How to use E2B with Virtual Box to test unattended Windows installs

In a chat session with 'Nathan' today, he explained how he uses VBox to install Windows to a Virtual Machine using ISO files on an E2B USB drive.

Testing E2B's 'Install Windows from ISO' method in a Virtual Machine is problematic because Windows needs to detect a Removable drive (e.g. CD\DVD or USB flash drive) in the system - Setup will only pick up the \AutoUnattend.XML (or \Unattend.XML) file from removable drives.

However, under a VM, a USB drive is 'mapped' as a virtual (IDE\SATA etc.) hard disk when using a .vmdk file (so the drive is not seen as a Removable drive once WinPE\Windows Setup runs).

This means the Product Key and other settings in the XML file are not used by Windows Setup when testing in a VM.

We can get around this by booting in two stages and by adding a USB WinHelper drive:

Adding MDT ISOs to Easy2Boot (UEFI+MBR)

Boot from a .imgPTN23 file

You can 'switch-in' a partition image which holds the MDT boot files and Deployment folder.

For MBR-booting, the simplest way to add an ISO made by the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, is to convert the MDT ISO file to a .imgPTN file using the E2B MPI Tool Kit. Just Drag-and-Drop the MDT ISO file (or MDT USB drive letter) onto the MPI_FAT32 Windows Desktop shortcut.

Rename the file to have a .imgPTN23 file extension.

MDT Setup

This should work fine, as long as all the files inside the ISO are less than 4GB in size, and then you can MBR and UEFI-boot from the .imgPTN file. Later versions of MDT support the creation of split wims, so this will work even for MDT with large files.

If UEFI-booting and you have a large WIM file, you could try using the MPI_NTFS shortcut to create an NTFS .imgPTN23 file. Then you can UEFI boot to agFM on the 2nd FAT32 partition (E2B v2 only) and from agFM boot from the WIM file on the first partition or the \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI file on the first partition.

Tip: Instead of using E2B, you could just copy all your ISOs to an IODD Mini #ad. You can still put E2B on it as well! The IODD Mini just looks like a USB DVD once the ISO is selected, so even Secure UEFI boot works.

Alternate method for MBR-booting

If you have files inside the ISO that are larger than 4GB, then use the MPI_NTFS shortcut instead. However, you will only be able to MBR-boot unless you first  UEFI64-boot to agFM (see above).

Below are instructions for direct booting from an MDT ISO (MBR-booting only) and another set of instructions for MBR+UEFI-booting by using two image files...

New Spanish\Espanol YouTube videos uploaded by 'Decomputo - Valledupar'

Many people make YouTube videos showing Easy2Boot, but here is one that shows multiple wallpapers, a modified language file and uses a different text font...

and another just on how to get started...

Add a slideshow to your E2B menu

I have made a quick PowerPoint presentation and converted it to an 'animated GIF' .IMA file for use with E2B. So you can now have PowerPoint slides on your E2B menu!

Try JondoFox Live CD for secure and anonymous browsing

The JonDo Live CD\ISO is now no longer under development but the 2016 version is still available for download.

You may find it easier to use from E2B than Tails, but it does not seem to support persistence or UEFI.

To see what other sites can learn about you when you simply view their site, click here and then click on Start Test.

JonDoFox Live ISO

To use the network (internet) - click the Network Manager icon at the bottom of the display (move mouse to bottom of screen).

To browse securely, you will need to follow the instruction here.

You can also install the JonDoFox browser onto your OS from here.

Add Kali Linux + persistence (UEFI+MBR) to E2B

There is already a .mnu file for booting to a Kali ISO file in MBR mode with persistence.
E2B v1.B4+ also supports the special .isopersistdebian file extension so no .mnu file is required.
There is also a blog tutorial for a full OS install of Kali onto E2B here.

Recommended method: See also the Kali with persistence sample agFM .cfg file in the \e2b folder on the 2nd agFM partition (see here).

How to install Puppy to an HDD using Easy2Boot

You can boot from a Puppy Linux ISO by giving the file a .isopup file extension.

In this way you can boot directly from the ISO to a 'LiveCD' version of Puppy and get to the Desktop.

But if you try to install Puppy to a hard disk, you will get an error because it cannot find the CDROM.

First, if you have a CD drive, ensure it is empty.

To fix this, use these commands in a terminal shell session before you start the Install process:

mkdir /cdrom
mount /dev/sdX4 /cdrom

where X is the letter for your E2B USB drive (in my case it was 'a' because I was using VBOX+VMUB).

The first command will probably fail if you have a CD-ROM drive fitted (make sure it's empty), but you can ignore the error. The second command should cause the USB partition to be mounted as a read-only device.

This mounts the ISO as the cdrom so it can be found by the installer. Do not create a Save file and do not copy the .sfs file from CDROM when requested on shutdown.

Once you have booted from the hard disk, you can create a save file on shutdown.

Create a Restore partition on your UEFI Windows 8\10 PC using CloneZilla (Version 5)

I have updated the Tutorial 142 and changed the functionality so that you can make unattended backups or restores from Windows (Check the .zip download says 'v.5' or later before downloading).

This allows the user to 'remote-in' using TeamViewer and restore a system from Windows (or make a new backup).

The image file IMG is always used.

When a Backup is made, the current IMG image will be erased.

You can also password protect the menu entries and protect any access to the grub2 console.

You can just have the wallpaper show but no menu (unless you press ESC or press a hotkey).

The Tutorial includes a way to change the default grub2 menu heading too (something you usually cannot do without recompiling grub2)!

Create a Restore partition on your UEFI Windows 8\10 PC using CloneZilla

Tutorial 89 on the RMPrepUSB.com website describes how you can add a local Restore image to your PC\Notebook hard disk so that you can take a backup or restore the Windows partition at boot time.

It uses Clonezilla and grub4dos and it is reasonably easy to set up.

However, that tutorial was for MBR\Legacy Windows systems.

Mike A asked me for a new CloneZilla-based Tutorial for UEFI-based Windows systems using GPT partitions.

Super Boot CD

JG pointed me to this large 4.8GB 'Hiren's type' ISO which includes 32-bit and 64-bit UEFI boot support as well as containing HBCD MiniXP, Strelec Mini-WinPE 10 and SVUIT Mini-WinPE7, memtest, Windows memory diagnostic, KonBoot, chntpwd, MHDD, Windows Recovery .wim files, some MAC apps and Windows AV apps and linux pmagic. It also uses rEFInd for UEFI boot menus.

You can boot it directly as an .ISO file (use E2B v1.95 and used a file name of SBCD 3.6.1.isolinux), although many menu entries (e.g. mini Windows) do not work correctly. So I converted it to a FAT32 .imgPTN file using the E2B MPI Tool Kit MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut. This seems to work well and allows UEFI-booting too.

Mini Win10 (Strelec)

The download link provided on the Facebook page seems very slow though, so you will have to be patient!

Note: The HBCDMenu and DLC1Menu shortcuts on the Mini Win7 Desktop do not work due to missing \DLC1 and \SVUIT folders in the SBCD ISO file.

E2B v1.96a Beta available

Just a couple of small changes (no bugfixes):

v1.96a

• QRUN.g4b now checks for dynamic/differencing VHDs - only fixed VHDs will boot.
• Improved GIFtoIMA.cmd script to calculate size of the .IMA file required.

VHDs can be Fixed, Dynamic or Differencing type. E2B can only directly boot the Fixed type of VHD or VHDX file. You can tell by the size which type it is - a 15GB Fixed VHD file will be 15GB in size, the other two types of VHD will usually be a lot less than the 'mounted' size. VHDs created by WinToUSB will work. VHDs created by DiskToVHD will not boot from E2B as they will be Dynamic VHDs.

I have improved the GIFtoIMA.cmd script so that it calculates the required size in KB of the .IMA file needed for animations on the E2B menu. Now you can just press ENTER to accept the suggested size.

Download v1.96a from Alternate Download Areas as usual.

Beware! -  here lies ye Kingdom of Geekland...

Cassini-Huygens (1997-2017)

To mark the end of this remarkable spacecraft, I have made two animations for your E2B menu, which I have taken from the wiki here. Cassini NASA/JET website here.

Cassini-huygens_animation.zip (jpg)

Titan_taken_by_cassini_animation.zip (.bmp)

E2B v1.95 release available

v1.95 Downloads are now available in Alternate Downloads Areas.

I will update the website in a few days.

OneDrive download area
Easy2Boot Download page
E2B Version History

E2B v1.95e available

Download E2B v1.95e from here.

Change History
v1.95a - Czech F1.cfg help added, bugfix for set NOHELPER=1 not working.
v1.95b - XP ISO install issue of 'Selected disk does not exist' fix added, '0K low memory' error fixed for some XP boot issues.
v1.95c - Increase menu memory from 0x50 sectors to 0xA0 sectors for bigger menus, fix bug when using 'set GRUB_USB=045' in MyE2B.cfg, Greek language folder added, Choose a preset wallpaper.mnu file added (also in PimpMyDrive), 0x50 changed to 0xA0 in many Sample mnu files and language files for very large menus.
v1.95d - New \grldr grub4dos 2017-08-28 (change in memory map handling - bugfix), increase size of FASTLOAD cache file for very large menus (bugfix).
v1.95e - Falcon4 sample menu file updated, grldr 2017-08-30, Sample_MyE2B.cfg file updated, small change to ENG English strings.txt file, BIOS beep code references added to \_ISO\docs\Download URLs folder.

I will release this as v1.95 soon. Please update your E2B drives and report if you spot a problem.

I have also added a few more 800x600 wallpapers to the Alternate Download - Themes Areas:

Add PassMark's MemTest86 v7.4 to E2B

The MemTest86 ISO will MBR-boot and run the old MemTest86 version v4.

Version 7.4 will only run if it is UEFI-booted.

However, if you make a .imgPTN file from the MemTest86.zip download, you can MBR boot to the CSM menu and then choose the Clover boot option. This will allow you to run v7.4 even on a non-UEFI system.

MemTest86 has signed UEFI boot files and so the .imgPTN file can UEFI-Secure Boot too.

I have created the latest version of this file (2018-03-29) for you.

Note: This is now included in E2B v1.A8 and later versions in the UTILITIES - Memory Test sub-menu.

Run DOS games from E2B

E2B contains a FreeDOS image in the DOS Menu which can boot to FreeDOS and allow you access to the NTFS files on the E2B drive. This allows you to run copy simple DOS programs to the NTFS E2B drive - boot to FreeDOS - and run them directly from the E2B drive (as drive C:).

However, the amount if free memory is limited in this environment due to the NTFS driver, etc.

Here is how to make your own DOS Games payload (.imgPTN file) for E2B:

E2B v1.95d Beta now available

E2B v1.95d has the latest version of grub4dos 0.4.6a 2017-08-28 (\grldr) (available in Alternate Download Areas). It also fixes a small bug with FASTLOAD when using very large menus.

This new version of grub4dos has major changes on the way grub4dos modifies and uses memory.

Please update to v1.95d and report any problems if you find them (go back to v1.95c to check that the problem is with 1.95d).

The changes in grub4dos fixes a previous bug which could cause XP to fail to boot and give a 0K low memory error (see bug report).

E2B popularity is growing!

When someone uses Make_E2B (exe or cmd) to make an E2B USB drive, the script will download LatestE2B.txt from my web server to tell the user if there is a newer version available. A recent hit count for that file shows that on average, Make_E2B is run 1,500 times a day!

The stats also show there are now over 15,000 downloads a day of E2B and E2B+DPMS (the downloads are used to update E2B drives or make an E2B drive using linux as well as make a new drive under Windows) - and that download count does not include downloads from the Alternate Download site.

E2B is free and I mainly rely on ad revenues (sorry about all the ads but feel free to click on them if they interest you) to pay the site fees and also to buy equipment (for instance, I have bought 2 notebooks on eBay recently to investigate and fix compatibility issues found by users). My aim is that E2B should work on as wide a range of different systems as possible.

You can support E2B by making a donation, I will reward you by sending you two URLs for the easy2boot.com and rmprepusb.com sites which use a tidier format and contain hardly any ads at all. For instance, the Forum page on the E2B site is in the alternate 'cleaner' format for easy2boot.com.

cheers
Steve

Easy2Boot v1.95c available

Additional changes from v1.95b are:

1. Increase menu memory from 0x50 sectors to 0xA0 sectors to cater for bigger menus
2. Fix bug when using 'set GRUB_USB=045' in MyE2B.cfg
3. Greek language folder added (but not Greek choice in 'make utility' because it is only Beta status)
4. Choose a preset wallpaper.mnu file added (also added by PimpMyDrive.cmd)

I added more payload files to my 'test' E2B USB flash drive which resulted in over 70 menu entries in the Main menu. I found then that the F10, F9 and F8 Main menu items, which were usually at the very bottom of the Main menu, had disappeared and pressing F8, F9 or F10 had no affect.

It turns out that I had exceeded the allotted amount of memory that E2B uses to hold all the menu items. v1.95c now has double the amount of memory - from 0x50 sectors of memory to 0xA0 sectors of memory (i.e. 40K to 80K). Since the grub4dos numbering system does not work well past menu entry #99, this should now be enough to allow 100 menu entries (0-99) in all menus!

Note that if you have used any sample .MNU files which still contain '(md)0x3000+0x50'  or  '(md)0xa000+0x50'  then you may still experience 'shortened' menus if your menu is very large.

To fix this, change all occurrences of these two strings to use 0xA0 instead of 0x50 (i.e. use (md)0x3000+0xA0 or (md)0xa000+0xA0).

P.S. Tip: If you first make the \menu.lst file hidden on your E2B drive, then when you run the Update_E2B_Drive.cmd option to update your E2B drive, it will automatically hide most of the other files that are in the root of the E2B drive for you too.

Let me know if you see any issues with v1.95c.

Easy2Boot v1.95b (with XP '0K low memory' error fix)

I have had a few reports of problems with XP Install Step 2 giving the following error:

"Windows NT has found only 0K of low memory. 512k of low memory is required to run Windows NT. You may need to upgrade your computer or run a configuration program provided by the manufacturer."

This has been traced to a compatibility issue between recent 2017 grub4dos versions and some chipsets. See here for a bug report.

E2B v1.95b should fix this issue.

Download E2B v1.95b from one of the Alternate Download Areas. Just click on the 'Update_E2B_Drive' button to update your E2B drive.

I have also had a report that some Gandalf WinPE ISOs do not boot and give a 'Not enough memory to create a RAM Disk' error. This only seems to be a problem on certain systems. These systems also fail in the same way when using Rufus to make a Gandalf bootable USB drive, so it seems to be a compatibility issue between the Gandalf WinPE files with a large boot.wim file and certain system BIOSes (i.e. not an E2B issue!). If you have any info on this issue, please let me know.

Beta version of Greek Language available for E2B

I have used Google Translate to make a Greek Language version here.

To test, extract the two files to your \_ISO folder on your E2B USB drive:

\_ISO\STRINGS.txt
\_ISO\F1.CFG

They will automatically be used by E2B. This is for test purposes only - any missing strings will be reported by E2B.

To use the files in non-test mode, make a \_ISO\e2b\grub\GREEK folder and place the 2 files in that folder. Then add a line to your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file as follows:

if "%LANG%"=="" set LANG=GREEK

If you have any corrections, please edit the files and send them to me (save as UTF-8 format using Notepad).

I will not add them to E2B until they have been properly vetted by a Greek-speaking techy (as it is all Greek to me!).

UK Porn

This post is not about USB drives or booting but it is about internet porn!

E2B v1.95a BETA available

Change History here
Download from the Alternate Download Areas as usual (see side panel of blog for link).
Don't forget to subscribe for latest E2B news.

Reduce the CPU load when using the E2B Menu

You may have noticed that when you boot to the E2B menu, your CPU fan speed may start to increase and get quite noisy. This can also occur when booting to the E2B menu under a Virtual Machine such as with Virtual Box.

The reason is that grub4dos is continually calling the BIOS to detect a menu key press from the user and so the CPU is running at full speed.

Most operating systems use an interrupt-driven approach. The CPU is in an idle state when not required, until the user presses a key and causes a CPU interrupt from the keyboard controller which then wakes up the CPU.

e.g. (in x86 code)...
sti           (enable interrupts)
hlt           (stop CPU until it gets an interrupt)

Grub4dos can also use such an interrupt-driven approach if you patch it...

In the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file you will see the lines:

# Use HLT instruction to reduce CPU cycles whilst waiting for keypress (stops CPU from getting too hot)
### write --bytes=1 0x8205 0x20 > nul

Simply uncomment the 2nd line by removing the three ### symbols and add it to your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file:

!BAT
# Use HLT instruction to reduce CPU cycles whilst waiting for keypress (stops CPU from getting too hot)
write --bytes=1 0x8205 0x20 > nul

As this patch may cause problems on some systems, it is not included by default in E2B. You may find it useful if you use E2B with a VM a lot.

You can remove or comment out the line to go back to the normal grub4dos behaviour if it causes you any problems (let me know if it does!).

Add i-life Windows OS re-installation payloads to E2B

i-life produce a range of laptops including the ZEDNotes.

It is possible to download the full OS re-installation files + firmware update software (e.g. ZEDNOTE 11.6.rar, 4.5GB) from the appropriate Support page for your particular i-life notebook...

E2B v1.94 full release is now available

v1.94 2017-07-21

• Bugfix for TXT_Maker.exe as iftitle caused a 'no title' in .txt file error. 
• Change_drive_Letter.cmd added to allow you to change 2nd partition drive letter on Removable Flash drive
• Sample mnu files for linux ext3 comment added
• .iso32 and .iso64 allowed in \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxxx menu folders
• Latest grub4dos \grldr 2017-06-25
• Latest ImDisk driver
• Spanish kbd now addded if Spanish language selected
• Czech language (Beta) added

Available from Alternate Download Areas (will be added to E2B website in a few days).

E2B v1.94c BETA available

The main difference is that I have added a Czech language option.

However, the translations have not been checked by a Czech and so they are probably full of errors!

Czech language for E2B (Beta)

I have used Google Translate to make a very Beta version for the Czech language which you can download from here.  You can test it by simply copying the STRINGS.txt and F1.cfg files to your E2B USB drive's \_ISO folder.

The files are probably a bit of a wreck, so, if any Czech tech can check and make them up to spec (see what I did there?), then please send me a corrected version!

Info: How to make new language files E2B page here.

E2B v1.94b BETA available

Changes from release version 1.93A are:

• bugfix - if TXT_Maker.exe is used with iftitle, it caused a 'no title in .txt file' error.
• Change_drive_letter.cmd added to allow you to change 2nd partition drive letter on Removable Flash drive if using Windows 10 1703
• Sample mnu files for linux - 'use ext3' comment line added
• .iso32 and .iso64 now allowed in \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxxx menu folders (except XP folder)
• latest grub4dos \grldr 2017-06-25
• latest ImDisk driver for loading Windows ISOs

Available from alternate download areas as usual.

'Kill switch\vaccine' for latest Petya\NotPetya ransomware found

A report on Bleeping Computer says that a way to prevent infection by the latest NotPetya ransomware is to create a read-only file at C:\Windows\perfc.

You can do this by downloading and running this file as Administrator.

I have no idea if it works, but if your organisation has un-updated/unpatched systems, this could be useful to prevent your disk from being encrypted.

As I suspected, virus developers will build in some sort of 'kill switch' to prevent their own systems from getting infected, as with WannaCry. I guess it's kinda difficult to write code and test it, only to find that the code has just encrypted all your source files and the decryption algorithm is not yet working! The Wannacry vaccine was coded to find a specific web server which meant it could be easily stopped by setting up a server of the correct name. The Petya developers obviously did not want to use the same mechanism, which was discovered and then used as a global 'kill switch', and so have used a local file instead to stop infection.

Installing 32-bit and 64-bit Windows ISOs with E2B

A user had Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit ISO files in his \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 folder.

We can make a .txt file for each .ISO file so that if the system CPU that we are booting from is a 32-bit CPU then only the 32-bit ISO will be listed in the Windows 10 menu. If the CPU is a 64-bit CPU then we can show only the 64-bit ISO file in the menu.

See here for details.

However, this user wanted to only show the 32-bit ISO if the system has <4GB of memory and only show the 64-bit ISO if the system has more than 4GB of memory.

The way around this was to create a new variable (GB4) in our \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file:

# set 4GB variable if 4GB+ of memory present

set /a M=*0x8298 & 0xffffffff>>10+1 > nul ;; set /a M1=*0x82c0>>10+1 > nul ;; set /a M=%M% + %M1% > nul ;; if %M%>=4096 set GB4=1 ;; set M= ;; set M1=

We can now test for the existence of the variable GB4 in our .txt file:

Example:
We have a Windows10_x86.iso and a Windows10_x64.iso:

\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Windows10_x86.iso

\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Windows10_x64.iso

If a system has more than 4GB of memory, only show the 64-bit Windows ISO (it must have a 64-bit CPU if it detects >4GB). If it has less than 4GB we only show 32-bit Windows ISO.

 

Windows10_x64.txt

iftitle [if exist GB4] Win10 1703 x64\n Install 64-bit Windows 10

Windows10_x86.txt

iftitle [if not exist GB4] Win10 1703 x86\n Install 32-bit Windows 10

Note: There is a bug in E2B which causes a 'no title keyword found in xxxx.txt file' error when the Windows menu loads. This can be fixed by saving the .txt file as ANSI encoded instead of UTF-8 encoded - OR update your E2B drive with E2B v1.94a (beta) which has a bugfix for this.

MPI Tool Kit v0.077 now available

This version has two small changes:
1. Latest RMPartUSB.exe in the e2b folder
2. MakePartImage.cmd will now not  copy some 'special' files and folders when you use a USB drive as the source to make the .imgPTN file.

The excluded files/folders include $recycle.bin, pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, System Volume Information, etc. which often cause problems when copying under Windows.

To upgrade, download and extract the new MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_077 folder to your Desktop and run CreateDesktopShortcuts.cmd. You can then delete the old MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_0xx folder from your desktop.

Add PeppermintOS 8 + persistence to E2B

PeppermintOS 8 is based on Ubuntu\Lubuntu, so I have modified one of the Ubuntu_Persistence Sample menu files.

I used the Peppermint-8-20170527-amd64.iso (1.2GB) with the .mnu file shown below:

Easy2Boot v.1.93A available (to work around Win10 1703 bugs!)

Windows 10 Creators update (1703) is still buggy.

As you may be aware, Windows 10 1703 now recognises all partitions on Removable USB drives and attempts to mount them.

Sometimes it will assign a drive letter to each partition (and sometimes not!).
The Disk management console however still only shows one volume and one drive letter for the Removable drive even if it has multiple partitions.
Also DiskPart only lists one volume on a multi-partition USB drive.
If Windows assigns a drive letter to the 2nd partition, the letter cannot be changed or removed.

Explorer view of Removable USB drive with two primary partitions F: and J:

Disk Management console (where is F: ???) 

Disk Management Console (Disk 4 Partition 2 has no drive letter!)

DiskPart - where is volume F: ???

E2B v1.93A includes a new version of RMPartUSB which attempts to force Windows to assign all the USB drive partitions with a drive letter.

This should prevent the format that is done by RMPartUSB from failing and then prompting you to assign a drive letter manually.

P.S. If you are having problems changing the drive letter of a volume on a Removable USB drive because the letter is not listed by Disk Management or DiskPart, I have written a ChangeLetter.cmd script which you can download here (in Alternate Downloads areas). It only works on Removable USB drives and you must run the .cmd file which then runs the .vbs script as admin.

Easy2Boot v1.93/A Full version released

E2B v1.93A full release is now available.

It will also be uploaded to the E2B website in a few days.

Changes from v1.92 are:

1. Offline choco package support added to  SDI_CHOCO.cmd template
2. \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages
3. NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag now detected by SDI_CHOCO
4. Chocolatey offline package added - version 0.10.6.1
5. Snappy Driver Installer 'Origin version' now used
6. QRUN.g4b changed - small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one 
7. Suppress suggestion prompt if *q.iso used (useful for WinBuilder ISO or other .iso files which don't work if you use the .isodefault extension)
8. Switch_E2B.exe v1.0.16 hidden file fix
9. OpenMandriva ISO sample mnu file added
10. New grub4dos 0.4.6a
11. GIFtoIMA.cmd script provided to make animations from GIf files
12. Make_E2B.cmd will now download bootmgr from internet and add it to E2B drive
13. \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd added
14. New default menu wallpaper

Please feedback ASAP if you spot a problem with the new version (and give step-by-step details about how I can reproduce the problem).

Tip: You can use v1.93 to update any previous DPMS USB drive.

You may get some AV warnings but these are false positives (honest!).

Add you own background wallpaper

Place an 800x600x24bit colour .bmp or .jpg file at \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp or \_ISO\MyBackground.jpg and it will be used instead of the default E2B wallpaper.

Copyright free images can be found on www.pexels.com.

MPI Tool Pack v0.076 available

I discovered a few issues in v0.075 to do with converting payloads which used isolinux/syslinux.

I have also simplified the way syslinux is installed - it now creates a \syslinux.bin file which the CSM menu can use as the boot file.

v0.076 is available on the Alternate Download sites and will also be updated on the E2B website soon.

Easy2Boot v1.93i available

This version has these extra changes:

• Feature for WinBuilder ISOs - if .ISO file ends in q.iso or Q.iso then auto-suggest prompt will be suppressed - use for WinBuilder ISOs which must use a .iso file extension, e.g. Gandalf_2016_x86q.iso. 
• Make_E2B.cmd changed - Win 8.1 bootmgr is now downloaded from the internet using JFX's GWT tool and added to USB drive if no good version of bootmgr is found on Windows host drive.
• \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd will download the Win8.1 version of bootmgr and add it to any E2B drive you have connected.
• Latest grub4dos 0.4.6a

I will release v1.93 as a full release soon. Please let me know if you spot a problem.

Summary of changes from v1.92:

• Offline choco package support for SDI_CHOCO function
• \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages
• NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag detection for SDI_CHOCO
• New Chocolatey version 0.10.6.1
• GIFtoIMA script to make animations easily
• Snappy Driver Installer Origin version now used
• QRUN.g4b changed - small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one 
• Switch_E2B.exe v1.0.16 hidden file fix
• OpenMandriva ISO sample mnu file added
• New grub4dos 0.4.6a
• Make_E2B will download bootmgr from internet and add it to E2B drive
• \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd
• Suppress suggestion prompt/text if *q.iso used (for WinBuilder ISO or other .iso files)

Add bootmgr to your E2B drive

As you may know, E2B does not include bootmgr for legal reasons.

The Make_E2B.exe and the 'make' scripts look for the correct Win 8.1 version of bootmgr on your Windows system and will copy it to the E2B drive for you.

If you don't have the correct version, the E2B 'make' script will warn you that, in order to boot Windows .VHD and .WIM files, you will need to add it.

Note: E2B v1.93+ now will download the bootmgr file automatically when you run Make_E2B.exe.

Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives

\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd will automatically add bootmgr to the \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD folder of any E2B drive that you have connected when you run it. Internet access is required.

It takes just a second or so to run.

Note: The new Make_E2B script will automatically download bootmgr for you and put it on the E2B USB drive in the correct folder.

See here for more details on GWT.

E2B v1.93h available

v.1.93h has just a few small tweaks + latest grub4dos. + bug in ChocBox.cmd fixed.

One small change in SDI_CHOCO is that you now do not need to edit the SDI_CHOCO.cmd file when you copy it, to change the name of the configuration folder that you want it to use.

For example: if you want to make a new configuration called 'NEW', then you just copy and rename the SDI_CHOCO.cmd file and the SDI_CHOCO folder to NEW.cmd and NEW (folder).

The code in NEW.cmd will automatically look for a configuration folder of the same name as the .cmd file.

So your modified XML file will call NEW.CMD which will automatically use the NEW folder as the configuration folder. The files in the NEW folder:

• MySpecialize.cmd             - runs after Snappy driver installer before reboot
• MySetupComplete.cmd     - runs before OOBE
• MyStartup.cmd                  - runs after OOBE on first user login (which can be automatic)

will control the installation of additional drivers and apps, etc. and the .TAG files will control other
features:

• NoInternet.TAG - Internet connectivity will not be checked, msoobe will not be called to initialize n/w during Specialize
• NoChoco.TAG - choco will not be downloaded from internet (but can still be installed Offline)
• NoSDI.TAG - The Snappy Driver Installer will not run (useful if you install your own drivers)
• NoWSUS.TAG - WSUS Offline Updater will not run
• OfflineChoco.TAG - \_ISO\WINDOWS\INSTALLS\CHOCBOX folder is copied to C:\DRIVERS\CHOCBOX and Chocolatey is installed directly from E2B drive
• NoBeep.TAG - do not beep the speaker (v1.93+)
• NoSpeak.TAG - don't tell me what you are doing (v1.93+)

Read more: http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/sdi-choco/

Removable v. Fixed 

I have added a new page to the E2B site  here  about why the type of USB drive you use for E2B matters.

How to add the UBCD4WIN ISO to E2B

The UBCD4WIN ISO is now quite old and development has been discontinued and the website is no longer available.

UBCD4WIN miniXP (BartPE) lacks drivers for modern systems and so is really only suitable for older systems and chipsets.

Offline Chocolatey for Win7 installs

I was asked yesterday (using online 'Chat') about using the E2B SDI_Choco offline feature to install Windows 7.

The problem here is that Chocolatey requires .Net 4 Framework and this is not included in Windows 7.

If you download the standalone install package for .Net 4 and try to install it, it requires a reboot before it will work. However, we cannot reboot during the Specialize pass or Windows Setup will complain about it when it reboots and will not proceed.

Equally, we cannot allow a reboot during MyStartup.cmd because this only runs once on first user login and so the code to install the offline choco apps will never run.

The solution was to install the .Net 4 package at the end of MySetupComplete.cmd when a reboot is imminent anyway.

I have added the necessary instructions to the Offline Choco page on the E2B website here under the Requirements heading.

If you have any questions, you can chat with me by clicking on the chat icon on the E2B website.

Click to chat

Old PC won't boot from E2B USB drive (flashing cursor)

To ensure that your E2B USB flash drive will boot from as many systems as possible, it should have the following characteristics:

1. Have the boot partition marked as Active (bootable)
2. Have grub4dos boot code in both the first sector (master boot record or MBR) and the first sector of the first partition (partition boot record or PBR)
3. Have two primary partitions in the MBR partition table
4. Have all boot files and E2B files within 137GB (128GiB) from the beginning of the drive

If you use the Make_E2B.exe GUI to make your E2B USB drive, then it will have these properties already.

It has been rumoured that some BIOSes will only boot from a USB FAT partition and not from an NTFS partition (although I have never seen this personally and I have never had any specific confirmation of this phenomenon!).

However, even if your drive is correctly made, some early PCs with USB 1.0 and early USB 2.0 ports may not boot to grub4dos\E2B.

E2B v1.93g available

Changes from 1.93f are:

• latest \grldr grub4dos version
• UUID and volume label of ISOs now displayed briefly in some cases
• NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag files can be used with SDI_CHOCO to suppress talking and beeping

Now you can stop SDI_Choco speaking to you and also stop it beeping by adding two tag files to your configuration folder.

Please update your existing E2B drive(s) with 1.93g and let me have your feedback.

Note that in the final v1.93 version, I will delete the chocolatey.nupkg file from the \_ISO\WINDOWS\INSTALLS\INSTALLCHOCO folder and make the file available as a separate download. This will prevent a later E2B update from overwriting your chocolatey package and also reduce the size of the E2B download back to 17MB.

P.S. if you use ChocBox.cmd, there is a small bug. It says to use the command
choco install %appx% --source C:\DRIVERS\choco -y -r
but this should be
choco install %appx% --source C:\DRIVERS\chocbox -y -r

Change History

v1.93a - Addition of offline choco package support for SDI_CHOCO function (adds 6MB)
v1.93b - Improved \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages.
v1.93c - GIFtoIMA script and improved ChocBox.cmd script
v1.93d - improved GIFtoIMA script to delete files > 0255.bmp and save as BMP or JPG, new grub4dos 0.4.6a
v1.93e - new Snappy Driver Installer Origin version, latest grub4dos 0.4.6a 2017-05-29, QRUN.g4b small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one, improved ChocBox.cmd (now can get specific app version)
v1.93f - Switch_E2B.exe v1.0.16 hidden file fix, new Chocolatey version 0.10.6.1, openmandriva ISO sample mnu file
v1.93g - latest grub4dos, NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag for SDI_CHOCO

What is the best way to speed up my notebook?

A friend recently asked me this question.

How to super-hide E2B files from Windows Explorer

A simple way to hide an ISO, .imgPTN or other payload files on an E2B drive is to simply set the Hidden attribute (right-click - Properties - tick Hidden - OK). But you knew that already right?...

But what if the user has 'Show hidden files' enabled in Explorer? He will still be able to see the files - so how can we prevent this?

Well, to make the file super-hidden (hidden+system), simply make sure the filename starts with a ~ symbol (as well as having the Hidden attribute set).

e.g. \_ISO\LINUX\~kali.iso

Explorer will not show the file, even if the user has 'Show hidden files' enabled (you may need to press F5 to refresh Explorer after you have changed the name, before it will disappear).

The user (and you) will still be able to see the file if  'Hide protected operating system files' is unticked however, but using ~ is easier than using the attrib +h +s command on the command line because you can add a ~ using Explorer.

WARNING: DO NOT USE SWITCH_E2B.exe on a ~xxx.imgPTN file - it will corrupt the drive! This bug is fixed in SWITCH_E2B v1.0.16.

Of course, this won't stop linux or the  dir /ah command from listing the files, but it is a simple tweak and will fool most Windows users.

Reference: Raymond Chen from here.

Adding OpenMandriva to E2B

The OpenMandriva ISO does not boot as a .ISO file when simply placed on an E2B drive.

Instead we need to make a .mnu file for it and specify the Volume Label of the ISO.

Here is an example menu:

E2B v1.93e available

Change History

v1.93a - Addition of offline choco package support for SDI_CHOCO function

v1.93b - Improved \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages.

v1.93c - GIFtoIMA script and improved ChocBox.cmd script
v1.93d - improved GIFtoIMA script to delete files > 0255.bmp and save as BMP or JPG, new grub4dos 0.4.6a
v1.93e - new Snappy Driver Installer Origin version, latest grub4dos 0.4.6a 2017-05-29, QRUN.g4b small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one, improved ChocBox.cmd (now can get specific app version)

Snappy Driver Installer is dead-ish - long live Origin!

It seems that that old Snappy Driver Installer has forked to a new 'Origin' version (SDIO).
'The old sdi-tool.org project  is no longer in the hands of the original developers, is no longer open source and is not safe to use.'

This is rather confusing because the old site clearly says it is free and open source, but apparently does contain adware now...

For the new Origin version is here but cannot simply replace the old version because the executables have different names (AUTO.cmd requires changes).

E2B v1.93e will include the new forked version but if you want the sdi-tool.org version, then remove all the SDIO files from the SNAPPY folder (except for the AUTO.cmd file) and replace them with the download from sdi-tool.org.

The new version of AUTO.cmd will call the SDIO version by default, but if the SDI executable is present, it will use that instead (if you have replaced SDIO with SDI from the sdi-tool site).

Do you have a StarTech S2510BU3ISO Virtual DVD emulator enclosure?

A few months ago I contacted StarTech support about the bug in their S2510BU3ISO product.
Many users on Amazon and elsewhere have reported difficulties with the product.
You can read my review in a previous blog post here.

If you freshly format the drive and then add a single ISO file to the \_ISO1 folder, then it should work correctly.

But, I gave them a simple Windows cmd test script (StarTechFormatTest.cmd in Easy2Boot Alternate Download Areas - Other Files) which will format the hard disk in the USB enclosure and then copy 1GB files to it. You just need to download the debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-mate-desktop.iso file from t'internet and rename it to 1GB.ISO first. You will need a 60GB+ disk fitted (SSD recommended for speed).

E2B v1.93d BETA available

v1.93d has an improved GIFtoIMA script.
http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/animation/ has been updated.

GIFtoIMA.cmd now only uses frames up to frame #255 (maximum for grub4dos) and can also now save as JPG instead of as BMP to save space.

Note that using a transparent background setting for JPGs does not work well because some of the background pixels may be a slightly different RGB value, so if you want to use a transparent background for your animation, choose the BMP option (default).

I spent a LOT of time looking for a GIF editor, but eventually I found a utility

E2B v1.93c with new 'GIFtoIMA' script for making animation files using drag-and-drop

Changes in v1.93c

• Improved ChocBox.cmd script for making offline Chocolatey packages (with website lookup for packages)
• New GIFtoIMA.cmd script for converting animated GIFs to a .IMA image file for use with E2B

\_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\GIFtoIMA\GIFtoIMA.cmd is a script which will convert an animated GIF to a floppy disk .IMA file ready for use with E2B. It even generates the required grub4dos code that you can paste into your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg folder.

P.S. E2B v1.92d version will also delete any frame_00256.bmp and over files because maximum is 255 for grub4dos\E2B anyway.