Testing Inno Setup for making Self-Extracting files

I have been using WinRaR to package up the Easy2Boot files into a self-extracting executable (SFX) file. When the user runs this, it unpacks the E2B files to a temporary folder and then runs Make_E2B.exe as Administrator.

However, the WinRaR package seems to trigger false positive alerts with several Anti-Virus packages such a Windows Defender (depending on what day it is!), Avast and Norton Symantec, etc.

So, as an experiment, I have packaged up E2B v1.98g BETA using the free Inno QuickStart Setup package from here.

This Inno Setup version is similar to the WinRaR version (it only extracts the files - it does not install anything).

Please try the above link and let me know the results (i.e. what your AV solution is and if it runs OK or gives a virus alert).

I have noticed that if you run it with Avast AV installed, you get an error pop-up box, however if you click past this it runs OK. This is apparently a known issue with Avast when running a 'strange' exe for the first time.

P.S. If the above link no longer works (becomes outdated), look for a more recent E2B_v1.98+ file in the Alternate Downloads Areas.

Tick 'funny' if it gave no problems, otherwise please let me know what AV gave a false-positive

How to add older versions of the Hirens Boot CD to E2B

Older versions of the Hirens boot CD earlier than version 9.7 were based on DOS and designed to run from a CD only.

Here is how I converted HBCD v8.1 to run from E2B.

MPI Tool Pack v0.081 fixes 'ERROR: Please install Grub4dos to the MBR' error!

If you are getting this error a lot when trying to switch to .imgPTN files, the reason is that you are probably using RMPrepUSB v2.1.740 or later to install grub4dos or BootIce+grub4dos 0.4.6a.

To fix this, you can either use an older version of RMPrepUSB, or use v 0.081 or later of the MPI Tool Pack and remake your .imgPTN file.

The problem is due to the grub4dos boot code changing. The code in the menu.lst file looks for 'Missing MBR-helper' but the code has now changed with 0.4.6a to be 'Missing helper' and so it does not restore the original grub4dos MBR sector when you switch back to the E2B MBR, but restores the backup sector from LBA 1 instead (which usually does not contain the grub4dos boot code).

The new \menu.lst in MPI v0.081 will work with either version of the grub4dos boot code.

Add AROS AspireOS Titan to E2B

The AspireOS ISO seems to have a problem booting if we just try to add the ISO to E2B.

Here is how to add it to E2B as a .imgPTN file for MBR and UEFI-32-bit booting.

References

Amiga Board forum

Instructions

Boot from an E2B USB drive using VMWare

You can test install Windows (7/8/10 etc.) from an E2B drive to a virtual hard disk using VMWare.
The advantage of this process is that a Removable-type USB flash drive will appear in the VM as a Removable drive and thus will load the 'LOADISO.cmd' file in the same way as it runs on a real system. This means you can test E2B with Windows ISOs+Unattend XML files without using a real system.

There is also new page on the E2B site here which describes the process.

This process works using VMWare Player (free) or VMWare WorkStation...

E2B v1.98f/g BETA

E2B v1.98f BETA (in Alternate Download Area) now has a revised version of the FreeDOS boot image.

The disk image (\_ISO\DOS\MNU\ FreeDos288.ima.gz) is now actually a 7.6MB FAT32 disk image containing FreeDOS.FreeDOS now loads an NTFS driver, EMM386 and a DOS mouse driver. It also contains a selection of FreeDOS utilities.

This means you can just copy a mouse-enabled DOS utility, such as the DOS version of Ghost.exe to your E2B drive, boot to E2B, and then boot to the FreeDOS floppy image from the DOS menu and directly run C:\Ghost.exe directly from your NTFS or FAT32 E2B drive.

Because the FreeDOS image is over 7MB in size and has 5MB of free space available, you can also extract the .ima file and then add your own DOS utilities into the image. See the E2B DOS page for more details.

Adding Dos programs and utilities to E2B

If you have a DOS (FreeDOS or MS-DOS, etc.) floppy disk image (.ima or .img), you can just directly add it to the E2B drive and it should boot correctly.

If you want to be able to modify the contents, you can use a program like WinImage, or you could convert the image to a FAT32 .imgPTN file.

Using the E2B FreeDos image

E2B includes a FreeDOS disk image as \_ISO\DOS\MNU\Freedos288.IMA.gz.

If you boot to this, you can access and run small DOS programs directly from the E2B drive because the FreeDOS image also loads an NTFS driver and support (sort of!) for long-filename for FAT32.

My YouTube channel has just reached new dizzy heights!

Wow! It seems I am well on the way to making my first $million (not!).
Strange, as it says I have 2500 subscribers on the videos???

Please feel free to subscribe (before it goes back below 1000 again!).

E2B v1.98b/c BETA available

v1.98b BETA is available
v1.98c BETA (small change to QRUN to add NCQ tip message)
v1.98d BETA (small change to QRUN for .isopersist tip messages)
v1.98e BETA FreeDOS floppy image now has increased conventional memory (was 300K, now 530K) so can run larger programs

Download here - if you have problems with Windows Defender, download the .zip version or E2B instead - extract the files and run Make_E2B.exe.

Changes from v1.98a BETA

• Support for .iso filenames ending in new NCQ suffix (e.g. WinPEx64_ncq.iso)
• Other v. small changes

About the *NCQ filename suffix

Bob Omb's WinPE v1.5 (2018-01-14)

Bob Omb's latest release is v1.5. You can just add the .iso file to E2B as it is a WinBulder-based ISO.

Once at the Desktop, you can use CTRL+TAB to change languages. For a UK keyboard, pick the American flag which is shown immediately after the French flag (there is no UK flag available!). The second American flag shown is for USA (default).

Bob Omb's default desktop

It also works with PEStartup, so you can easily modify the default wallpaper, add your own desktop shortcuts to your own portable apps, drivers and auto-start any applications - see here for more details about PEStartup and how to add it to any WinPE. Note that it may take about a minute or two before PEStartup auto-runs, so be patient.

E2B v1.98a BETA available (with new .isopersist file extension for ubuntu-based ISOs)

v1.98a Beta changes are:

• patchme script now removes the grub4dos startup message 'If hangup, use 'geometry --lba1sector (128)'
• Variables SIZE_E2B and SIZE_HD1 can now be used in MyE2B.cfg files in HEADING and FOOTER (size of drive in GB)
• 'GodMode' folder added to \_ISO\docs\Download URLs for easy access to Windows GodMode list
• DrWeb900_Persistent.mnu added
• .isopersist ubuntu file extension supported (no .mnu file required for persistence)

.isopersist file exension details

Add Dr Web LiveCD ISO + persistence to E2B

Here is the .mnu file for Dr Web 900 LiveDisk ISO with persistence

A copy is available from the Alternate Downloads Area here.

Set up a different E2B wallpaper for each menu

It is possible to configure E2B so that each menu loads a different background wallpaper.

For the AUTO and WINDOWS menus, we just need to add these 800x600 files:

• \_ISO\AUTO.bmp
• \_ISO\SVR2K8R2.bmp
• \_ISO\SVR2012.bmp
• \_ISO\VISTA.bmp
• \_ISO\WIN7.bmp
• \_ISO\WIN8.bmp
• \_ISO\WIN10.bmp
• \_ISO\SVR2016.bmp
• \_ISO\WINMENU.bmp (background for the Windows Install Menu - if any of the other Windows .bmp are used, this should also exist)

Note that the file extension should be .bmp, even if the actual contents are .jpg files or .gz or LZMA compressed .bmp files. For instance, you can just rename VISTA.jpg to VISTA.bmp, etc.

For the other 9 menu folders (MAINMENU, DOS, ANTIVIRUS, etc.), we can add a .mnu file to each of the menu folders as described at http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/multiple-backgrounds/

However, I have added an alternative method now which may be easier for you to change and update...

RMPrepUSB v2.1.740 released

v2.1.740 has better support for grub4dos when installing to an exFAT drive and also has the most recent version of WinContig.

MPI Tool Pack v0.079/0.080 released

Just a few small bugs and tidy-ups.

MPI Tool Pack v0.079

1. Fix CreateDesktopShortcuts.cmd so it now works with Windows systems with a non-standard Desktop path.
2. Small change to menu.lst for clover boot patch (should have no discernible affect).
3. Fix menu.lst for detection of 3rd ptn for FreeBSD images when Switch_E2B.exe is used.

Update by downloading and unpacking to your Desktop and then running CreateDesktopShortcuts.cmd again.

MPI Tool Pack v0.080

1. Update with latest SWITCH_E2B.exe version
2. Bugfix for when syslinux\isolinux is in root of drive

How to add an animated GIF to your E2B menu

Here is an example of how to add the 'TeaTime' optical illusion animated GIF to E2B.

It takes about 2 minutes!

Adding animation is really quite easy now...

Add jokes to your E2B menu for Xmas

One way to add jokes to your E2B menu would be to convert a series of PowerPoint slides into an animated GIF and display it on the E2B Menu, however, this would always show the jokes in the same order each time you booted to E2B.

Here is a small grub4dos script that allows you to display one of 36 randomly-chosen jokes on your E2B menus.

You must update to E2B v1.97A or later for this to work properly due to some bugs in older versions of grub4dos.

Instructions...

E2B v1.97A released

The bugs in grub4dos have been fixed by the developer now and v1.97A is now released.

Please update your E2B drives.

Changes from v1.97 to v1.97A:

• bugfix in grub4dos \grldr for helptext colour and --string= issues.
• E2B_Editor.exe - small bugfix for colours 6, 7 and 8 not quite correct shade.
• WinLite10 XML sample files updated to add amd64 section.

Design a Decomputo-like theme for E2B

A few people have asked about the theme used by Decomputo in their E2B YouTube video:

An example of the Decomputo menu is shown below:

I do not know the exact details of how this was configured, however I can give you a few hints on how to add a similar menu system...

Small bug in E2B v.1.97

I have just noticed a bug in E2B v1.97.

The issue is that the helptext just under the menu does not appear in the correct colour.

This is due to a bug in the new grub4dos version 2017-12-05 which I hope will be fixed soon.

The issue can be fixed by changing your MyE2B.cfg file so that the helptext color command follows the normal colour command, e.g.

#this does not change the helptext colour!
color helptext=0x0001FF
color normal=0x808040

#this does change the helptext colour correctly.
color normal=0x808040
color helptext=0x0001FF

It seems the color normal command also changes the helptext colour.
If you wish, you can use a previous version of \grldr instead.

I have reported the bug here and will re-release v1.97 as v1.97A when it is fixed.

New 'Display colours' .mnu file included in E2B v1.97

I have added a sample .mnu file, \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\E2B Menus\Display_RGB_Colours.mnu, to E2B v1.97.

You can copy the Display_RGB_Colours.mnu file to a menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\UTILITIES) and use it to help you choose a grub4dos 4-bit or 24-bit RGB colour values...

Easy2Boot v1.97 Full Release is now available

The latest E2B v1.97 full release is now available from the Alternate Download Areas.

Changes from v1.96 are:

• Download is now in self-extracting .exe RAR4 format instead of .zip format (less false-positive virus alerts!).
• Small change of all E2B menus and language files - menu help text now does not have leading space at start of each help line.
• New grub4dos 2017-12-05
• New hstart and hwidth parameters can be set in MyE2B.cfg to set the menu help text x start offset and the line width. You can now position the menu help text anywhere on the display.
• Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd now prompts user to delete or change the size of the 500MB CONTIG.ISO file.
• New Make_E2B.exe - the extract button now works even if no USB drive is detected and it was not run as admin. Also, it now warns that user will require WinHelper USB Flash drive for Windows Install ISOs if Fixed Disk type of USB drive is detected.
• Fix $Default E2B Menu.cfg by adding !BAT to prevent initial error message after using PimpMydrive.cmd (bugfix).
• 'No !BAT string in MyE2B.cfg' error message suppressed if no MyE2B.cfg file exists (bugfix).
• Snappy SDIO .cfg file changed to suppress GNU licence EULA on first run + updated version
• CENTREHD code revised for better centering of menu headings.
• Small bugfix to E2B_Editor.exe + it now lists both .bmp and .jpg files in open file dialog by default.
• New setmenu draw-box command added (see here).
• String command bugfix and documented on E2B site.
• New BoxDemo sample theme added to demonstrate new hstart, hwidth, drawbox, line and string features.
• Small \_ISO\Sample_MyBackground.jpg file added for use with E2B_Editor.
• Small changes to some .cfg sample themes.
• Desinfect 2017 sample .mnu file added.

Please report any issues ASAP! If you have used Pimp_My_Drive.cmd to add extra mnu items, please re-run Pimp_My_Drive.cmd again after you have updated to the new version.

Easy2Boot v1.97f available (Release Candidate - please try it!)

E2B v1.97f BETA is now available from the Alternate Download Areas.

I will release this as v1.97 Full Release in a few days, so please test it by updating your E2B drive and report any issues.

The self-extracting .exe download now uses .RAR instead of .ZIP internally because it seems to trigger far less false-positive virus warnings.

It does however mean that it cannot be used with RMPrepUSB directly by renaming it to .rar or .zip. You will have to extract the files to a new folder first if you want to use it with RMPrepUSB instead of just using the renamed file directly with RMPrepUSB - Choose Files.

Note: I have now updated RMPrepUSB with a more recent version of 7zG.exe which can extract the files from a self-extracting .rar file. So if you download RMPrepUSB v2.1.739B and rename the E2B download to have a .rar extension, then RMPrepUSB will extract the contents.

Silence grub4dos boot-up messages

As gub4dos boots, you may see the following messages as it boots.

If your E2B USB drive is an exFAT drive, you may see even more messages.

The \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file contains some sample code lines which can suppress these and other boot messages by patching the code in the MBR and the \grldr file.

This should work on both grub4dos 0.4.6a and 0.4.5c versions.

E2B v1.97e now available

Changes from v1.97d are:

• Latest release version of grub4dos 0.4.6a
• Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd now prompts user to delete or change the size of CONTIG.ISO file at the end.

The download is available in .exe (may get a virus warning!) and .zip format (run Make_E2B.exe after extracting).

E2B v1.97d BETA available

New version available from the Alternate Downloads Areas (in both self-extracting .exe and .zip form in case of false-positive virus detection issues).

Changes from v1.96A

• Make_E2B.exe - Extract button now works even if no USB drive detected and not run as admin, now warns that user will require WinHelper USB Flash drive for WIndows Install ISOs if using Fixed Disk
• Desinfect 2017 sample .mnu file added
• Fix $Default E2B Menu.cfg by adding !BAT to prevent initial error message after using PimpMydrive.cmd (bugfix).
• Snappy SDIO .cfg file changed to suppress GNU licence EULA on first run + later version
• Change to all menus and language files - menu help text now does not have leading space at start of each help line. 
• New hstart and hwidth parameters can be set in MyE2B.cfg to set the x start offset and width of the menu help text. 
• 'No !BAT string in MyE2B.cfg' error message suppressed if no MyE2B.cfg file exists (bugfix).
• Small bugfix to E2B_Editor and it now lists both .bmp and .jpg files in open file dialog by default.
• New grub4dos version. String command bugfix in grub4dos and other small bugs fixed. New setmenu draw-box command added.
• CENTREHD code revised for better menu heading centering.
• Small \_ISO\SampleBackround.jpg file added for use with E2B_Editor.
• DrawBox.cfg theme added

Black Friday E2B Treats!

Why not upgrade your E2B drive to the fastest\best flash drive and take advantage of the Black Friday reductions?

SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 128GB - $60 or £66 (save $20/£27!!!)

or the 256GB version for only $100.

Tip: The 'Go' version is cheaper but slower (1\10th random 4K speed so not suitable for WinToGo)!

Now you can add WindowsToGo VHD files and boot to Windows 10 directly from your E2B drive - but you may forget that you are actually running from a USB drive!

E2B v1.96A released (bugfix for v1.96)

Due to a small bug in v1.96, I have decided to re-release v1.96 as v1.96A.

The bug was that if you had no \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file, you would see a 'ERROR IN \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file - Check first line starts with !BAT' message when you boot to E2B.

The new v1.96A does NOT include the latest changes in the v1.97c BETA version, so E2B v1.97c is currently the latest, most up-to-date version, although it is still at Beta status.

E2B v1.97c BETA available

Changes from v1.96 are:

1. New Make_E2B.exe - extract button now works even if no USB drive detected and not run as admin
2. Desinfect 2017 sample .mnu file added,
3. Fix $Default E2B Menu.cfg by adding !BAT to prevent initial error message after using PimpMydrive.cmd.
4. Snappy SDIO .cfg file changed to suppress GNU licence EULA on first run. 
5. Change to all menus and language files - menu help text now does not have leading space at start of each help line. 
6. New hstart and hwidth parameters can be set in MyE2B.cfg to set the x start offset and width of the menu help text.
7. No !BAT warning message if no MyE2B.cfg exists (bugfix)
8. SDI Origin .exe files updated.

Items 5 and 6 actually involved changing a great many .txt, .mnu, .g4b and language files to remove the space that was used in the menu help text.

The new version is available from the Alternate Downloads Areas.

E2B v1.97b available (with small bugfix)

E2B v1.97b is now available from the Alternate Download Areas.

There was a small bug in v1.96 reported by Nathan (thanks!).

If you run \_ISO\PimpMyDrive.cmd and then choose to add Themes, then when you next boot to E2B, you will see a warning message:

Press ENTER to continue and load the E2B menu.

This message occurs because E2B now checks that the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file starts with !BAT, but the new MyE2B.cfg that is initially used is just full of 00's.

Once you select a new Theme using the E2B menu, the error message will disappear because the contents of the MyE2B.cfg will be overwritten with new text.

Changes from v1.96 are:

• Make_E2B.exe - Extract button now works even if no USB drive detected and not run as admin
• Desinfect 2017 sample .mnu file added,
• Fix $Default E2B Menu.cfg by adding !BAT to prevent initial error message after using Pimp My drive.cmd.

If you have already run v1.96 PimpMyDrive.cmd and still see this error, selecting a Theme from the Main menu will fix it.

Add the E2B UtilMan password hack to any WinPE ISO's desktop

If your E2B USB drive contains bootable WinPE ISOs (e.g. Gandalf, Strelec, Bob Om, etc.), you can add shortcuts to the WinPE Desktops which will run the E2B UtilMan hack files. This will allow you to hack into any Windows system that is not encrypted.

YT video

1. First you need to add the PEStartup files and \TheOven_Startup.cmd to your E2B drive, as detailed in a previous blog here. For example, for a version with PortableApps already added, download and extract the PEStartup_Papps version to the E2B drive.

2. Next, boot to your WinPE ISO on the E2B USB drive (or if you prefer, you can double-click on the \AIO\Tools\PEStartup\PEStartup_x86.exe or PEStartup_x64.exe under your current Windows OS - but do not click on the 'Options - Perform' button or it will alter your Windows system!).

Some WinBuilder PEs such as Gandalf and Bob Om's PE v8 will automatically run PEStartup when WinPE boots. For other WinPEs, you will need to double-click on \TheOven_Startup.cmd to run PEStartup.

3. Now use PEStartup to add Shortcuts for \_ISO\docs\UtilMan\Utilman1PE_Patch.cmd and UtilMan4PE_Restore.cmd as shown in the screenshot below:

Add Desinfect 2017 + updates to E2B

I have updated the instructions in a previous blog on Desinfect.

You should be able boot from a Desinfect 2017 ISO with persistent virus signature updates if you follow the instructions carefully.

See the bottom of this page for details.

Add FreeBSD-based ISOs to E2B (+ new MPI Tool Pack released)

Bootable ISOs based on FreeBSD (e.g. FreeBSD-*11.1.iso) can now be booted by using .imgPTN image files.

I have just updated the MPI Tool Pack v.0.078.

Instructions are basically the same as for memstick images - see here (bottom of page).

For instance, you can MBR-boot to OPNsense ISOs (OPNsense-17.7.5-OpenSSL-dvd-amd64.iso) by creating a dummy .imgPTN file and removing the file extension from the ISO file so it is also loaded as a partition image.

To check if your ISO is compatible, load the ISO into 7Zip and look for a \boot\loader file inside the ISO.

Note: FreeNas .ISO files do not work using this method. You must use FreeNAS memstick images instead.

Geek notes

It is not possible to boot directly from the ISO using a simple menu such as:

Very useful additions to your E2B USB drive - Carifred Ultra Virus Killer and Tech Tool Store

If you have a sufficient knowledge of Windows to be able to repair a damaged or infected Windows system, you will know that it is not that easy.

For instance, although you may be able to boot to the infected Windows system, it may not allow you to run any .exe executable or use any browser.

So i just wanted to make you aware of Carifred's software for technicians. Not only do they offer free versions with very few limitations, but it also seems to provide the exact tools that an experienced Windows repair technician needs. The full licences are also very reasonably priced too.

This blog post is just a 'heads-up' to draw your attention to this software if you haven't come across it before.

SSL for Easy2boot and RMPrepUSB sites + how to increase your website earnings with Ezoic!

Because both sites go through Ezoic, it was super-easy to enable SSL for both sites.

I simply installed the SSL app (just one click on the Ezoic site) for each of my sites and waited a while.

https://www.rmprepusb.com

This should help the Google search ranking for these sites too and give people a 'warmer' feeling when accessing the sites.

This blogger site also has SSL too (you are probably viewing it now using the https URL).

https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com

About Ezoic

If you own a website, Ezoic can help you improve traffic, user experience and website earnings.

It is free to try and they will help you set it up (not difficult!), so you have nothing to lose.

Easy2Boot v1.96 full release now available

Changes from v1.95:

• Bugfix for .isofira01 as used for Strelec ISOs and fix some other .fira extensions (QRUN.g4b).
• Check for fixed type of .VHD\.VHDX file - dynamic VHDs won't boot (QRUN.g4b).
• If .txt file exists then don't suggest better extension, unless SCROLL LOCK is on (QRUN.g4b)
• Improve GIFtoIMA.cmd script to calculate size of .IMA file required.
  GIFtoIMA.cmd now will add code lines to your MyE2B.cfg file for you (optional).
• New 'rooftops' default wallpaper.
• New SWITCH_E2B.exe with improved file re-ordering for dual image payloads (see Method 4).  
• Check \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg begins with !BAT, and bugfix for falsely reporting a problem with MyE2B.cfg in some cases (menu.lst).
• Added some 'disk1' example XML unattended install files for Win7/8/10. 
• Larger cmd shell window for UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd so can see which files have been updated.
• Add linuxlite_persistence and linuxmint_persistence sample mnu files.
• Small text change to ENGlish Strings.txt (.imgPTN prompt, etc.).

Files are available from Alternate Download Areas.
The Main E2B site will be updated within a few days.

Please report any issues ASAP.

P.S. v1.96 could report a !BAT missing error under some conditions (e.g. no MyE2B.cfg), so I have released a bugfix version called 1.96A. If you already have v1.96, just download v1.96A and click the Update_E2B button to update your 1.96 E2B drive.

How I deleted unwanted gmail messages to save space on Google Drive

Google had started warning me that my Google Drive was starting to get full.

I used 'Empty Bin' in Google Drive but was still left with half of the storage space being taken up by Gmail messages.

So I went into Gmail and used the search filter larger:10m to list all files larger than 10MB.
This allowed me to find emails with large attachments.

I then went through and deleted any unwanted emails (which took a while!).

You can also use the search feature to search for emails from a certain person (from:amy) or older emails (larger:5m older_than:1y) . You can use OR like this (larger:5m OR older_than:5y).

Many more options are listed here.

Bob Omb's WinBuilder-based WinPe

I recently found another useful WinPE by Bob Omb (register to see Downloads).

I tried Bob.Ombs.Modified.Win10PEx64.v08.ISO (v8 does pick up the TheOven_Startup.cmd file automatically on startup).

A 2GB+ RAM system is needed for the 64-bit v08 version to boot directly from an ISO.

General overview of capabilities:

• Backup / Restore hard disks and partitions 
• Convert Disks to VHD 
• Test Hard Drives 
• Recover Lost Data on PC/Mac/Linux Drives 
• Recover Product Keys 
• Remove malware and viruses 
• Install any Version of Windows WinNTSetup
• ReFS Friendly (Now v3.3) 
• Backup Drivers 
• Remote connect to other machines -or- this drive from anywhere 
• Reset Passwords 
• FireFox Portable
• and much more!

P.S. v2 must be run as .imgPTN. v3 (2018) will boot as .ISO or as .imgPTN.

Updated PEStartup download

I have added a new PEStartup download to the RMPrepUSB tutorial #143.

Gandalf PE ISO with PEStartup_Papps files added to E2B USB drive (you can change the default wallpaper).

WinBuilder-based ISOs such as Gandalf's WinPEs will automatically be configured if you simply add the files to your E2B USB drive.

How to add Ubuntu\LinuxMint to E2B with MBR+UEFI persistence (and an unfixed bug in Ubuntu!)

Early versions of Ubuntu (pre-v14) and Ubuntu-based linuxmint distros (pre-v17.03) could be set up with persistence with no problem.

As long as you added the 'persistent' boot parameter, the kernel script would look for either:

1) a 'casper-rw' file (formatted internally as ext2/3/4)

    - OR -

2) a FAT or ext partition with a volume label of 'casper-rw' which has been formatted as ext2/3/4.

Ubuntu bug!

However, Ubuntu 14.04 and linuxmint 17.03 and (all?) later versions have a bug in the casper boot script which means that they may fail to boot when a casper-rw partition is present and if that partition is located after the filesystem partition in the partition table. This bug does not apply if you booted from an ISO file (only from a 'flat-file' partition), so the .mnu files used by E2B which boot from ISOs are not affected by this bug.

Bug report for Ubuntu here.

So there is no problem if you use a casper-rw file (except it must be on the same partition and it must be a FAT32 or ext partition). So you can create a very large (>4GB) ext3 file on the E2B NTFS USB drive and use a .mnu file to get persistence - but this only works in MBR\Legacy mode.

For UEFI-booting, we need to create a FAT32 .imgPTN file. However, this issue does affect E2B when using .imgPTN partition images...

E2B v1.96e available (bugfix)

There was a bug in v1.95 which means that (*for some reason) the .isofira01 file extension (as used for Strelec ISOs) does not seem to work.

v1.96e fixes this.

* The reason is that firadisk looks for a 'ramdisk' that is below 1MB is size, so using a larger ramdisk did not work!

E2B v1.96d now available

Just a small 'enhancement'.

In this version, if you have created a matching .txt file for your payload file, then E2B will not suggest an alternative file extension (unless SCROLL LOCK is on) and will boot straight to the payload file with no delay.

e.g.
\_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntux64.iso
\_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntux64.txt

I have reasoned that if you have taken the trouble to make a .txt file, then you have already tested it and it works and so has the correct file extension.

This message and delay is now suppressed if a .matching txt file exists.

If you don't like this new feature, please let me know and I will remove it.

E2B 1.96d is available from Alternate Downloads Areas as usual (see side panel on this page).

Modify any WinPE using PEStartup

Following on from my previous blog post on PEStartup, I have written Tutorial #143 on how to use PEStartup to configure any ready-made WinPE OS such as Strelec, Hirens, DLC, Dium and Gandalf WinPEs.

In fact, standard Win10PESE WinBuilder builds including the latest Gandalf Redstone 2 WinPE and Bob Omb's PEs 'just work' and will automatically run PEStartup when they boot, if you follow the Tutorial (you just extract files from a .zip file onto your E2B drive!).

If the WinPE does not have the correct plugin already, you just need to double-click on the \TheOven_Startup.cmd script to run PEStartup and configure your WinPE Desktop.
Many thanks again to Tứ Nguyễn for his PEStartup utility.

Add WinPE Reboot and Shutdown Desktop Shortcuts

Configure PEStartup to add Desktop shortcuts using wpeutil.exe

Add lightweight WinPE versions to E2B that you can easily configure yourself!

It is normally very difficult to tailor a WinPE project to your own requirements unless you rebuild the entire OS each time.

However, there is a way to make changes to your WinPE OS and have those changes remembered on reboots. For instance, you can specify your own wallpaper and Desktop shortcuts.

32-bit XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Win 10 PE builds are available.

See also the more recent blog post here for use with any WinPE.

Gandalf’s Win10PE x64 Redstone 2 build 15063 version 10-01-2017 is now available

Download from here. It is based on WinBuilder and ChrisR's Win10PESE project.

To add to E2B, just copy the .iso file to a menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\WINPE) and run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.exe to make it contiguous.

To suppress the tips and extension suggestions made by the QRUN.g4b script when you run it, just add the letter Q or q to the end of the filename. e.g.
Gandalf'sWin10PEx64Redstone2_10-01-2017q.iso

Do not uses spaces in the filename. If you want to change the menu entry and have spaces in the filename, use a .txt file - e.g. Gandalf'sWin10PEx64Redstone2_10-01-2017.txt

To change keyboard locale press CTRL+TAB.

Tip: if you add PEStartup to your USB drive and PortableApps.com (Start.exe) to the Desktop as Startup options. you can use the Shutdown/reboot button in the PortableApps GUI to shutdown/reboot (as the Start Menu Shutdown\Reboot does not work). You can also add lots of PortableApps apps easily too. Gandalf Redstone 2 will automatically run PEStartup 20 seconds after it loads the Desktop.

E2B v1.96c available

Just a few small changes (no bug fixes)

• QRUN.g4b now checks for fixed type of .VHD\.VHDX file - dynamic VHDs won't boot.
• Added help text for installing from puppy ISOs (.isopup)
• Improved GIFtoIMA.cmd script to calculate size of .IMA file required and now will optionally add the new code lines to your MyE2B.cfg file for you.
• New default wallpaper for E2B
• New SWITCH_E2B.exe version 1.0.17 with improved file re-ordering for dual image payloads
  (see Method 4). 
• Added extra Win7/8/10 disk 1 sample XML unattended install files for use with VMs where disk 1 is the target HDD instead of disk 0.  See here for more info.

Download from Alternate Download Sites as usual.

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!