How to increase the spacing between all E2B menu entries

grub4dos allows you to adjust the character and line spacing of text.

One of the template .cfg files in E2B demonstrates this:(\_ISO\docs\Templates\StripedFlat_pwd_is_fred)

The Sample_MyE2B.cfg file shows you how you can alter these, using the lnspace and wdspace parameters:

The default value is 'n' (or 0) for lnspace and wdspace.

Here is a 14-entry menu using the default spacing:

E2B v.79f available and 'E2B.cfg is MISSING!' error

I found some error handling issues in QRUN.g4b (v1.77 and 1.78C). The problem centres around this kind of grub4dos code...

if not "%X%"="1" pause ERROR && configfile (md)0xa000+0x50

Easy2Boot v1.78C available

E2B version 1.78C has today's version of grub4dos (20160326) which fixes the bug a user found if you set 'tophelp' to a high number so that the menu help text is not displayed.

v1.79d also has the new grub4dos 20160326 version.

Despite not being officially released, I see some download sites have copied the buggy v1.78!

Differences between v1.78C and v1.79d:

Using E2B with the datAshur Pro encrypted USB flash drive

Easy2Boot allows you to boot literally hundreds of Windows-based, linux-based and other bootable software all from one USB drive. You can also keep all of your personal files and Windows\linux utilities on the same drive and carry it with you, on your keychain, wherever you go. But what if you lose it?

Does your Easy2Boot USB drive contain licensed software, company volume licence Product Keys or confidential files? Perhaps it contains a WindowsToGo VHD  or linux already set up with your Chrome/FireFox passwords, etc. The best way to keep it secure is to use one of the PIN-entry types of USB drives that are available.

After my previous blog about the (slow) datAshur Personal encrypted USB 2.0 drive and the problems I had booting from it, iStorage (the makers of the drive) sent me a datAshur Pro for testing and review.

datAshur Pro USB 3.0

iStorage have four models in their current range. Here are the basic points that concern E2B users including the price and advertised read/write speeds:

Changing language strings in E2B

E2B uses the STRINGS.txt file as a lookup file.
Menu headings, menu entries and many of the batch files in E2B use keywords, e.g.

iftitle [if exist STALE && cat --locate=YES ()/FASTLOAD.YES > nul] $$STRmFS1
if not "%GFX%"=="" configfile (md)0xa000+0x50
root ()

where $$STRmFS1 is a keyword (always $$STR followed by exactly four characters) that is substituted by E2B for a line of text taken from a language file.

Small bug found in grub4dos 0.4.6a 20160322

A small bug has been found in some grub4dos 0.4.6a versions between approx. Feb 2016 and 2016-03-22. If you set tophelp variable to a large number (e.g. 70) then it should move the menu help text off the screen (to line 70). This was a way to hide the help text that was normally seen below the menu box. With these grub4dos versions, this did not work. v1.78 and v1.79a used these versions and so I have re-uploaded them as v1.78A and v.1.79b and they now have the latest 20160324 version of grub4dos 0.4.6a + small change to some of the $$$Guestxxx.mnu files to support F8 reload.

Note that v1.78A still displays it's version number as 1.78 (because it can affect the formatting of the Main Menu heading for some users due to the extra character).

P.S. There was still a small bug in 1.78A and 1.78B, so I have removed 1.78 until grub4dos is fixed. I will then release 1.78C!

E2B v1.79a Beta already!

Yes, yet another version even before 1.78 is officially released!

This version has an even newer grub4dos (which supports being able to use echo -e \X00FC to print unicode characters, but this is not actually used by E2B anyway), and also support for a new NOWINXP variable.

Easy2Boot v1.78 - List of all changes

E2B Version 1.78

Note: 1.78A uses grub4dos 0.4.6a 20160324 - which has a small bugfix (when using the tophelp E2B variable). Also the $$$Guestxxx.mnu files have been tweaked (F8 reload does not prompt for password).

Note2: There is still a bug in 20160324, so I have withdrawn v1.78A! 1.78C has best version of grub4dos.

Changes from v1.77A include:

E2B v1.78C available (was 1.78)

I have uploaded E2B v1.78C to the OneDrive Alternate Downloads area.

[Edit] Note: 1.78C will not be officially released now. Please use 1.79.

There has been a bit of tidying up since 1.78o, a new grub4dos 0.4.6a (2016-03-22) and some guest menu .mnu files added to the Sample mnu Files folder.

Also, the MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd script now checks the website to find the latest version and the script displays the current E2B version that you are installing and the latest released version from the website (it uses wget.exe to get a version file from the website).

After a few days, if there are no problems reported, I will upload v1.78 to the main E2B site together with the DPMS version.

Let me know if you have tested it and it is OK by ticking the Reactions 'cool' box.
If you find a problem, please report it ASAP.

List of changes from v1.77A in this blog post.

Note: Pre-release versions 1.78, 1.78A and 1.78B had grub4dos 0.4.6a versions which had a small bug.

Thanks
Steve

E2B v1.78o Beta available

• Latest grub4dos
• Sample menu files for Guest Menu added
• xxx.f24 font files improved

I now consider this a Release Candidate and fit for release as v1.78.

Please test it out by updating your existing E2B USB drive using \UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd and let me know if you find any problems.

You can easily roll-back to v1.77 by running the \UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd file from v1.77.

P.S. Have you tried out the Guest Menu setup described in my previous blog post yet?

Make a 'Guest Mode' menu

Krishna asked me how to get E2B to display either the full E2B MAIN MAINMENU, or a single Guest Menu, with only the items in it that he wanted to allow a guest user to use.

After a lot of thought, I ended up with this and it is really quite cool!

So cool, I had to make a video!

Once you make the changes, if you boot E2B normally, it enumerates all files in the MAINMENU folder as usual (or if you have FASTLOAD enabled it will use the cached menu) and then it will always load the GUEST Menu by default. The Guest Menu can also have sub-menus if you create them.

The Guest Menu (you can change the folder name and heading) can load a different background if you like (or not).

Default Guest Menu (use whatever wallpaper you like or keep the default wallpaper)

E2B v1.78 demo video on YouTube

A quick demo showing off the new graphics stamp, animation and large font features in E2B v1.78!

Many thanks to the grub4dos developer yaya for making all this possible and Wonko from reboot.pro for his help with creating the hex files needed for the large fonts!

E2B v1.78n Beta available (at last!)

Latest version 2016-03-16 of grub4dos included (seems stable)!

Default appearance, if you say 'Yes' to the Animation prompt when you make a
new E2B USB drive using MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd.
E2B Boilerplate + rotating E2B icon will overlay the menu.

New Templates

The new MyE2B.cfg template files can be found in the \_ISO\docs\Templates\Animate and LargeFont folders.

LargeFont MyE2B.cfg demo (set to GMODE=1024)

The E2B icon rotates + 4 stamps!

Protecting your E2B USB drive from being cloned

I added this section to the E2B 'Passwords and Security' page today because I was asked how to protect an E2B USB drive from being cloned:

Someone could make a byte-for-byte copy of your E2B USB drive. Each USB drive should have a unique device serial number, however we cannot read this using grub4dos (and also many USB drives do not have unique serial numbers!).

Save all your passwords to a text file with one click!

Tutorial 59 on my RMPrepUSB.com site explains how to set up a script file to collect and save all your passwords into text files with just one click.

The Tutorial was a bit out of date and needs tweaking (I will update it in a day or two). Nirsoft had put some of the command line utility versions in a separate, password-protected download because they were being detected as a virus and it was causing the nirsoft site to be blacklisted!

Here is the new cmd script I ended up with:

Add a fully-installed Zorin OS to E2B

To run Zorin as a fully-installed OS from an E2B USB drive, just follow the instructions in my previous blog for Kali using VirtualBox.

Tips

Make sure your large partition image file (e.g. Zorin.) is large enough for the OS and any swap file you might want to create later + data storage (minimum approx 5GB).

• Be sure to choose  /   (root) for the /dev/sda3 mount point choice (ext3) where sda is the USB drive
• IMPORTANT! Set the 'Device for boot loader installation' to /dev/sda3 where sda is the USB drive..

If you are installing to an internal hard drive, make sure to pick the correct boot loader partition!

   Use ext3 (not fat32) for the sda3 partition.

The Virtual Machine will also need an internet connection to download packages.

You will be warned about not having a Swap partition, but just continue anyway.

You can create a swap file later (follow the instructions in the blog and it should work).

You should now have a fully working Zorin installation on your E2B drive.

Note:
If installing to an internal hard drive and you accidentally install grub to the E2B drive, you can use RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos - MBR=Yes to re-install grub4dos boot code.

Protecting animated E2B menus with passwords

I have found a way to password-protect menus on E2B and still have the animation playing in the background.

The DNA animation starts once the menu has been built by E2B and it then prompts you for a password with the animation still rotating on the display. A large 24-pixel high font has been used with the E2B default 800x600 background in this example.

Using E2B with the datAshur Personal encrypted USB flash drive

I have been looking at how to protect a USB Flash drive recently including encrypted USB drives. Some models (the cheapest) just provide a data encryption program to make an encrypted folder on the USB drive.

Others comprise of two 'devices', one is a CD containing the encryption software and the other is the Flash storage volume (similar to U3 USB drives).

Neither of these types are suitable to support USB booting because we need the BIOS to be able to read the unencrypted drive sectors on power up.

Another type of encrypted USB drive is the type that has a PIN keypad. This type encrypts the data as it comes in or out of the USB drive. The data is stored in an encrypted form on the flash memory, but any external device will 'see' the unencrypted data (if the correct PIN is used).

I found several models of encrypted USB Flash drives that require a PIN number to unlock them. There seems to be only four different ones however, as many of them appear to be re-badged\re-branded versions of the same thing:

MPI Tool Kit v0.064 available (with important bugfix)

I found a bug in MPI Tool Kit - if you try Clover booting then it 'breaks' the syslinux boot option and you can no longer MBR boot!

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.