Adding Tails to E2B

Tails 5.1.1 (and many other versions)

For MBR legacy boot from the ISO (DVD) file, use an extension of _.isodef.iso and E2B v2.14 or later.

For UEFI, use agFM and in the Tails grub2 menu, if you have a USB HDD, choose the 'Tails (External Hard Disk) option.

Tails 4.2, 4.6 4.28, etc.

Also see here for UEFI boot and later Tails versions with E2B .mnu support.

Tails 3.16

The Tails ISO can be downloaded from here. You can download via the Torrent or download the ISO directly.

E2B will boot from a Tails ISO on a real system from a Removable E2B Flash drive.

Booting from ISO under a Virtual Machine will not work if the VM sees the USB drive as a 'virtual IDE/SCSI hard disk. (E2B v2.14+ will boot Tails ISOs on both Removable and Fixed USB drives however).

If your E2B USB drive is a 'fixed-disk' type, then you can convert the Tails ISO to a .imgPTN file. Ensure that 'live-media=removable' is not in the kernel cheat code line (press TAB in the syslinux Tails boot menu to see the boot parameters). The latest versions of the MPI Tool Kit should remove this cheat code for you if you choose AUTO-CORRECT=Y.

The persistence option in the Desktop menu system cannot be used because Tails will only create the persistence volume on a USB drive that has been installed using Tails (has a GPT partitions with a volume name of 'Tails' - possibly only works on Removable USB media?) and so has the correct partition structure.

Tails 2

The Tails 2.2 ISO can be downloaded from here. You can download via the Torrent or use FireFox and download the ISO directly.

The Tails 1.0 and later ISOs cannot run with persistence now (unlike earlier 0.xx versions). Tails 1.0+ looks for a GPT disk and an EFI volume labelled 'Tails' (see here and here), so you must make a dedicated GPT USB Flash drive for Tails if you want persistence. If the drive wasn't 'made by Tails installer' then it will refuse to create a persistent file system for you.

If you boot from the ISO (even in E2B), you cannot install Tails to a new flash drive because Tails will only install if it is running from a USB FAT32 drive. This is a real pain!

E2B v1.78m Beta

Because grub4dos can accept up to 32-pixel high characters (I have only tested 24 so far), I have now deprecated the FONT24 variable and instead we should use FONTH=24 to use 24-pixel high fonts in E2B:

Example 1 (default)
# use E2B default 24-pixel high fonts (loads simplified Chinese + terminalbold.f24)
set FONTH=24

How to boot Clonezilla (and other stuff) from your E2B USB drive even if it does not have Clonezilla on it!

iPXE is an internet boot protocol. It allows you to download into memory and then run various payloads (ISOs) from the internet. This means you can boot stuff without it even needing to be on your USB boot drive.

You can add the iPXE boot ISOs to E2B and when you boot, they will connect to the internet (you need a network connection on that computer) and then download a menu.

To get started, just add the netboot.xyz.iso file to your \_ISO\MAINMENU folder and run it.
The current list of supported downloads is here.

E2B v1.78l Beta

Wonko (from reboot.pro) has provided some large 'European' font files for use with the FONT24 variable in E2B. They seem to support the various E2B languages OK including Russian (let me know if there are any characters missing!).

More fonts may follow!

New changes since last E2B v1.78k are:

• Extra xxxx24 font files have been added to the \_ISO\e2b\grub folder (the font file sft has been renamed to sft24, and yxt to yxt24).
• The \_ISO\docs\Templates\LargeFonts\MyE2B.cfg file has been updated - it now uses the new terminalbold24 font file (copy it to the \_ISO folder to use it).
• Latest version of grub4dos added (still a few niggly bugs though).
• \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\Protect\Protect.cmd script added.

The Protect.cmd script can be used to protect your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file. It uses cacls to remove permissions (so not accessible), sets the hidden and system attributes and compresses the file using LZMA to make it less human-readable. The file will only be accessible to it's 'owner', Protect.cmd also unprotects the file if you wish (but only if you are the owner).

If you edit the Protect.cmd file, you can change the cacls setting so that the only person that can access the file under Windows, is you, the 'owner' (i.e. someone who has logged on to your system with your account login or your Domain login). This makes it very secure (on Windows systems) but might be inconvenient.

It is not impossible for an Administrator to gain access to the file however, if they know how!

E2B v1.78k

This version has the latest grub4dos which fixes a few small bugs in previous Beta versions (in particular if you are using the FONT24 feature).

E2B v1.78j with large font support

Recent versions of grub4dos 0.4.6a support 24x24 pixel fonts.

I have added two font hex files to E2B v1.78j and also added some menu support for it.
The two font files added are fxt and sft (traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese, I think?) - they also support English characters but not other language characters, because they do not contain any special characters such as umlaut Ü, etc.. Also, the odd English character may be missing too, e.g. ~.

Because these font are bigger, it means there are less rows and columns on the screen.

800x600   = 33 columns by 25 rows
1024x768 = 42 columns by 32 rows

E2B v1.78i Beta available

This version has the latest \grldr grub4dos 0.4.6a file (not the final version yet but seems to be fully working).
The splashimage --animated command now supports up to 999 animation frames.
The frame file names can be in  xxxxxx01.bmp format or xxxxx001.bmp format.
You can download the new DNA_Animation.zip file and add it to E2B v1.78i. It will now display all 120 frames of the rotating DNA model in a smooth continuous loop.
I have also added a 'ls' menu entry to the Utilities Menu in v1.78i.

Add DNA to E2B!

Want to add this animation to your E2B menu?

E2B Beta v1.78g now available

E2B v1.78g uses a new grub4dos 0.4.6a version which is not compatible with the previous E2B 1.78 Beta versions when using the STAMP and ANIMATE variables.

Note: See also this blog post for a 120-frame animated model of DNA!

If you are updating an earlier v1.78 which used STAMPn or ANIMATE, please check your MyE2B.cfg file and change the STAMPn and ANIMATE variables - otherwise you may not see any background and other strange things may happen!

E2B v1.78g is in the Alternate Download Areas as usual (see side panel in this blog).

N.B. The syntax has now changed slightly!

For STAMPn we need to add an extra parameter because STAMPs now supports transparent backgrounds:

Note: The top STAMP1 and STAMP2 have a transparent background!

E2B v1.78f available

YaYa has suggested that we could create a floppy disk image (.ima) file containing the animation bitmap files and load the floppy disk image into memory using:

map --mem --read-only /bitmaps.ima (fd3)
map --hook

This means that the files will be quickly accessed from memory and makes for much smoother animation with no continuous access to the USB drive (it can even be unplugged and the animation will still play).

E2B v1.78e Beta available

Yaya has fixed the problem of the hotkey app disabling animation.
This new E2B Beta version has the new grub4dos version which lets us have an animation playing on the menu.
Copy the \_ISO\docs\Templates\Animate\MyE2B.cfg file to \_ISO to test it out!

New features documented on this page.

E2B v1.78d Beta available for testing!

The new animation and graphics features in the latest grub4dos version is still not quite fully working (the hotkey utility prevents the infinite-cycle animated GIF-on-menu feature from working), but can at least play a sequence of bitmaps smoothly (and with a transparent background if desired!) before the menu is loaded. You can also define up to 4 STAMPn variables to over-stamp your wallpaper with up to four different 'stamps'. It will also be possible to use different stamps for each menu - for instance, when the AntiVirus menu is loaded, it could show the same background but with an AV logo in the corner of the screen instead of the Main Menu logo. I will detail how to do this later.

Graphics mode + plain background

Also, the MYWBMP variable now can be used to define a pure colour background instead of a bitmap or JPEG file. The value must begin with 0x (zero + lower case x) to be recognised as an RGB fill colour (e.g. 0xFF0000 would be red).

set GMODE=800
# set a plain colour background
set MYWBMP=0xCC77EE

Use the 'Quick800' template - for quicker loading.

Improved Plop! Boot ISO

The Plop! boot ISO allows you to boot from a CD and then boot from a USB drive. This is useful if the BIOS does not support USB booting or has buggy USB-boot support (e.g. if the BIOS tries to boot from the USB drive as a USB-Floppy or USB-ZIP drive).

Make a UEFI-bootable .imgPTN file from a Toshiba BIOS update ISO file

Toshiba BIOS update ISOs can be booted from Easy2Boot in MBR\CSM mode. They typically boot to a DOS hard disk image.

Installing Windows 10 on old Windows 7 tablet

I had an old Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit tablet with 32GB internal flash memory and 2GB of RAM. It had an OEM Windows 7 Certificate of Authentication label (COA) on the back and so I decided to see if I could upgrade it to Windows 10.

As I did not have the latest Windows 10 Threshold 2 (1511) Home install ISO, I used the Windows 10 release version and installed it using an E2B flash drive (I did a clean install and completely erased all previous partitions).

I first installed Windows 10 without using a Product Key, then ran Windows Update to update it to the 1511 TH2 version. Then it was simply a case of using the Windows 7 Product Key from the COA label to activate it and Voila! I now have an activated Win 10 tablet.

With hindsight, it would have been much quicker to download Win10 Home TH2 from MS as the update took ages!

As this tablet is quite old, I am not sure if the COA label Product Key was ever registered with MS (originally it would have used the OEM Product Key embedded in the OEM OS). So I cannot be sure that it only worked because it had been previously activated with the  COA key.

Windows 10 July 2016 upgrade deadline

Even if you don't want to use Windows 10 just yet, remember to install Windows 10 TH2 on any old PCs, tablets, laptops, etc. that you have before the July 2016 free upgrade deadline. Once the system is activated, you can re-install it with any OS you like, but it will be registered for Windows 10 for any future Win10 install.

You can upgrade Home/Core editions of Win7/8 to Win 10 Home or Pro/business editions to Win 10 Pro.

If you don't want to install Windows 10 onto each system, why not install Windows 10 1511 Home and/or Pro to VHDs on a USB hard disk using WinToUSB, and boot each system from the USB hard disk.

Once you have the VHD booting, you can copy it to your E2B drive and have 32-bit and 64-bit VHDs for Win 10 Home and Pro. For UEFI-only systems, you will need to make .imgPTN files.

You should then be able to activate Windows using the original Product Key that is on each system, but using the same VHD each time (if you boot it on a different system it will just complain that it is not activated).

See here and here for details.

E2B v1.77A (with new TXT_Maker.exe)

The \_ISO\TXT_Maker.exe utility required a vb6 runtime comgdlg32,ocx file and so gave an error if it was run on a system without this ActiveX component registered.
This has now been fixed with TXT_Maker v1.0.08.
E2B v1.77A has this new version of TXT_Maker. Other than that, E2B v1.77A is the same as v1.77.
Thanks to Simon L for reporting it!

E2B v1.78b with Russian language

Yuri has sent me the Russian translation files for E2B, so now you can have E2B in Russian too if you update to the new v1.78b Beta version!

Let me know if you spot any problems.

To use the Russian language files, in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file, use

if not exist LANG set LANG=RUSSIAN

grub4dos with animated bitmaps

Yaya has added support for animated bitmaps to the latest version of grub4dos 0.4.6a.

It allows you to display a sequence of bitmaps (e.g. pic01.bmp, pic02.bmp, etc.)

E2B v1.77 released

• New version of grubinst.exe
• MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd bugfixes for Removable drive detection and XP Home
• Switch_E2B v1.0.10
• E2B_Editor v1.0.83
• New \_ISO\TXT_Maker.exe utility
• MOVE_IMGPTN added (see here - Method 4). 
• If drive is write-protected, now uses ISOBOOT to boot from ISOs.
• Ophcrack support added to ISOBOOT. 
• QRUN.g4b warns if xxxx.imPTN file does not precede the second xxxx image partition file (no extension) when switching in two partition images. 
• Menu system will now ignore .exe files. 
• Improve QRUN.g4b when error and if E2B disk is not disk 0. 
• Change all STRINGS.txt menu headings so they don't start with two spaces (users should use HEADPOS in MyE2B.cfg if they want to move the headings). 
• New Sample mnu files - Q4OS+persistence, openSUSE, AltLinux, WIN98_IMGPTN_INST.mnu, Panda Vaccine AUTORUN.INF fix, redir/redirp and AVG Rescue

MPI Tool Pack v0.062 also available.

Google Drive download area

OneDrive download area

Boot openSUSE ISOs from E2B

openSUSE is rather strange in that it will not boot on E2B directly from the ISO.

Note: TumbleWeed ISOs do 'just work' as an ISO! For some commands (e.g. gparted) you may first need to run  "su -"  to get root level access and then type the command on the terminal command line!

Note: There are two types - all 'Installer' ISOs and 'LiveCD' ISOs.

Also RescueCD.

However there is a solution which depends on what type of E2B partition you have:

Q4OS with persistence on E2B

Q4OS is a rather nice, clean debian-based linux OS. The LiveCD ISO will boot directly from E2B.

E2B v1.77n and Switch_E2B v1.0.10 available

I have had a report that when using Switch_E2B.exe under an old version of XP to switch back from a FAT32 .imgPTN file to the E2B partitions, the user managed to corrupt the E2B drive.

Install Windows 98/Me from E2B

I was asked about installing Win 98 recently and I pointed the user to an old blog post here (although why anyone would want Win 98 or Win Me is beyond me - it is hardly usable now!).

However, that blog post was written before we had .imgPTN files, and it struck me that we could use the MPI Tool Kit to create a .imgPTN file that we could map as a large floppy disk. That we we could boot from it as a large floppy and install Windows 98/Me.

I have updated that old blog post now with instructions on how to set it up for E2B.

The process should work for any DOS-based payload, not just Win95/98/Me installs. You do need to add the DOS boot files to the .imgPTN file before use, however.

How to boot Alt-Linux ISOs on E2B

Alt-Linux ISOs do not boot fully if you just add them to E2B. However, there is a trick, just follow the picture sequence below:

1. Choose the LiveCD option (regular-xfce-latest-i586.iso)

Auto-detect your computer model in E2B (for automatic BIOS upgrade or repair/install)

If you want to boot a different ISO or .IMA floppy image depending on what system you are running E2B on, you can detect what system it is running on by searching the BIOS for the model string.

The menu below can be used as a template.

MPI Tool Pack 0.061 (bugfix) available + E2B v1.77l

I found a bug in the MPI Tool pack where it did not replace all the strings correctly in menu\cfg files, etc. It also has a slightly modified menu.lst file. Please download v0.061 and use that  to make your .imgPTN files - e.g.

1. Unpack MPI Tool Pack v0.061 to a folder on the Desktop
2. Run the CreateDesktopShortcuts.cmd file (it will replace your existing Desktop shortcuts)
3. If you are running Windows 10, you may need to re-install ImDisk from the ImDisk folder in the download. It won't hurt to do this anyway!

If you had trouble with any linux .imgPTN files, you can try re-making them using the new MPI Tool Pack.

E2B v1.77l is the latest Beta with a few tweaks to QRUN.g4b and Sample mnu files, etc. Also latest E2B_Editor v1.0.84 (gives warnings if you are not using it on the E2B drive!) and latest TXT_Maker v1.0.5.

Please let me know of any bugs/problems as I intend to release this as the next E2B version soon.

E2B 1.77k Beta available

The 1.77k version has the following changes from the previous 1.77 Beta:

1. Default Main Menu heading and all sub-menu headings now begin at the extreme left of the menu area instead of two spaces to the right (see screenshot). If you want to move them across to the right, use set HEADPOS=0002 or 0004 in a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file. This means all the default language STRINGS.txt files have been changed.
2. New default 'night sky' wallpaper
3. Sample E2B Menus .mnu file - Test_redir_redirp_EXTOFF_Patchme.mnu - allows you to test the effect of the redir, redirp and EXTOFF variables and also runs the patchme utility which patches grub4dos on the E2B drive so that you get no boot messages from grub4dos. Copy it to the \_ISO\UTILITIES folder if you want to use it (see screenshot). Note: I strongly suggest you do not use redir or redirp if E2B is to be used by naive users, because they cause important usage tips, warnings and diagnostic error messages to be hidden from the user.
4. Small changes to QRUN.g4b to improve error handling (e.g. if file is not contiguous, the blocklist is displayed - a contiguous file should only have one block).
5. Any .exe file accidentally copied to a menu folder (!) will not be listed in the menu.
6. New version of TXT_Maker.exe (small improvements)

You need to copy the Test_redir_redirp_EXTOFF_Patchme.mnu file
to the \_ISO\UTILITIES folder to get the new menu entries.

New E2B TXT_Maker utility

I have spent a few hours knocking up a .txt file maker utility for E2B.

You can drag-and-drop an ISO or other payload file onto it or select a payload file on the E2B USB drive using the File... button.

Click on the Save .txt file button to save the text that is in the bottom text box to a .txt file in the same folder as the payload file.

I will add this into the next E2B download, but it is available on the Alternate Download Areas as a separate download.

Note: It does not read and parse existing .txt files. You can select a .txt file as the 'payload' file but it will not populate any fields from the existing .txt file.

E2B v1.77h with AntiPanda NTFS bugfix!

I finally managed to get the Panda USB Vaccine program to work by running it on Win10 as admin instead of XP and using the USBVaccine.exe /experimentalntfs command line!

So I have been able to properly test the Antipanda.g4b and found a bug!

I have updated the AntiPanda.g4b batch file in v1.77h and it should now work on NTFS volumes!

Copy one or all of the  \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\E2B Menus\$Pandaxxx.mnu files to \_ISO\MAINMENU folder

Note that after resetting the NTFS 'In Use' bit, you MUST run chkdsk /f U:
where U: is your USB drive (run from an Admin command prompt) or use Disk - Properties - Tools - Check to fix it.

AntiPanda running on an NTFS E2B USB drive.

You must run chkdsk afterwards!

Afterwards, you will have a \found.000 folder in the root which you can delete.

If there is a file called \AUTORUN_.INF then you can rename it back to \AUTORUN.INF and it should contain the original E2B contents.

P.S. I tested by using VirtualBox+DavidB's VMUB utility. This allows full rd/wr access to the USB file system and so the patches made by AntiPanda.g4b to the USB drive will remain even after quitting VBox.

E2B v.1.77g Beta available with new Panda AntiVaccine menu for all drives

I have reworked the AntiPanda.g4b script and added another .mnu file.

Note: NTFS bug in this version is fixed in v1.77h (you must run chkdsk /f afterwards!).

1. $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT.mnu - fixes 1st and 2nd partitions of an E2B FAT32 drive
2. $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT_NTFS.mnu - fixes 1st and 2nd partitions of FAT32 and NTFS E2B drive
3. $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_Pick.mnu - fixes any partition on any disk in the system

The last .mnu file lists the partitions in the system and then runs the FAT and NTFS fix on the chosen partition entered by the user.

This means you can 'fix' any system or USB drive by booting to E2B.

Note that old versions of Panda converted the AUTORUN.INF file to an illegal directory entry for FAT volumes. This fix has only been tested on the more recent version of Panda v1.0.1.4.

Remove the Panda vaccine protection from the \AUTORUN.INF file (FAT+NTFS)

I have written a small grub4dos batch file (AntiPanda.g4b) which will attempt to fix both FAT and NTFS volumes (hd0,0) and (hd0,1).

NEWSFLASH: New version (that works!) in E2B v1.77g or later!

To use it, copy the .mnu file to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder and the AntiPanda.g4b file to the \_ISO\e2b\grub folder.

I will add this into the next version of E2B so that you can just copy the .mnu file from the Sample mnu folders file to one of your menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\UTILITIES).

I have not fully tested this on NTFS volumes because Panda Vaccine USB is unable to actually work on most of the NTFS volumes I have!

If you have an \AUTORUN_.INF file (with an underscore) then you may need to rename this to \AUTORUN.INF and run the fix before the drive icon will be restored. If you cannot rename the AUTORUN_.INF file, then just delete it.

E2B v1.77f (Beta) is now available and includes these new files. The next version will include a .mnu file and new version of the AntiPanda.g4b that allows you to pick any partition in the system (in case you want to un-Panda any internal drives or additional USB drives).

P.S. This won't work if you run it on a VM unless use either RMPrepUSB - F11 QEMU  or  VirtualBox+VMUB, because these allow full rd/wr access.

Remove the Panda vaccine protection from the \AUTORUN.INF file (FAT)

Some people who use Panda AV or Panda USB Vaccine may find that the \AUTORUN.INF file on their E2B USB drive has been hidden and write-protected. Although it will not affect E2B, it does affect how the drive appears in Windows Explorer and how it is listed by grub4dos:

• The \AUTORUN.INF file is not visible in Explorer (even if 'Show all files' is enabled)
• You cannot write a new \AUTORUN.INF file or copy it over the top of the existing (hidden) one
• Windows Explorer does not show the E2B icon or display the Volume Label of the drive - it just shows 'Removable drive' or 'Local Disk'
• Grub4dos will not detect or list the file

What Panda appears to do is (on a FAT volume)

• Set the 'Hidden attribute' on the file
• Set one of the 'Reserved' attribute bits which makes Windows (and grub4dos) ignore it.

For a FAT volume, we can remove protection with this bit of (seemingly wrong!) code executed from the grub4dos command line once booted to E2B:

errorcheck off
if not exist /AUTORUN.INF fat del /AUTORUN.INF

This looks incorrect, but works because the grub4dos fat utility does not use the grub4dos filesystem driver and seems to ignore the 'reserved bit' that makes the file 'illegal'.

After this code is executed, the AUTORUN_.INF file can be renamed to AUTORUN.INF.

I have added a $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT.mnu file to the Sample menus and also to the Alternate Download Area - mnu files folder. Just copy it to your \_ISO\MAINMENU folder to use it. You will only see it if there is no \AUTORUN.INF in the current volume.

$Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT.mnu
iftitle [if not exist /AUTORUN.INF] Restore \AUTORUN.INF (FAT32 only)\n Undo Panda Vaccination and delete or unhide AUTORUN.INF
errorcheck off
if not exist (hd0,0)/autorun.inf /%grub%/fat del (hd0,0)/autorun.inf > nul
if exist (hd0,0)/AUTORUN_.INF /%grub%/fat ren (hd0,0)/AUTORUN_.INF AUTORUN.INF
if exist (hd0,0)/AUTORUN.INF echo (hd0,0)/AUTORUN.INF now restored!
if not exist (hd0,1)/autorun.inf /%grub%/fat del (hd0,1)/autorun.inf > nul
if exist (hd0,1)/AUTORUN_.INF /%grub%/fat ren (hd0,1)/AUTORUN_.INF AUTORUN.INF
if exist (hd0,1)/AUTORUN.INF echo (hd0,1)/AUTORUN.INF now restored!
pause Press a key to reload the Main menu...
configfile (md)0xa000+0x8000 || configfile /menu.lst

For NTFS volumes, it is a lot trickier as there is no grub4dos equivalent to the fat utility for the NTFS filesystem (see next blog post).

If you want to try directly editing the NTFS filesystem to fix the AUTORUN.INF file, check the post  by Vasily Ignatov Apr 29, 2013 at 3:19 AM here.

Adding >4GB UEFI-bootable NTFS .imgPTN files to E2B

This page on the E2B site describes 5 methods on how to add UEFI-bootable .imgPTN files to E2B that contain >4GB files. i.e. how to UEFI-boot from an NTFS image file. This is useful if your source contains a >4GB Install.wim or Install.esd file.

I have recently added Method 5 to this page which describes how you can add a 2nd small FAT Primary partition to your E2B USB drive which contains Pete Batard's (Rufus author) UEFI-NTFS boot files (which I provide as an EFI_TOGO zip download file).

E2B_Editor v1.0.82 available

I have fixed a few niggly bugs in the E2B_Editor utility and hopefully made it more intuitive to use.

One problem was that on a 1600x900 screen, it defaulted to the 'borderless', fixed position mode.

Let me know if you find any problems, otherwise it will be in the next release of E2B v1.77.

Download from the Alternate Download Areas as usual and copy it to your \_ISO folder on the E2B USB drive.

It is intended to be run from the \ISO folder of the E2B USB drive and any bitmap that is used should be on the E2B USB drive in the correct location already, so that the path of the wallpaper bitmap file that is saved to the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file will be correct.
e.g. if you load a bitmap file from the Windows Desktop, then the .cfg file that you save will have an entry like:
set MYWBMP=/Users/Steve/Desktop/new800.bmp
so it is obviously not going to work when you use it on your E2B USB drive!

Switch_E2B v1.09 available

Following on from previous blog posts about using two partition image files for UEFI-booting of Windows installers with >4GB files...

As an alternative to using the MOVE_IMGPTN.cmd Windows script, Switch_E2B.exe v1.09 now detects the position of the two partition image files (e.g. FRED.imgptn and FRED) on an NTFS E2B drive and if they are in the wrong order for UEFI-booting, it will offer to attempt to re-order them for you.

It does this by copying the files up to 30 times and so it may take long time to do this, depending on the size of the files!

Since the file without the extension needs to be last one, this is the file that needs to be moved\copied. If this is a large file, it might take a while!

The re-ordering of the two files does not always work. If not, you can always try it again as it may work if you run it for a second time. Also, it may fragment the file (in which case you will need to run WinContig again and then try Switch_E2B again!

Note that this version shows you if a second partition image file is present that has no file extension.

It is available on the Alternate Download areas if you want to test it!

Let me know how you get on!

Note: SWITCH_E2B was only intended for use on NTFS E2B USB drives. The 'Restore E2B partitions' button should work on any drive, but switching to any .imgPTN file will only work on NTFS-formatted E2B USB drives - exFAT and FAT32 E2B drives will report an error.

Since the .imgPTN file needs to be first when using two partition image files and UEFI-booting on many systems, if SWITCH_E2B cannot move them, you could try just copying on the .imgPTN file, then defragging the whole partition (perhaps using Defraggler and WinContig?) and when all files are at the start of the volume, then copy over the 2nd file that does not have a file extension.

Netac U335 write-protected USB 3.0 flash drive for E2B

Today I got my new 32GB Netac U335 USB 3.0 Flash drive with a write-protect switch.

The write-protect slide switch is ringed in red.

The drive is not the fastest USB 3.0 drive I have ever seen (33MB/s read, 14MB/s write on a USB 3.0 port), but if you need a reasonably cheap USB drive with a write-protect switch then this would fit the bill.

Editing the MPI Tool Pack CSM menu (+ German version from Frettt)

The MPI Tool Pack only contains an English menu.lst file.

However, it does allow you to easily modify the files in the MPI Tool Pack to add your own menu.lst, background file and other files by using the CUSTOM folder.

When you run MPI, it starts by:

1. Creates a file-backed RAM DISK
2. Extracts the contents of the source (e.g. an ISO) to the RAMDISK
3. Copies the contents of the csm folder to the  root of the RAMDISK
4. Copies the contents of the CUSTOM folder to the root of the RAMDISK
5. Processes the files on the RAMDISK to convert them for use with E2B, including modifying the menu.lst file, etc.

Problems UEFI-booting .imgPTN files - continued...

I have experimented some more with my Asus Z87 UEFI system and .imgPTN files, and it seems that the firmware will not provide the user with the UEFI boot option to UEFI-boot from an MBR-partitioned USB drive, if the partitions on that drive are out of order.

The Partition Table in the MBR (first sector) has 4 'slots' for 4 partition entries.

Each Partition Table entry has the following fields:

• Drive number and Active/boot flag
• Partition Type number (e.g. 0C = FAT32)
• Start address of partition
• Number of sectors in the partition

(there are also some parameters for old Cylinder/head/sector addressing).

Problems UEFI-booting .imgPTN files!!!

Since about E2B v1.73, if the second partition is a small hidden type 21h partition that is placed there by RMPartUSB when you use RMPrepUSB or the MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd script, this partition is not removed when you switch to a .imgPTN file - this is only done if the extension is exactly ".imgPTN" or ".imgPTNAUTO".

This was done because some Legacy BIOSes would recognise  the USB drive as a floppy disk and thus fail to boot grub4dos and boot to the CSM menu unless a 2nd partition was present (e.g. some EeePCs).

Windows File Download problems - virus detected!

Windows 8/10 may not allow you to download files that it thinks are infected.

To be prompted to download it anyway, you need to change the Internet Properties setting:

You cannot download any file if the "File download" option is disabled in the Internet security settings. Follow these steps to check the Internet security settings:

E2B v1.76 RC1 available

• SWITCH_E2B v1.0.6 with FlashBoot and WinToGo+.imgPTN support.
• .isoBF fixed (did not work in 1.75!). 
• Zorin 9 persistent sample .mnu files added. 
• Fix for Zorin 9 in isoboot.g4b. 
• New AuroraBin default wallpaper. 
• Improve LZMA Encode/Decode scripts. 
• Fix bug - if user deleted some of the Windows sub-folders  (e.g. \_ISO\WINDOWS\XP) then the other Windows sub-folders were not enumerated. 
• Fix 'Trouble!' message if installing XP and >1 internal drive in system. 
• New grub4dos 0.4.6a version \grldr. 
• Add warning if Write-protected E2B USB drive found. 
• Improve MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE to detect Removable USB drives and set NOHELPER=1 in MyE2B.cfg for faster boot if using a Removable E2B drive.

Persistent .mnu file for Elementary OS

Elementary OS is a free download (you just enter 0 for Custom amount to pay - took me a while to figure that out!). If you actually like and use it though, please make a donation as requested.

Elementary OS with changed background (using persistence .mnu file)

Write-Protect your E2B USB drive

There has been a discussion on reboot.pro recently about how to write-protect a USB drive.

It is not advisable to hardware write-protect an E2B USB drive because E2B needs write-access to the MBR (to modify it) as well as needing to modify other files (e.g. \autounattend.xml, etc.). Some WinPE's and linux's (via ISOBOOT) may be able to boot from a write-protected E2B drive though. I intend to investigate this further at a later date, to see just what is possible if the whole E2B USB drive is hardware write-protected.

So the use of the write-protect switch on the Netac USB 3.0 U335 flash drive, for instance, is not a recommended option when booting from an E2B drive (although once it has booted to an OS from the flash drive, you could remove the USB drive - flip on the WP switch - and then re-insert it again and hope that it did not have enough time to get infected!).

Animated Britney Spears bitmaps for E2B

This example shows how to display a sequence of 26 bitmaps on E2B start-up.

Display an animated picture in grub4dos

We can display bitmaps fairly quickly in grub4dos if we load them into memory first. This could allow us to display an animation sequence on first boot of E2B (move over Walt Disney!).

The lines below can be added into a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to show 3 bitmaps in a loop until a key is pressed by the user. It is assumed that the bitmaps have a black background and are each exactly 800x600 in dimension.

Automatically use a different menu wallpaper for E2B

Change background based on the day of the week

Add the lines below to your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file (the first line should always be !BAT). Ensure that you have seven different .bmp.gz files in the \_ISO folder named Aurora0.bmp.gz to Aurora6.bmp.gz.

E2B v1.76BetaF with GFX Boot menu maker script now available

I have added some files to E2B that will allow you to easily make and alter your own GFX Boot menus. It does not use a GUI, but is very easy to use.

For more details see the E2B GFX Boot page.

GFX Boot menu editor

Easy2Boot includes one example of a GFX Boot menu (\_ISO\docs\Templates\GFXMenu) which you can try out.

You can change the GFX menu by editing the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file and change the set GFX=message line (the file must be in the \_ISO folder).

If you want to design your own GFX Boot menu, I have added a download link for GFX-Boot Customizer utility by SBond here to make a GFX-BOOT.GFX file to the GFX Menu page on the E2B website.

Make a Windows 10 To Go Removable USB Flash drive (MBR and UEFI)

Windows To Go allows you to boot from a USB drive, but Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 will not allow you to boot from a 'flat file' installation on a Removable USB drive.

You can MBR boot Win 10 from a Removable USB Flash drive if you use a VHD to contain the Windows system files however.

But what about UEFI-booting? We cannot have more than one partition visible to Windows on a Removable USB drive, but for UEFI, we need a FAT32 partition which is not able to hold the large VHD file.

Here is how to set up a non-GPT Removable Windows To Go Flash drive so it will MBR and UEFI-boot:

Note that if you use an x64 version of Windows, you will only be able to UEFI-boot from it on 64-bit UEFI systems. If you have a 32-bit UEFI system, use a 32-bit version of Windows.

Christmas Edition E2B v1.76BetaE available

• SWITCH_E2B v1.0.6 with FlashBoot and WinToGo+.imgPTN support. 
• .isoBF now fixed (did not work in 1.75!). 
• Zorin 9 persistent .mnu files added. 
• Fix for Zorin 9 in isoboot.g4b. 
• AuroraSanta default wallpaper. 'Dustbin' wallpaper in \_ISO\e2b\grub folder if you want it!
• Improve LZMA Encode/Decode scripts. 
• Fix bug - if user deleted some of the Windows sub-folders then the other remaining Windows sub-folders were not enumerated and so no Windows Install menu entry was present in the Main menu.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :-)