on the BootUSB.cmd file to boot from the USB drive under QEMU. This should only be used to boot to the menu system or select .imgPTN files however as it does not create a virtual hard disk, does not lock the drive like RMPrepUSB does, and uses a fixed memory size of 500MB.

I may add this QEMU folder into the E2B download file, if anyone thinks this is useful, as it is only an extra 1MB.

E2B - easily make more sub-menus with the new version 1.62

\_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd

The E2B has 7 'normal' sub-menu folders ANTIVIRUS, BACKUP, DOS, LINUX, UTILITIES, WIN, WINPE. To make a new submenu entry folder, create one and then drag-and-drop the new folder onto the Make SubMenu.cmd file to make a Main menu entry for it (it creates the required .mnu file in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder for you).

Note: with the latest version uses \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd , you can double-click on this file and it will prompt you for the name of the folder and create it for you (it still supports drag-and-drop too).

Easy2Boot v1.62 released at last!

E2B v1.62

Changes and additions since v1.61

• New grub4dos versions 0.4.6a (default boot) and  0.4.5c
• Clearer 'Not-Contiguous' file warning when booting directly from payload files
• Revised Spanish language files (and small changes to German)
• Patches for silent grub4dos startup in SampleMyE2B.cfg added. 
• \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities .txt and .mnu maker.cmd batch files updated (can test for 32 or 64-bit CPUs). 
• \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\Make SubMenu.cmd added - just drag-and-drop a new \_ISO\XXX folder onto it, to make a Main menu entry for it (creates the required .mnu file in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder for you).
• grab.g4b utility added (can copy screen text to a text file - useful for reporting issues). 
• CRC feature - if you hold down the Left-CTRL key (think 'Ctrl=Crc') whilst selecting a payload file (not a .mnu file) and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will calculate and display the CRC32 value of the file before it runs the payload file. For instance, if an ISO file does not seem to boot correctly, you can find it's CRC32 value and compare it with the CRC32 value of the original file. Note that this feature only works with files that run using QRUN.g4b  - so this CRC32 feature does not work with .mnu menu entries and Windows Install ISOs in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xx folders.
• Run ISOBOOT - If you hold down a SHIFT key whilst selecting a (linux) ISO file (think 'Shift to isoboot') and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will run it using only isoboot.g4b - in this way you can test out the E2B isoboot feature even if your ISO file is contiguous. Note that isoboot is a 'last resort' attempt to boot a non-contiguous linux ISO - it probably won't work for old or non-standard linux ISOs and quite a few others too!
• Monthly PIN code - use the MyE2B.cfg file to request a 4-digit pin number from the user before it will load the E2B Main menu. The user PIN code required automatically changes every month, so you will need to tell the users\technicians the new PIN code each month (prevents theft/misuse). A small Windows utility can be provided which displays the  monthly PIN numbers. The seed value can be changed so that your E2B version will have a unique set of PIN numbers. If security is compromised, just re-issue a new version with a different Seed value.
• WinContig added to E2B USB drive - just double-click on \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd to make all files on the USB drive contiguous - no need for RMPrepUSB.
• XP Winnt.sif ISOs supported - patches "oempreinstall=yes" line in winnt.sif file so that E2B can install some XP versions (e.g. Micro XP Pro 1.11b.iso). 
• The payload file extensions are now not shown in menu entries by default (only their file names). Can be overridden in MyE2B.cfg (set EXTOFF=)
• Re-organised \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files folder
• PassPass added to Sample mnu Files folder.

File extension support

• suffixes pwd, 64 and 32 supported - e.g. Ubuntu.iso64 will only appear in the menu on a 64-bit system. MsDaRT8.isope01pwd will ask for a password before you can run it
• MyE2B.cfg file can contain menupwd setting to specify a different password needed to run any payload file from the menu that ends in pwd - e.g. XYZ.isopwd. 
• .dmg, .hfs, .dmgHFS and .HFSptn for Hackintosh installer images - e.g. Yosemite-Zone.dmg supported (MBR boot)
• .isomacpup file extension added for macpuppy ISOs
• .haiku file extension - Haiku 'anyboot' image support - just copy haiku.image files and rename the extension to .haiku.

ISOBOOT

• Parted magic ISO support added
• If using 0.4.6a, the ISO files do not need to be contiguous if using ISOBOOT. i.e. no need to load the ISO into memory first.

New sample .mnu files

• Parted Magic + persistence mnu file
• Arcabit mnu file
• Fix for knoppix boot from non-contiguous ISO file in isoboot.g4b
• macpup sample .mnu file added for saving sessions on exit
• True partition Hide/Unhide sample menu file added. 

Easy2Boot v1.62I now available

This version uses the new grub4dos 0.4.6a grldr version just released by chenall\yaya today and fixes the bug for the partnew command. Unless anyone reports any problems, this version will be released as the new 'official' v1.62 version in a few days. Please update your E2B drives and try it.

OneDrive download area

Google Drive download area

P.S. There is a new MPI Tool Pack download available - this just adds support for Acronis True Image .imgPTN files and allows you to boot a 'registered' version as well as the free\demo version.

Adding large grub4dos ISOs containing multiple smaller ISOs

If you have a large grub4dos-based (DVD) ISO which boots to a grub4dos menu and then loads other ISOs which are inside the main ISO file, although this may work as a DVD disk, it probably won't work if you try to boot it as an ISO from E2B.

If you examine the ISO file and it contains a \menu.lst and there are lots of smaller ISO files inside in various folders, then you probably have such an ISO and it will probably just hang if you try to run it as an ISO from E2B.

There is an easy way to get it to work however, just convert it to a .imgPTN file using MakePartImage and copy the .imgPTN to your E2B USB drive (make sure it is contiguous).

Acronis 2014 grub4dos ISO with multiple ISOs converted to a .imgPTN file

Just drag-and-drop the ISO onto the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut and answer Y (yes) when prompted to combine the menu.lst file inside the ISO with the CSM menu.lst file.

The new menu entries which have been added from the menu.lst in the original ISO should now hopefully run fine!

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to this blog for more news and updates.

E2B v.1.62 Beta H now available

This uses the latest grub4dos 0.4.6a version (0.4.6a is not quite perfect yet as it still has some bugs which I have worked around in this version).
It now tests any payload file (that is run using QRUN) and warns you if the payload file is not contiguous. Please try it!

OneDrive download area
Google Drive download area

Bug in grub4dos 0.4.6a!

Just noticed that grub4dos 0.4.6a is not reporting non-contiguous file errors!
If some of your payload files don't seem be booting properly but E2B doesn't report any error, please make sure all files are contiguous or use 0.4.5c!

The file is not contiguous but the partnew command partially worked and reported no error - but some of the file is missing from the partition (presumably up to the end of the first contiguous block).

E2B 1.62 Beta F&G with Haiku support

Beta F is now available and includes support for booting Haiku 'anyboot' images (including nightly builds). Haiku is very quick to boot, but until now, I don't think anyone has managed to add it to a multiboot USB drive!

https://easy2boot.xyz/create-your-website-with-blocks/add-payload-files/haiku/

E2B v1.62BetaE now available

There is now a .mnu file at \_ISO\MAINMENU\$$$SetDefaultMenu.mnu. This makes it easier to have different wallpapers for different menus. The website documentation has also been updated.

This version has the new 0.4.6a grub4dos which now works with exFAT drives too.

Unless there are any bug reports, this version will be released as the 'official' E2B 1.62 in a few days, so please try it out and let me know if there are any problems.

I have also added 'grab' which is a grub4dos console capture batch file - this copies a screen full of grub4dos console text to a file (grab.txt) and is only used for debugging purposes. To use it, go to the grub4dos console, type graphicsmode 3 (note: this clears the screen!) and then type in any commands you want to test. When you type grab, the text on the screen is copied to a grab.txt file ready to send off for bug reports, etc.

The two Windows scripts, E2B MNU Maker.cmd and E2B TXT Maker.cmd have been updated so that you can specify if you want the menu entry to be always displayed, or only displayed if a 32-bit or 64-bit CPU is present when E2B is booted.

Also, if you are using the latest version of RMPrepUSB v2.1.727, the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd batch file will now install grub4dos with the 'silent' switch which causes less grub4dos boot-up  messages to be visible when E2B starts to boot.

There is now also some extra lines in the Sample MyE2B.cfg file which you can uncomment for a silent startup of the grldr stage 2 as well:

# Silent MBR boot of stage 1.5 grub4dos (works for both 0.4.5c and 0.4.6) - a reboot is required for it to take affect.
### if exist /_ISO/docs/PatchMyMBR call /_ISO/docs/PatchMyMBR > nul
# Silent startup of grub4dos - no diagnostic/info messages (only works for 0.4.6a) - permanently changes /grldr files (use \_ISO\docs\patchme for patch if not using 0.4.6)
### cat --locate=\x02 --replace=\x00 --skip=0x2073 --length=1 /grldr > nul
### if exist /%grub%/grldr_046 cat --locate=\x02 --replace=\x00 --skip=0x2073 --length=1 /%grub%/grldr_046 > nul

This means that you should not need to use the patchme file every time you update your E2B USB drive.

I hope that we can now move to grub4dos 0.4.6a as the 'default' version of grub4dos from now on as it makes little sense to develop both grub4dos 0.4.5c and 0.4.6a in tandem once the bugs have been ironed out from 0.4.6a.

P.S. by default, E2B displays the file name AND file extension in the menus. I am thinking of changing this so that the default is to not display the file extension. Does anyone object to this? Note that if you have already set EXTOFF=1 in your MyE2B.cfg file then this change would not affect anything. It just means that if you don't have a MyE2B.cfg file, file extensions would not be shown in the menu entries. Let me know...

Download Areas

OneDrive download area

Google Drive download area

What do you want to see in a new Easy2Boot video?

I would like to know if there are any topic you would like me to cover in a new E2B video.

Here is a list of the current E2B YouTube videos:

E2B v1.62 Beta D

Just a small change, as requested by Stephan.

• If a payload file extension ends in 64 then it will only appear in a menu if the system contains a 64-bit CPU. e.g. Ubuntu-14.iso64  or Win8PE.imgPTN64.
• Likewise, if a payload file extension ends in 32 then it will only appear in a menu if the system contains a 32-bit CPU. e.g. Ubuntux86.iso32 or Win8PE.imgPTN32.

All current payload file extensions can have a 32 or 64 suffix added, but you cannot use the suffix on .mnu files (e.g. myubuntu.mnu64 will not work).

Note that using a normal .txt file will negate this feature (e.g. if using Ubuntu.iso64 and Ubuntu.txt - the menu entry will be listed on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems).

To only list the file on a 64-bit system, you would need this .txt file

iftitle [checkrange 2,3 is64bit] Ubuntu\n Run Ubuntu on a 64-bit system

To only list an iso on only a 32-bit system, you would need this .txt file

iftitle [checkrange 0,1 is64bit] Linux32\n Run 32-bit linux

You must use a .mnu file if you want extra features like password protection on the file, as you cannot combine '64' or '32' with 'pwd' suffix (using a file extension of fred.isopwd64 will not work). See Password_Protect_64_32.mnu in \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files for an example.

How to test your SD card or USB Flash drive using FakeFlashTest (v2)

Same video as before but I increased the volume using Handbrake 



























Drag-and-drop video onto Source icon
Set output File pathname
Click Show in Audio tab
Set gain to 20
Click Start

I did this twice to boost the gain by 40 and re-uploaded the video to YouTube.

Easy2Boot v1.62 Beta B available

The latest version of E2B v1.62 is now available from the Alternate Downloads area (bottom of page here).
The main change is that it now uses by default, grub4dos 0.4.6a (alpha version) instead of 0.4.5c (the stable version).

grub4dos 0.4.6a is now loaded by default but you can switch to 0.4.5c

Changes from v1.61 are listed in the Version History page here. New changes since Beta A are:

• New grub4dos version 2015-01-16 as default (and new 0.4.5c version)
• Fix knoppix boot from non-contiguous ISO file in isoboot.g4b
• macpup sample .mnu file added for saving sessions on exit
• New .isomacpup file extension added

Note that if your E2B drive is formatted as exFAT - it is probably best not to use this new version (or if you do, switch to 0.4.5c using the new menu entry before using any other menu entry)! This is because there is a bug in 0.4.6a when accessing exFAT drives which has been reported here and hopefully will be fixed soon and then I can release it as v1.62.

Grub4dos v0.4.6a has a few more features than 0.4.5c (can access Joliet ISOs, includes an internal USB 2.0 rd/wr driver and better debug/message control features).

E2B will still work OK with either version of grub4dos though.

Please let me know if you find any problems with this new version or with grub4dos 0.4.6a (i.e. if 0.4.5c works but 0.4.6a does not).

Booting Macpup iso files on E2B and patching ISO files using grub4dos

Unfortunatley, the Macpup_550.iso file does not 'just work' with E2B because the menu.lst file that is used inside the ISO has specified (cd) in the file paths:

Sandisk Extreme Cruzer 64GB Removable Flash drive for £25 (save £35!)

MyMemory (UK) are offering these for just £25! They sell out as soon as they get them in, so just click Notify Me and order one as soon as you get the email before they sell out again!

The drive I got was of the Removable type (I believe they all are now) and REALLY FAST!

Boot to TrueCrypt, only by using your USB drive

If you don't want your system to boot to the TrueCrypt password entry prompt (thus making it obvious it has been encrypted using TrueCrypt), you can make it so that it is unbootable and boot the system from your grub4dos USB drive and then from the USB drive you can boot to the encrypted Windows installation on your hard drive.

There is no 'unique' data or files on the USB drive, if you lose it you can easily make another.

see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/131truecryptusb for more details.

You can add the TrueCrypt Rescue ISO ( the one that is made when you start encryption), to your E2B USB drive, but you must rename the file extension to .iso01.

E2B v.1.62 BetaA now available

It includes the True Hide\Unhide support discussed previously and the latest version of grub4dos.
Beta Downloads are in the Alternate Download folders (link on Download page), as usual.

Note: Previous True/Hide files have been tweaked/bugfixed - this is a new Mark 4 version!

'True partition' hiding/unhiding in grub4dos

The built-in grub4dos command 'hide' will set bit 4 of the partition type in the partition table of the Master Boot Record (MBR) or the Extended MBRs used for logical partition table entries - e.g.

FAT32 Type 0C hex - now run grub4dos hide command:

hide (hd0,1) 

Partition type is now 1C hex  (hidden FAT32)

However, in some cases the partition and the files inside it will still be accessible to Windows (for instance, if the volume was previously assigned a drive letter by Windows). This is because the partition is still present and still valid. Windows will still mount and display FAT16 and FAT32 partitions even if the Partition type number is of the Hidden type (e.g. 16, 1B or 1C).
Linux may also be able to access the partition and the files within it, if hidden in this way.

We can however hide the files and the partition from any operating system, by also making the PBR invalid (it will appear to the OS to be unformatted or of a 'foreign' format). In this way the file contents cannot be seen by any OS and the volume will not be mounted by Windows or given a drive letter. Grub4dos however, can still access the files within all the hidden partitions.

E2B 1.62Beta8/9 (monthly PIN code support)

A few new tweaks.
Beta9 fixes a bug - if you deleted CONTIG.ISO then it ran isoboot without using the normal partnew code! Thanks to Cristian for reporting this!

• If you hold down either Left-CTRL key (think 'Ctrl=Crc') whilst selecting a payload file (not a .mnu file) and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will calculate and display the CRC32 value of the file before it runs the payload file. For instance, if an ISO file does not seem to boot correctly, you can find it's CRC32 value and compare it with the CRC32 value of the original file. Note that this feature only works with files that run using QRUN.g4b  - so this CRC32 feature does not work with .mnu menu entries and Windows Install ISOs in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xx folders.
• If you hold down a SHIFT key whilst selecting a (linux) ISO file (think 'Shift to isoboot') and keep it held down for a few seconds after pressing ENTER to boot to the payload file, E2B will run it using only isoboot.g4b - in this way you can test out the E2B isoboot feature even if your ISO file is contiguous. Note that isoboot is a 'last resort' attempt to boot a non-contiguous linux ISO - it probably won't work for old or non-standard linux ISOs and quite a few others too!
• Monthly PIN code - use the MyE2B.cfg file to request a 4-digit pin number from the user before it will load the E2B Main menu. The PIN code automatically changes every month, so you will need to tell the users the PIN code for the next month at the end of the previous month. A small Windows utility (see below) can be provided which the admin can use to display the  monthly PIN numbers. The seed value can be changed so that your E2B version will have a unique set of PIN numbers.