Add HitManPro to your Easy2Boot USB drive

A previous blog post here described how you can add and run HitManPro from an E2B USB Removable Flash drive (NTFS or FAT32). The E2B USB drive must be of the 'Removable' type - it won't work if your E2B  flash drive is of the Fixed-disk type (a USB HDD will not work either - Hitman will not auto-run when you boot to Windows).

HitmanPro needs to see a Removable USB drive which has some special code in the sectors at the very end of the USB drive (currently they use the very last 55 sectors).

I have written a grub4dos batch file HitManXfer.g4b (included in Easy2boot) which will transfer these sectors from a valid HitManPro USB Flash drive to the end of your E2B USB flash drive.

UEFI-booting Ubuntu\Xubuntu\Voyager with persistence

As a follow-on from my previous blog post, I thought you might like to see how to boot Voyager from a .imgPTN partition image AND have a persistence file too.

Add Voyager Live to your E2B USB drive

I came across the Xubuntu-derivative Voyager today.
It also includes 'Kodi Media Centre' in the hidden right-hand menu which is Xbox Media Centre (XBMC) and it ran fine booting from an E2B USB drive under VBox (set VBox Audio to ICH AC97 to enable audio) and I was quickly watching Al Jazeera (with persistence)!

Easy2Boot v1.63 released

Changes from v1.62

• QRUN Auto-suggest feature  - now suggests a 'better' file extension, 
• Make_E2B and Update_E2B cmd files now asks to create a MyE2B.cfg file for language/kbd support. 
• New grldr grub4dos 0.46a version to fix NTFS bug with + improved USB 2.0 grub4dos driver.
• \_ISO\isoboot.g4b supported for user's own version of isoboot.g4b.
• QEMU test boot files added to root. 
• FreeBSD, pfSense and GhostBSD memstick images now supported. 
• Make_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd now will detect all drives if no USB drive found in system. 
• XP 32-bit Mass Storage DPMS drivers updated for latest chipsets.
• Sub-Menu Maker script file improved.

Download

Add a Clonezilla Backup/Restore menu to your Easy2Boot USB HDD

If you have Easy2Boot on a large (e.g. 2TB) NTFS USB HDD, you can add a clonezilla ISO and a .mnu file to E2B. This allows you to quickly and easily make a backup of the first hard disk in all your systems (PCs, notebooks, tablets). You can then perform a 'bare-metal' restore at any later date.

The Tutorial 118 on the RMPrepUSB website gives you all the details. You don't have to save the backup images onto the E2B drive, you can connect a second USB HDD to act as the backup device and then keep it in a drawer, happy in the knowledge that you can restore any of your systems at any time in the future.

Easy2Boot DPMS now with updated XP 32-bit Mass Storage Drivers

E2B v1.63 Beta 5 (Easy2Boot_v1.63DPMSBeta5.zip) has the latest XP 32-bit Mass Storage Drivers added + a few bug fixes to fix a few issues in the DriverPack. The new version will hopefully allow XP to be installed from an ISO file onto newer systems that have more modern chipsets - e.g. Z87/Haswell.

If you have any systems (new or old) that you can install XP onto to test it, please do so and let me know if there are any problems as there may be bugs in the new DriverPack files.

As a very quick preliminary test, try the Utilities - List matching XP DriverPack.ini entries  menu option - this should identify your systems Mass Storage (e.g. AHCI) controller and tell you what driver it will use from the DriverPack. If that works then go ahead and try a 2-Stage XP install from ISO and see if it works. If it cannot find a driver, please report the PCI ID to me by using the 'Show Mass Storage Controller PCI IDs' menu entry.

Don't forget to use a USB 2.0 port and not a USB 3.0 port for the E2B USB drive!

The new Beta is in the Alternate Download Areas as usual. Unfortunately, the E2B zip file is larger than before (38MB instead of 31MB), due to the extra drivers.

OneDrive download area

Google Drive download area

MPI Tool Kit v0.045

Running .imgPTN Windows Install from a Virtual Machine

If you convert a Win7 Install ISO to a .imgPTN file and then boot in a VM to the .imgPTN file in E2B and run Setup from the CSM menu, there was a problem in that Setup would overwrite the boot code on the USB drive and thus both the E2B USB drive and the Virtual Hard Disk would not be bootable after a reboot!

MPI Tool Kit 0.044a

Recently, there have been several instances when you cannot run the MPI_FAT32 or MPI_NTFS scripts because you need to enter a larger size than the calculated default size for the .imgPTN file.

This new version has a small change to the MPI_FAT32 and MPI_NTFS scripts.

Instead of running automatically with no user prompts, it now always prompts for the size of the .imgPTN file that it needs to create.

Normally, you will just press [ENTER] to accept the default size, but you can type in a different size instead.

Although this means it is now no longer fully automatic, I don't think pressing the [ENTER] key is too much of a price to pay for being able to override the default size.

If you wish, you can edit the .cmd files and add a * to the command that runs MakePartImage, in order to return it to its normal 'fully automated' mode.

Add Knoppix+Persistence to your E2B drive

Note: this must be done using an NTFS E2B USB drive rather than a FAT32 E2B drive, because usually the .imgPTN file will be greater than 4GB for a full Knoppix OS + persistence file.

Easy2Boot 1.63 Beta 3 now supports FreeBSD 9 and 10, GhostBSD and pfSense 'memstick' images

Versions 9 and 10 of FreeBSD will not boot as an ISO, but the 1.63 Beta 3 version of Easy2Boot and the new MPI Tool Pack v0.044 do support FreeBSD 9 and 10 and pfSense 'memstick' non-UEFI images.

E2B v1.A5 and later versions now support the .isoBSD file extension and can directly MBR-boot some BSD ISO files using a small .imgPTN partition image file - see here.




GhostBSD.img files are also in the memstick format and work too.


You will need to make a dummy .imgPTN file and then add and rename the memstick .img file to remove it's file extension, as described below...

New E2B+persistence YouTube video

New YouTube video on how to add persistence to linux ISOs

Adding FreeBSD, FreeNAS, PCBSD/TrueOS to Easy2Boot

Update: E2B 1.63 now supports FreeBSD, pfSense and GhostBSD .img files! See blog post here.

Recent versions of FreeBSD, FreeNAS, PCBSD/TrueOS ISOs do not 'just work' when copied to the E2B USB drive. However, if you can make a bootable FAT32 USB Flash drive that works correctly (e.g. using Unetbootin), then it is often possible to use the MPI Tool Kit's MakePartImage to make a .imgPTN partition image file directly from the working USB Flash drive.

E2B v1.63 Beta 2 now available

Changes from v1.62

• QRUN now suggests a 'better' file extension than .iso if appropriate (see previous blog post)
• \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Make_MyE2B.cfg.cmd - this will create language\keyboard settings in a new MyE2B.cfg file.
• MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd and UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd files now will ask if you want to create a MyE2B.cfg file for language/kbd support (if one does not already exist) by calling Make_MyE2B.cfg.cmd.
• New grldr grub4dos 0.4.6a version to fix NTFS bug
• Small tweaks to QRUN.g4b to use language file error messages for 'not contiguous' etc.

Download it from the E2B Alternate Download Areas at bottom of page here as usual.

P.S. RMPrepUSB v2.1.728 now available, includes grub4dos 0.4.6a latest version instead of 0.4.5c version - same as latest E2B.

Add Liberte Linux with persistence to E2B

Liberte Linux is a secure, reliable, lightweight and easy to use Gentoo-based LiveUSB/SD/CD Linux distribution with the primary purpose of enabling anyone to communicate safely and covertly in hostile environments. Whether you are a privacy advocate, a dissident, or a sleeper agent, you are equally likely to find Liberté Linux useful as a mission-critical communication aid.

The latest version is 2012.3 and supports MBR and 64-bit and 32-bit UEFI-booting.

Liberte will automatically make a persistent file at \otfe\liberte.vol if an empty \otfe folder exists in the root of a FAT32 writeable storage medium. It does not seem possible to boot from the ISO with persistence however, so we must use a .imgPTN file:

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.

Install Windows 8.1 ToGo to a Removable Flash drive

Thanks to devdevadev from reboot.pro, we can install Win8.1 to a removable drive if we use a VHD to hold the Windows files.

Also works with Windows 10 Tech Preview  (choose 'Pro' for OS to install in WinNTSetup).

See here for the nitty-gritty...

E2B 1.62 Beta7 with Parted Magic LIVE SAVE support

The Parted Magic Parted_Magic_2014_09_21.iso (490MB) can be booted just by adding it to your E2B USB drive. Note: This Parted Magic release is not free but it is only $10.

See end of article for PMagic 2022-09-04.iso with Save feature

However the file must be contiguous or else it will copied using dd to the CONTIG.ISO each time you boot it (if it exists).

I have now modified isoboot.g4b so that it will boot directly from a non-contiguous Parted Magic iso file and it also will support LIVE boot so that you can save the settings on exit.

To run it using isoboot, select the ISO file in the E2B (v1.62+) menu and hold down the SHIFT key before pressing ENTER (or use a .mnu file).

Note: If you make an .imgPTN file from the PMagic iso using the MPI Tool Pack and MakePartImage, it can boot in MBR or UEFI mode and you can select LIVE or non-LIVE mode and choose from a range of supported languages. No modifications or menu editing is required but you will need to allow for at least 200MB of extra free space for storage of the session settings..

P.S. For non-E2B users (why not?!!!) - there is an article on RMPrepUSB.com here.

E2B v1.62 Beta5 available

I have added WinContig to the E2B zip file now. There will be a file called:

MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd 

in the root of your E2B USB drive. Just double-click on this script to run WinContig.exe.

This adds 3MB of WinContig files to the USB drive but it means that you don't need to use RMPrepUSB just to make the files contiguous. So you can easily add more ISO files, etc. to your E2B drive and then run WinContig with just a few clicks of the mouse - even if the Windows system that you are using does not have RMPrepUSB or WinContig installed.

Let me know if you think this is a bad idea and I should remove it!

Bug in Beta5! Please try Beta6.

E2B v1.62 Beta4 new password protection feature

A new E2B password protection feature has been added.

If you want the user to have enter a password before a certain ISO or any other payload file can be run, you can now just add the three letters "pwd" to the end of the file extension.

Bug in this version - please try latest Beta!

E2B v1.62 Beta 2 for .dmg and HFS partition images now available

E2B v1.62 Beta 2 now recognises 4 new file extensions and it is now available from the Alternate Downloads Area as usual on the www.easy2boot.com website:

• .dmg and .dmgHFS - these behave identically. The file must be uncompressed disk image and contain a single bootable Type AF  HFS+ partition
• .HFSptn and .HFS - this must be a bootable partition image (not a disk image) and should be of Type AF (HFS+ partition)

Add an OS X Installer for your E2B drive using just Windows

If you only have a Windows system, you can prepare a USB Flash drive by using RMPrepUSB - File->Drive and specifying the Yosemite.dmg file as the source. Then check that the USB drive now contains a Type AF partition by using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - 0  to list the partitions - e.g.

Partition 1   SIZE=5235.382MiB   Type: AF   *ACTIVE*
START POS   = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63       END POS = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63
START (LBA) = 1 (00000001) SIZE (LBA) = 10,722,062 (00A39B0E) [End=10,722,062]

Partition 2   SIZE=0MiB   Type: 00        
START POS   = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0       END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0
START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

Partition 3   SIZE=0MiB   Type: 00        
START POS   = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0       END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0
START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

Partition 4   SIZE=0MiB   Type: 00        
START POS   = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0       END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0
START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

P1   Start=1 (512 bytes) End=10,722,062 (5,489,695,744 bytes)

Once the USB flash drive has been written, you can now use RMPrepUSB - Drive->File to make a .HFSPTN file (start = P1 - or whatever partition number the AF partition is).

Later versions of E2B support the .dmg file extension - so just copy the .dmg bootable single-partition image file over to the E2B drive and boot!

Another alternative is to use 7Zip to extract the .img file from the .dmg file. Then just rename the extracted file to a .HFSPTN file.

See the previous blog for more details.

Add MemTest/KonBoot, etc. UEFI-boot files to your dual-boot WinPE USB drive (32/64-bit)

I have added a new section to the bottom of Tutorial 127 which describes how to add rEFInd to your E2B USB drive so that you can boot to other payload EFI files directly from your E2B USB drive besides Windows PE.

rEFInd will create a menu automatically by searching for .efi boot files, so it is really simple to add it to your UEFI-bootable drive - just copy over the folder and move a few files!

For E2B users - see here for the download.

Note that a few UEFI systems will not MBR-boot if a \efi\boot\bootx64.efi file is present on the USB drive - they do not show any MBR boot option and will only UEFI boot. This means you cannot boot to the E2B grub4dos menu even if they support MBR\CSM mode booting! This is why E2B does not include any \EFI boot folder or rEFInd by default.

Make a dual-boot (MBR+UEFI) WinPE USB drive (32/64-bit)

I have written a new Tutorial 127 here which describes how to make a WinPE dual-boot payload that will boot from a 32-bit or 64-bit UEFI system or a normal MBR BIOS system.

Although the Win8.1SE project by ChrisR is supposed to have this Multi-WIM capability, I found that I could not get it to work without having to use BootIce to fix the BCD, so it was easier just to manually merge the files from two WinPE's into one.

This shows just how easy BootIce is to use for simple BCD editing!

Once you have made the FAT32 USB drive, you can make a partition image from it using MakePartImage and add the image file to your E2B USB drive.

Add Mac OS X Installers (e.g. Yosemite) to your E2B multiboot USB drive

Mitch recently asked me if he could add an OS X Installer ISO to his E2B USB drive. After two nights of work by Mitch (mostly!) and myself (I don't have an x86 Mac - or indeed any Mac to test it on), we got something working!

You will need a spare 8GB+ USB drive, a Mac (or Virtual Machine with OS X) and the UniBeast download...

Note: New E2B feature! If your .dmg file contains a .img file which is an HFS+ single partition and is x86-bootable - you can now just copy the .dmg file to your Easy2Boot v1.62+ USB drive and boot from it on any x86 Hackintosh PC - no need to use a OS X system or UniBeast!

Deleting the 'System Volume Information' folder from a USB drive (and other system files\folders)

Note for new visitors: The method described below will work for any Windows volume (not just E2B or .imgPTN files).

If you want to copy a whole partition or make a .imgPTN file from a partition volume by dragging-and-dropping the volume letter icon onto a MPI_FAT32 or MPI_NTFS Desktop shortcut, you may find that the process reports an error if Windows fails to copy some of the protected files and folders that it may already be present on the partition.

You can use strarc to copy all WindowToGo OS files to a different folder and preserve symbolic links, etc.

A simple way to avoid this is to copy the files from the entire USB drive to an empty folder on your PC's hard disk. This way you only copy the files and folders you need. You can then drag-and-drop the folder onto one of the MPI shortcuts.

If using XCOPY to copy files use /cherky instead of /herky so that errors will not stop XCOPY from continuing,

However, it may not be practical to do this, so how do we delete these pesky files and folders?

E2B v1.62Beta1, Windows XP Install ISOs and Winnt.sif files!

Here are some notes on getting 'special' versions of Windows XP Install ISOs to work with E2B.

If you just want to skip this and get to the best solution, then scroll down to the 'How to add a non-standard XP Install ISO to E2B' heading!

Add a Master Password screen to E2B

On the E2B Forum, I was recently asked by a user how to display a wallpaper bitmap on first boot and then only proceed to the E2B Main menu if the user entered the correct password.
He did not want any prompt or indication to be visible - just the wallpaper.
A Master password can be set in the E2B  \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg user configuration file but the example code displays a user prompt. This user did not want any prompt or cursor to be visible.

Add the Polish Arcabit Rescue CD to your Easy2Boot USB multiboot drive

You can use the following .mnu file to add Arcabit to E2B (FAT32\ext2\3 drives only)

Easy2Boot will boot directly from the ISO file, but updates will not be persistent. By extracting the files from the ISO and making a .mnu file, we can get the virus updates to be stored on the FAT32 USB drive.

There is a solution for NTFS E2B drives too...

Easy2Boot v1.61 released

Changes from v1.60 are:

• .mnu files for Windows Install ISOs menu entries in the Main menu can now be added by the user which can specify both the .ISO file AND the .XML file to use. See the $$AddWin2Main.mnu sample menu. This means a Windows Install ISO will boot without the user needing to choose a specific XML or Key file.
• New grub4dos version
• Menu heading positions have been altered - menu headings are now left-aligned instead of being centred. STRINGS.txt files updated.
• HEADPOS variable is now easier to use (can place the menu heading on any line just by changing HEADPOS). See here for details.
• Help Footer text at the bottom of the screen is no longer padded out by HPAD, so now HBTM determines it's absolute position in the menu. See here for details.
• \_ISO\docs\mythemes and \_ISO\docs\Templates files updated
• \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file updated (for HEADPOS, HBTM)
• Italian language files added (thanks to Fabrizio)
• German language STRINGS.txt improved (thanks to Frettt).
• FreeDOS bootable floppy disk image changed (some FreeDOS utilities added)
• Some superfluous files deleted from \_ISO\e2b\firadisk folder
• Support for .isonousb and .imgnousb/.imanousb file extensions added - see here for details
• Sample .mnu files added: DOS_ISONoUSB.mnu and DOS_IMAnoUSB.mnu, CentOS7_FAT32_ISO.mnu, Fedora20_FAT32_ISO.mnu
• isoboot.g4b added to boot some non-contiguous linux ISOs, See here for details.

If you are using a MyE2B.cfg file and your own background, you may find you need to change the HEADPOS and HBTM values in your MyE2B.cfg file.

isoboot.g4b

If an ISO is not contiguous, E2B will try to copy the contents of the ISO to \_ISO\CONTIG.ISO which is 500MB in size by default. If this fails for some reason (e.g. CONTIG.ISO has been deleted to save space or the ISO is bigger than the size of CONTIG.ISO) then E2B will now use the isoboot.g4b batch script to attempt to boot directly from the linux ISO file by loading it into memory and using linux 'cheat codes' to boot it. This may not work for all versions of linux and it will only boot to the default 'live' version (no full boot menu is displayed).

Easy2Boot v1.61 Beta5 available (adds booting from DOS .iso or .ima floppy images but hides the USB drive)

Changes since Beta4

• FreeDOS bootable image changed (some FreeDOS utilities added)
• Some superfluous files deleted from \_ISO\e2b\firadisk folder
• Support for .isonousb and .imgnousb/.imanousb file extensions added
• Sample .mnu files added DOS_ISONoUSB.mnu and DOS_IMAnoUSB.mnu

I was contacted recently by Drake to ask if he could boot a bootable DOS ISO from Easy2Boot but hide the E2B drive (which normally appears as the first hard disk (hd0) in the system).

So I have now added support for the file extensions .isonousb and .imgnousb (and .imanousb).

Easy2Boot v1.61Beta3 available (adds direct boot from non-contiguous linux ISOs)

For Beta2 changes see here.

Beta3 additions are:

1. When installing directly from a Windows Install ISO (Vista or later), the cfadisk device driver is now loaded automatically. This means that by the time Windows Vista/7/8/10 Setup GUI is displayed, all partitions on a Removable USB drive are accessible to WinPE\Setup. Normally, Windows will only mount and make accessible the first partition of a Removable drive.
This means that, in theory, (not yet tested!), if you use a special .mnu file, you can locate your Windows Install ISO files (and whatever .xml and .key files too) on a different partition on a Flash drive.

Note: Now removed in Beta4 because the driver causes problems with Win 8.1 64-bit Install ISOs!

If you would like to be able to treat Removable USB drives as a Hard Disk for Windows installs, you can add the cfadisk driver to the boot.wim file using 'devadevs' method, described here.

2. More direct ISO booting support for more linux non-contiguous ISO, list is now: