Testing E2B UEFI and MBR\BIOS automated Windows installs using XML answer files

E2B copies the contents of your chosen XML file into the 100K blank  \AutoUnattend.xml file before it boots from the ISO file.
When you run a Windows Install ISO from E2B on a Removable USB drive on a real system, Windows Setup\PE will automatically read the \AutoUnattend.xml file located at the root of the USB drive.

However, If you try to run a Windows 7/8/8.1 Windows install ISO under a VM (e.g. Virtual Box), you will find that you will need to type SHIFT+F10 and then run \_ISO\e2b\firadisk\LOADISO.CMD in order to get the ISO to load as a virtual disk. This is because the \AutoUnattend.XML file is completely ignored by Windows because it does not 'see' the USB drive as a 'Removable' drive.

The problem is that if there are any other settings in the XML file (e.g. Product Key or other automated settings), then these settings are not picked up by Setup because the XML file is never read. This means we cannot run a fully unattended Windows install using one of the unattended XML files that we can create using the Windows Answer File Generator and XMLtoE2B.

As I didn't have a spare UEFI system to test automated installs with, I worked out a way to use Virtual Box instead...

XMLtoE2B Demo available

I have added a Demo version of XMLtoE2B.exe to the Alternate Download Areas for anyone who wants to play with it. I have tested MBR\Legacy installs and Windows 8 UEFI\GPT installs using it.
A Licence file is available to anyone who has donated £10 or more - please contact me if you want one.

Instructions for using XMLtoE2B are at http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/xmltoe2b-exe-utility/

XMLtoE2B work continues...

I am still working on the XMLtoE2B.exe utility. Now it allows you to load different Disk Configuration files so that you can automate UEFI/GPT installs.
I also added a 'No User Accounts (Administrator only)  checkbox - this deletes any Local User accounts set up by WAFG and sets the AutoLogon Account Name to 'Administrator'. This has the affect of enabling the Administrator account.

Still loads more testing to do...

E2B 1.68 (bugfix for 1.67)

Noam reported to me that the first menu entry in the MemTest menu (Ctrl-U -> Ctrl+M) does not work but just returns to the main menu.
It turns out this is a bug in 1.67 to do with using a .txt file with a payload file.
Please update to 1.68.

• New grldr 0.46a,
• auto win7/8/8.1 XML files added for fully automated installs.
• 'Load_ISO (no prompt to Repair).XML' files added. 
• LOADISNP.CMD added (does not prompt to repair system).
• Bugfix to CountISOs.g4b. 
• BugFix for .txt files stopping the menu entry from working (QAUTO.g4b and AUTOMN.g4b).

Easy2Boot and automating Windows 7/8 installs using Unattend.xml files

I have had a few enquiries about automating Windows 7/8/8.1 installs using an XML file recently when using Easy2Boot and an unmodified Windows Install ISO from a USB drive, so I thought I would give a few pointers in this blog.

First you need to decide if you are going to install directly from an ISO or from a .imgPTN file (made from an ISO).

Note: E2B v1.82+ includes a new 'SDI_CHOCO' feature. This allows you to install drivers, applications and Windows Updates automatically.

Update: E2B v2 includes agFM which you can UEFI-boot to and directly run a Windows Install ISO and pick an XML file. This means you do not need to make an .imgPTN file. Also, a removable USB drive is not required, and USB E2B drive should work on most systems.

Easy2Boot 1.67 released

• $NAME$ now supported in .mnu and .txt files
• QAUTO.g4b and AUTOMN.g4b changed so .txt files with no \n (help) now end in \n to suppress g4d default help text. 
• Only first line in .txt files are now used (others ignored). 
• RMPartUSB and grubinst added so RMPrepUSB no longer needs to be installed to make a USB drive. 
• Update_E2B_Drive.cmd updated to use xcopy if robocopy not available for XP systems. 
• Fixed problem with spaces in pathnames in Update_E2B_Drive.cmd.
• New grub4dos 0.4.6a can now write to small NTFS files (fixes long-standing bug/'feature') + blocklist command enhanced.

WIth the new version of grub4dos, small 'resident data' files now display the location of the resident data inside the $mft entry - e.g. screenshot above shows /menu.lst data contents are stored in the $mft resident record in relative sector 94 (and 95), from bytes 328 to 901.

E2B 1.67 Beta D with new grub4dos

yaya (a grub4dos developer) has fixed a long-standing problem with grub4dos with the latest 0.4.6a version (2015-05-08). E2B 1.67 Beta D uses this new version of \grldr.

In all previous versions, grub4dos could not write to small files on an NTFS volume. This was due to the way that NTFS stores the data of small files inside it's 'directory' record. This type of data is called resident data. Once the file exceeds the available space in the resident area (typically between 700 and 800 bytes) then it stores all the data in clusters outside of this area (the data space in the resident area is thus unused and used to store the used cluster information, if the file is larger than 800-ish bytes).

Older versions of grub4dos could not update the resident data area:
e.g.

echo fred > file300bytes.txt

did not work with older versions of grub4dos, but now it does!

Note that grub4dos still cannot write more bytes than was originally contained in the file - i.e. you cannot overwrite a file containing 300 bytes with 301 bytes - the last byte will not be written.

You can detect these small 'resident data' NTFS files using the blocklist command:

f700 is a 700 byte resident file and does not list any used sectors.
f800 is an 800 byte files and lists two used 512-byte sectors.

Note that it is possible for a small file (e.g. 100 bytes) to be a non-resident file. This usually occurs when a larger, non-resident file has been reduced in length (e.g. a 900-byte file has been edited to be 100 bytes and saved as the same file).

The latest version of grub4dos shows the position of the resident data.

Download Windows 8.1 ISO from Microsoft

Microsoft have released a new tool (mediacreationtool.exe) which lets you download any version of Windows 8 (except Win8 with Bing) as an ISO or to USB drive.

E2B 1.67BetaC

A few tweaks to the scripts

• Update_E2B_drive now uses Xcopy if Robocopy is not available (for XP users). Also problem with paths containing spaces now fixed.
• Now includes RMPartUSB.exe and grubinst.exe so it is not necessary to download and install RMPrepUSB to make an E2B USB drive using Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd.
• Latest version of E2B_Editor included.

Get the day of the week from grub4dos

The next E2B 1.67 Beta c will include the grub4dos batch file dow.g4b

dow.g4b takes 3 parameters:   year    month    day-of-month
and returns the grub4dos variable dow which is a number from 0-6 (0-Sunday, 1-Monday, etc.).
This means you can call it to test what day of the week it is.
For instance, you can call dow.g4b like this:

call /%grub%/dow.g4b   %@date:~0,4%    %@date:~5,2%   %@date:~8,2% 

and test dow like this:

# only allow use at weekends

if not "%dow%"=="0" if not "%dow%"=="6" halt

# don't allow at weekends, just shutdown!

if "%dow%"=="0" halt

if "%dow%"=="6" halt

E2B 1.67 Beta available

As well as recognising $HOME$ in .txt and .mnu files, E2B now will replace $NAME$ with the filename of the .txt or .mnu file.

This means that a .mnu file can contain $NAME$ and all you have to do is make sure the .mnu file has exactly the same filename as the ISO that it uses.

e.g. before we had this type of .mnu which we had to edit, in order to use a different ISO file.

Puppy_Precise_USB_HDD_Persistence.mnu
================================
iftitle [if exist $HOME$/precise-5.4.3.iso] Puppy Precise 5.4.3\n Puppy with persistence (save on reboot/shutdown)
set ISO=$HOME$/precise-5.4.3.iso
if "%E2BDEV%"=="" set E2BDEV=hd0 && pause E2BDEV forced to hd0!
partnew (%E2BDEV%,3) 0x00 %ISO%
map %ISO% (0xff) 
map --hook 
root (0xff) 
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd psavemark=1 fix=fsck 
initrd /initrd.gz 

It can now be re-written as:

precise-5.4.3.mnu
=============
iftitle [if exist $HOME$/$NAME$.iso] Puppy Precise ($NAME$)\n Puppy with persistence (save on reboot/shutdown)
set ISO=$HOME$/$NAME$.iso
if "%E2BDEV%"=="" set E2BDEV=hd0 && pause E2BDEV forced to hd0!
partnew (%E2BDEV%,3) 0x00 %ISO%
map %ISO% (0xff) 
map --hook 
root (0xff) 
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd psavemark=1 fix=fsck 
initrd /initrd.gz


As long as the filename of the .mnu is identical to the filename of the .ISO file, you do not have to edit the contents of the .mnu file to use it on different ISOs - just copy it and change it's filename.

E2B v1.66 released

Basically same as v.1.65 with + a few Spanish/German tweaks and the E2B_Editor.exe added.

E2B_Editor update (v1.0.53-v1.065)

More changes - I can't stop tinkering!

• If you tick 'Other E2B options -  AUTONUM'  then the display now reflects the changes in the menu (i.e. numbers are removed from the menu)
• Can now click on CENTREHD and bdwidth fields to auto-increment/cycle the values
• v1.0.58 - mouse tooltip displays RGB value under cursor
• v1.0.61 - CTRL+Z Undo added + help button
• v1.0.65 - file + extension show in menu items (no file extension if EXTOFF=1)

E2Bed now reads and writes UTF-8 .cfg files

                                               Checkout the accent over the Ú  in  MENÚ PRINCIPAL.

• ANSI language sets supported (not Chinese/Japanese/Persian glyphs)
• %@DATE% and %@TIME% now interpreted by E2Bed
• Improved parsing of color commands
• standard (console) color now supported
• (config file path) - click on text to edit the .cfg file in Notepad
• (image file path) - click on text to launch the file (view\edit) - depends on Windows file association for .bmp on your system

v1.0.50

• Extra dropdown list options added

Note that the grub4dos password will never be ticked after  loading a .cfg file (even if it has a password set or reset in it). Before saving the .cfg file you must tick the 'No grub4dos password' checkbox each time if you want that option.

Also note that the AUTONUM=0 will be ticked if your .cfg file contains any type of AUTONUM setting (it assumes you have set AUTONUM=0 even if it was set to something else!).

E2B Editor v1.0.30 now available

I think it is pretty much finished now.
Please report any bugs!

Doc page is here.

OneDrive download area
Google Drive download area

New E2B_Editor version available

Latest beta version now does not need the OCX file.

Can load any .cfg file or .bmp file.
Keep checking for the latest version!

OneDrive download area
Google Drive download area

Easy2Boot Menu Editor

If you are feeling adventurous, try the new E2B Menu editor (written in VB6).
A Beta version can be found in the E2B Alternate Download pages.
Note: the first version required COMDLG32.OCX control - there is a separate ZIP file to install and register this. Subsequent versions don't require the OCX.

The Cheryl's Birthday problem and others

The 'Cheryl's Birthday' maths test for the top 15/16 year olds in Singapore - can you solve it?

Here is a link to the problem that's taken the world by storm and a video on how to solve it.

For the 'What colour hat am I wearing' puzzle - click here.

Two students arrange to meet - both thought they had arrived at the correct time, but one was 29 minutes late - how come? Click here.

Want some more? Click here.

E2B v.1.65 and MPI Tool Kit 0.048 released

E2B v1.65 2015-04-16

• New background
• set CENTREHD=1 will now auto-centre menu headings. 
• Menu hotkeys changed in all STRINGS.txt files
• AUTOMENU feature added - can now press first letter of a menu entry to select it, 
• Current language displayed in footer HELPTEXT (can be changed in MyE2B.cfg). 
• grub4dos letters, e.g. p for password entry and c and e now only work if SHIFT is pressed at same time. 
• Small speed improvement in counting Windows ISOs. 
• New version of hotkey utility (thanks chenall!). 
• New version of grub4dos 0.4.6a.

See previous blog posts for details.

The new MPI Tool Kit now centres the heading and payload description in the CSM menu and the \menu.lst is re-organised to help you make modifications more easily. It also now has hotkeys for F7/F9/F10 and first-letter menu hotkeys too. New grub4dos 0.4.6a is used too.

If you want your own background and menu for the CSM menu, just use the CUSTOM folder in the download to add any new or replacement files.

E2B website now in Klingon

I had an email from a very cross guy called Khan today, asking me to provide instructions on how to make an Easy2Boot USB drive that are written in Klingon, as his Earth-English is not very good.

So Khan, please click HERE.

 (OK, not really)... ;-)