agFM v1.81 is now released and supports the latest DLC Boot 2022 ISO.
E2B v2.14i Beta and v2.15 is also available which also supports the June 2022 DLC ISO and has UDF ISO bugfix in grub4dos.
For DLCBoot 2022 ISO UEFI64 booting from agFM please use agFM v1.88 or later.
I have set up a redirect from the old .com site to the new WordPress easy2boot.xyz home page now and some of the old .com URLs will even redirect to the equivalent page on the xyz site!
Please let me know if you find any bad links!
Do you have some knowledge, information, know some 'secrets', hints and tips, great gluten-free recipes, good websites/blogs/social media sites/forums, etc. which may be valuable to others, then why not write some eBooks. Although I sell an eBook called 'How to make $1000 a month from the internet' for just $3 in my eBook store, I am going to show you how easy it is to sell eBooks world-wide for absolutely no cost and very little effort once it has been written and is set up for sale.
The great thing about eBooks is that it is passive selling. Once it is available for sale you just sit back - everything (sales, delivery, payment) is automatic and it is very simple to set up too!
If eBooks aren't your thing, musicians can sell their own music files, photographers can sell their photos and artists can sell their graphics downloads. You can make and sell courses and coaching products on a subscription basis too (typically using Zoom, setting milestones, etc.).
A user reported that the trial version of RedHat RHEL 9 did not seem to work correctly when booted from an ISO file using E2B, agFM or Ventoy.
All seemed OK, except that the installer GUI did not seem to pick up the trial licence information and it required the user to register online using their RedHat login credentials before it would allow you to proceed...
To work around this issue, it was necessary to ensure that the legacy MBR Partition 4 Type number was not set to 0 so that the Linux OS would mount the ISO mapped to Partition 4 and would see the licence files.
E2B 2.14e Beta thus supports a new .iso83 file extension which works around this issue.
I have updated the previous article with instructions on how to boot to the AMD test files on Partition 3 of the KINGS_OVERKILL USB drive.
So after fixing the problems, you can Legacy and UEFI-boot to the AMD graphics RAM test programs as well as the two nVidia RTX test images.
Please refer to the previous article here.
It is possible to add an image of the AMD large (60GB) ext4 Partition 3 to an E2B USB drive as a .imgPTNREP3 file.
Please contact me if you want a download link for my 63GB TEST_AMD_GPU_PTN3.imgPTNREP3 file (split into 17 x 2GB 7Zip files).
The method I used to make a working image was as follows:
1. First ensure that the KINGS_OVERKILL USB drive will boot to Partition 3 correctly (Legacy and UEFI).
2. Use RMPrepUSB - Drive>File button to capture the whole of Partition 3 as a single file (a 60GB file!). Start P3, End P3, file start 0.
3. If your E2B USB drive is a large drive with 3 partitions, copy the image file you just made to E2B Partition 3 (NTFS) and name it something like TEST_AMD_GPU_PTN3.imgPTNREP3. As an alternative, you could just use Disk Genius to create a Primary Partition 3 on the E2B USB drive using the 3.pmf image file (not tested and you may have to fix up the fsck files as mentioned in the previous article!).
Here is the NTFS Partition 3 on my E2B USB drive (the large file must be defragmented - I used Defraggler for this)...
I recently came across a YouTube video which booted from a large dedicated USB drive to run Nvidia and AMD diagnostics using MATS (Memory Automated Test System) and MODS (Modular Diagnostic Software).
Nvidia has a proprietary software tool called MODS (Nvidia MOdular Diagnostic Software) which has a standalone VRAM test called MATS. How to use MATS can be found below.
Note: To get the Kings_Overkill USB drive fully working - scroll down!
Also see this article.
To make a new bootable USB HDD with all three test images, see 'How to make a MODS and MATS USB drive' below.
The USB he created comprised of three separate Primary MBR partitions with each partition containing a separate set of bootable files:
I made a separate USB drive from the .rar files from the instructions in the video but for some reason the ext4 Partition 3 seems to be corrupt on my drive and would not boot at all :-(.
However I could legacy boot and UEFI64-boot OK to Partitions 1 and 2 of the new USB drive.
I wanted to add some sort of bootable images of these to my E2B drive so I used RMPrepUSB - File - Make grub4dos ISO file function to make a bootable ISO. However, the ISO file only worked when Legacy booting (it hung on a UEFI boot as did Ventoy).
I have added a 'Skip TPM checks' button to XMLtoE2B.exe so that you can easily make an XML file for Windows 11 which will not check for a TPM, free disk space, CPU, RAM capacity or a SecureBoot.
Let me know if you find any issues!
See my earlier article if you don't know what this is.
A Kon-Boot 4.1 update is now available from U-Lead.
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The Windows 11 setup procedure now insists that you are connected to the internet and that you must use an online account rather than a local account. However, there are some ways around this:
Win11 Setup will see that you have an internet connection and ask for your account email address and password. However, if you enter an invalid password with Windows Pro or Home, it will fail and then allow you to create a local account. e.g. test@test.com or a@b.com with any password.
1.80 2022-05-13
The eBooks below in red have been updated.
If you have already purchased an older version just use the link in the email that was sent to you from Payhip to get the new version for free. You do not need to pay to get the latest revision.
XMLtoE2B.exe is a small Windows utility that helps you to make a Windows Install XML file to fully automate a Windows install from an E2B USB drive or from a grubfm\agFM\Ventoy USB drive.
Using multiple SDI_CHOCO config sets, you can automate the online or offline installation of drivers, applications and Windows updates. If a new Windows ISO is released by Microsoft, simple copy the new ISO file to your E2B USB drive!
An updated version of XMLtoE2B is now available. If you have a licence file for the old version, it will also work with the new version.
Note that without a licence file you will not be able to save XML files. If you have purchased 3 or more E2B eBooks then please contact me for a complimentary licence (provide name and email address).
v2.0.51 2022-06-07
For details on how to use XMLtoE2B to easily and quickly modify your XML files for automated Windows installs, see here.
eBook #2 contains detailed exercises on how to set up fully automated Windows installs.
Note: New Beta is v2.0.52 (.exe file only) and includes a 'Skip TPM checks' tick box for Win11 XML files.
You can add partition images of the latest Ventoy release to your E2B USB drive (see here for details) or if you have a Ventoy USB drive, you can update it using the Ventoy download's Update button (and then add E2B if you like for extra legacy support).
IMPORTANT: If you have already switched in a Ventoy .img file you MUST NOT use the Ventoy utility to update it - otherwise it will destroy the E2B USB data and you will not be able to switch E2B\agFM back in! Instead, restore the USB drive to an E2B\agFM drive first, then re-make the new Ventoy .img files as directed (see here for details) .
If you had problems with Ventoy Secure Boot on some systems, the new version may fix that.
This updated version contains a small update to RMPartUSB to fix a problem with some Model strings reported by some USB drive M.2 enclosures.
Download from Fosshub here (the.exe is a self-extracting exe file but it may cause false-positive antivirus warnings).
A small bug has been found in RMPartUSB which causes a problem when trying to create an E2B USB drive using the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script on a certain specific M.2 USB enclosure.
The download is here. The only change is RMPartUSB.exe and the version number of E2B is now 2.14a.
The Webnode hosted site easy2boot.com is now out of service from today onwards and so easy2boot.xyz is the only site that you should use from now on.
The E2B .cmd scripts in v2.13 have now been updated so that only the .xyz site is accessed for the latest files when making or updating an E2B USB drive.
The changes in E2B v2.13 are outlined below
2.13 2022-05-11
agFM is now updated to v1.79 but it is essentially the same as v1.78 except that old .com download URLs in some .cmd scripts have been removed to make downloads faster.
If you have problems updating agFM then run "\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Download and update agFM_v2.cmd" from the USB drive after updating it to E2B v2.13.
v2.13c Beta is here
Changes from 2.12
Have you started seeing this annoying issue whenever clicking on a link in a Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)?
The netboot.xyz project has come a long way in a few years and many more payloads are now supported.
This is most suitable for people who have fast internet via Ethernet (e.g. company offices, etc.).
32-bit and 64-bit payloads are supported, including Fatdog, Manjaro, Kali, Ubuntu, Parrot, Peppermint, Pop OS, Tails, Tiny Core Linux (for quick boot to Linux), Voyager, Zorin, Boot Repair, Clonezilla, DBAN, gparted, Kasperksy, RescueTux, Super grub disk, Rescuezilla, Ultimate Boot CD and many more including Linux installers.
See FAQ for full list.
Just add the ISO to your E2B USB drive.
See here for a previous netboot article.
Times are hard! In the UK the cost of electricity and gas has almost doubled, vehicle fuel is up by 50% and the Retail Price Index is up 6% and still rising. Savings interest rates are stupidly low but mortgage/borrowing rates are rising.
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| Theo the cat |
As I work from home and live on my own (if you don't count my cat Theo who has his own fur coat) then to save on my heating bills, during the Winter I turn the central heating thermostat down to 18°C and I only heat a few rooms. I also wear two 'arctic-rated' Damart thermal vests under my shirt and jumper together with thick corduroy trousers - this saves on fossil fuel expenditure and helps save a bit of the planet.
E2B v2.12 is now released and contains a few small bugfixes.
I have also updated most of the eBooks.
Recently I needed to edit some PNG files which were used in a grub2 theme (tutorial).
Many grub2 themes use a semi-transparent 'styled box' as a grey background on which the grub2 menu text entries are displayed.
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In this example, menu_s.png, menu_sw.png and menu_se.png have been changed and so the bottom of the box is a slightly different colour and is opaque. You can see the clouds in the background wallpaper underneath the centre section.
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If you have read my eBook 'How to make $1000 a month from the Internet' you will see that I recommend that you set up your own website and/or blog and that you do not use the free hosts .
I also strongly recommend that you always use a WordPress (Linux-based) host server and that you do not go for any host which attempts to suck you in with free offers or very cheap deals. The reason is that after a year , when you come to renew your subscription, you will realise that their full annual rate is much more expensive than the others. Also, you will realise that in order to get certain features working on your site, you will need to purchase a more costly 'premium plan' and that you are now 'locked in' (having spent hundreds of hours on the design and content of your website).
Also, with a free host site, you are not in control. They can easily turn round one day and say 'we are sorry to announce that from next month we are closing this service' and you are stuffed!
Whether you have purchased my ebook 'How to make $1000 a month from the Internet' and made some money from a side hustle for very little initial cost or you have some savings sitting in a bank account which is earning a paltry 0.7% interest at best (or 0.01% as some banks like Barclays and NatWest are offering - wow - thanks guys!) - why not invest it in stocks and shares?
Even if your savings are earning 2% a year, you are losing money when you take inflation and the rising cost of living into account!
Due to the Ukraine crisis, now is a perfect time to invest in the stock market as prices are low.
ETF screener to help you pick the right ones for you out of the 1000+ available.
I recommend a USA or Global ETF. For instance the SWDA ETF currently at 5925p (top global companies only) charges 0.2% annually and has almost tripled in value in 10 years (+75% in last 5 years). Quite a difference from the bank rate, isn't it?
As with all shares, the trick is to buy low.
The people on reputable job market sites like fiverr will agree to do a specific task for a specific price. Payment is made up front to fiverr by the customer so that you will always receive the agreed amount from fiverr on satisfactory completion of the work.
A recent BBC Radio 4 and BBC 3 TV program detailed a scammer who took advantage of the Covid lockdown to entice people to work for him from their own homes for up to 6 months for free (just empty promises). Although his company was registered at UK Companies house (something which anyone can do for less than £20), the company Madbird&Co. appears to comprise of just one man and a bedroom!
I have added an extra section to the chapter on booting from payloads that are situated on Partition 3 of a Ventoy USB drive. The examples included are for a Linux-based StorageCraft ISO and a Ubuntu 64-bit ISO and it uses the F6 Extended grub2 menu facility of Ventoy.
As usual, all my eBook updates are free - just use the link that was sent to you in the original Payhip purchase confirmation email.
Amazon Ventoy Kindle version.
Getting started with Ventoy (v1.07 - 2022-02-02)
The current Medicat download is designed to make a Ventoy USB drive and you can just extract the contents of the large MediCat.USB.v21.12.7z onto your E2B USB drive and use 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' to boot the files or agFM menu system.
However, if you want to use the payloads with the E2B menu system then you will need to extract each of the .iso and .wim files from the .7z package and individually copy them to the E2B menu folders (or use a .cmd script - see below).
The 'Getting started with Ventoy' eBook has now been updated to version 1.06.
Since the new VentoyPlugson.exe configuration application will not recognise a standard Easy2Boot USB drive, if you want to use the new browser-based application to make or change your ventoy.json configuration file, you can only use it on an E2B USB drive if you first 'convert' the E2B USB drive to an 'official' Ventoy USB drive.
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| The VentoyPlugson web app is for configuring Ventoy. |
All my eBook updates are free - just use the email link that was sent to you by Payhip when you made the original purchase.
I have added instructions here on how to add the rEFInd image file to agFM and/or Ventoy so that you can UEFI64-boot from any EFI file on any partition in the system (not just the Ventoy main USB partition).
Note that using the 'Install rEFInd' icon (dark blue square with down-arrow), you can install rEFInd onto any disk in the system.
v2.11 is now released. It is the same as v2.11d Beta.
v2.11 2021-12-19If you have switched over to using Ventoy as your main USB multiboot tool but you still need your trusty E2B USB drive for some Legacy boot tasks such as to boot to DOS images, Legacy booting some Linux ISOs which Ventoy doesn't support, install Win98/Win2K/XP, auto-install Windows legacy with drivers+apps (SDI_CHOCO), run PassPass, etc. then why not add E2B to your Ventoy USB drive as well?
It is very easy to do and I have added a new page with instructions here.
Tip: Use E2B v2.14 or later.
Note that .imgPTN files are not supported when using a Ventoy USB drive.
Instead of watching your favourite box-set again during the holidays, why not use the time to set up a 'side-hustle' or two instead? With the Omicron virus around, you won't be going out much anyway...
So with a little bit of effort why not earn extra income from the internet. In many cases, this can be set up as a 'passive income' source - i.e. once you set it up, it will continue to earn you money for many years and you don't have to do anything else except count the money every month!
For instance, I set up a RedBubble 'shop' in just one day yesterday (and I have ZERO skills when it comes to graphics design as you can probably tell!). RedBubble will sell your designs for you. Your designs are printed onto a wide range of their products on demand and it costs nothing to start.
Can you work out the message on my plain black T-shirt below (for maths geeks only - and it is for sale - tip: try the coupon code FINISHLINE before Dec 8th and you may get 25% off!;-)?
My PDF-based eBook 'Getting started with Ventoy' v1.05 has now been updated for the latest version of Ventoy.
Ventoy v1.0.62 now includes the new VentoyPlugson web-based app so you can easily make and tweak your ventoy.json file.
You can get the updated eBook for free using the link that was previously in your confirmation email from Payhip when you first bought the book.
If you haven't already purchased the eBook then please visit my store here (multibuy discount will be applied at checkout if you buy more than one).
I accidentally introduced a Legacy Windows ISO problem in agFM v1.73 and v1.74.
In an attempt to fix a grub2 bug involving the loopback command which caused a problem on some PCs, I changed the windows iso code to load some required uncompressed files instead of compressed .xz files. Unfortunately, although this worked for UEFI mode, it seems it does not work for Legacy mode (for some strange reason - must be a grub2 bug?).
I have therefore changed back the grub2 code to load the compressed .xz files if grubfm is booted in Legacy mode.
i.e this code
loopback wimboot (${user})/boot/grubfm/wimbootxz;works in UEFI mode but for some strange reason not in MBR\Legacy mode!
I have made some small updates to my eBook 'Getting started with Ventoy'.
You can get the new version by using the original link in the confirmation email that was sent to you when you first purchased it.
If you haven't got it yet, it is available here (with 10% discount on total if you buy more than one).
The latest Beta of E2B is now available: v2.11c.
Some of the .mnu files for UEFI/agFM/Ventoy support in \_ISO\MAINMENU folder were 'hard-coded' to English. In the new Beta 2.11c I have now put the menu titles into each of the language files (however they are still in English):
It was previously possible to make partition images of Ventoy and then replace Partition 2 of the E2B USB drive with the Ventoy partition image, however in Ventoy v1.0.57 onwards, extra checks have been added into Ventoy and it now checks for Ventoy grub2 boot code in the MBR of the drive. This means that new versions will no longer work as partition images. :-(
However, I have modified the script and .cfg files so that it now also replaces the grub4dos boot code with the Ventoy grub2 boot code. The result is that we can now make Ventoy partition images again and boot to them and Ventoy still thinks the drive is an 'official' Ventoy USB stick.
Note that this exercise is only for someone who knows where their towel is and don't try it if you have not made a backup of your E2B drive just in case something goes wrong!
I found a bug in the latest release version of E2B v2.10 - file extension overrides no longer work.
e.g. a filename of Ubuntu_.isodef.iso should automatically use the .isodef extension, or win10pe_.isope01.iso should use the extension of .isope01 but in the latest version it doesn't work.
The new Beta version of E2B with a bugfix for this is v2.11a.
The Beta download folder is here.
Note that the latest grub4dos releases are not used by E2B. Some new bugs and incompatibilities have been introduced and also the old grub4dos utilities such as wenv and fat and hotkey no longer work with the new grub4dos versions and you have to replace them with new compatible versions. So although the latest grub4dos versions have a few new features (e.g. allowing menu titles and menu help text to be in multiple colours), I still use a February 2020 version of grub4dos in E2B.
I have also updated the E2B+grub4efi experimental version which uses the latest version of 'grub4dos for UEFI'. It is now version v2.10i. For instructions on how to use this grub4efi version see the previous blog article here.
Note that grub4efi (grub4dos for uefi) is still buggy. It crashes if you try to use the map command on iso files too often and it does not support wimboot so I have to use grub2\agFM to boot to WinPE and wim files! Because of this, I don't see grub4efi as being very useful so this Beta is for experimental use only and is just for the curious.
You can find the latest 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.57 here.
P.S. v1.0.57 is now live and will be downloaded when you make a new drive or update your drive.
After downloading it, drag-and-drop the file onto the \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd file on the 2nd partition.
It seems to work OK but please let me know if you find any problems.
P.S. Seems to be a problem with h and m (help and checksum) menus in the first release! If you have already downloaded the 1.0.57 version, please download the new 1.0.57b version which has a fix (ventoy-1.0.57b-windows.zip).
I have revised the 'Getting started with Ventoy' user guide/manual for the small changes in the menu system in the latest version of Ventoy. Just use the link in the confirmation email that you were sent to download the latest version for free!
If you haven't got it yet, then you can get the PDF file from my eBook Store.
P.S. You can now get 10% off the total basket when you buy more than one eBook ;-)
See https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_news.html for more details of latest Ventoy version changes.It seems that LongPanda has now put extra checks into Ventoy so that it now checks the MBR for grub2 boot code. This means that being able to make and add 'Official Ventoy' images as described here has now been updated! You can also use 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' which is included in E2B.
Ventoy is improving all the time and it is now pretty good at booting most payloads, however it does not support Legacy installs of Windows 95/98/Me/XP/2000 and it's DOS and legacy ISO support is a bit weak. You may also find that E2B may work with some Linux payloads where Ventoy fails (but make sure the ISO files are contiguous as required by E2B!).
The good news is that you can easily add legacy E2B (not agFM) to an existing Ventoy USB drive as follows:
I have been slaving away over a hot keyboard for weeks now writing an introductory eBook (PDF) on Ventoy and it is now finally finished!
You can get this new manual/user guide now for only $5 from Payhip here (10% discount if you buy more than one eBook).
Even though it is written specifically for Ventoy users, it also applies to 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' which is a slightly modified version included with Easy2Boot.
As with all my eBooks, all future revisions are free - just keep the original confirmation email and download any later revisions if they appear (you can subscribe too).
This new eBook is up to date and can be used with the latest Ventoy v1.0.56 which was released today.
Please let me have any feedback (good or bad!).
P.S. The developer LongPanda provides Ventoy for free and also constantly maintains it. You can make a donation to support LongPanda and Ventoy here.
Getting started with Ventoy (v1.00 - 2021-10-22)
Contents:
Chapter 1 - Introduction ... 5
I have updated the easy2boot.xyz, easy2boot.com and FossHub sites with the new v2.10 of E2B.
I received no feedback (good or bad!) from the pre-release, so I hope its OK.
Here are the changes:
If you have a large E2B USB drive (up to 2TB), then you can easily boot from a backup ISO file and save the backup onto the same E2B USB drive (or any other connected drive or network drive).
The E2B USB drive can be made using the 'Gear wheel' button on Make_E2B.exe so that the MBR partitions are as follows:
Ptn1: 127GiB NTFS
Ptn2: 1GiB FAT32
Ptn3: NTFS (remaining space)
Ptn4: (must be unused for E2B use)
We keep Pnt1+Ptn2 size below 128GiB because some Legacy BIOSes are buggy and will not access sectors beyond 128GiB on USB drives. If you are not concerned about these Legacy BIOSes (which can even be found on quite recent BIOSes) then you do not need to limit the Ptn1 size.
The following ISOs can boot on Legacy and UEFI64 systems using E2B\agFM\Ventoy.
You can download a Windows 11 ISO from the official Microsoft page here (3rd option). You need to select Windows 11, then the Country (note: 'English'=American whereas 'English International' = UK and all other English-speaking countries).
System specifications for Win11 are here.
The Microsoft checker app is here.
There is also way to install Win11 on a non-TPM system (or one that does not support Secure Boot or does not have enough RAM) - see the WIN11_TPM_FIX_README.txt file in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN11 folder for details and the screenshot below...
Note that Win11 may refuse to add any updates if your system is sub-spec.
You can also tweak Ventoy to install to a non-TPM/non-Secure-Boot system in a similar way (see here).
If you are using E2B v.2.10 then it will already have an \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN11 folder for the Win11 ISO.
E2B v2.10 Pre-release is here and has the following changes:
You can download the recent Sergei Strelec ISO from here.
Copy the ISO file to your E2B drive \_ISO\WINPE folder. I renamed the file to
WinPE10_8_Sergei_Strelec_x86_x64_2021.07.21_English_.isowin.iso
so that it will run from E2B and agFM. If using Ventoy and Legacy-mode, press Ctrl+W before selecting the .iso file to use the wimboot method of booting.
If you have problems booting to Strelec with E2B, please update to the latest E2B Beta v2.10g (extract .zip file and run UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD).
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| Boot directly from Sergei Strelec WinPE |
Ventoy v1.0.51 includes experimental support for CloudReady (Neverware\Google) and FydeOS (both are versions of ChromeOS).
Since 'Ventoy for Easy2Boot' v1.0.51 is now released, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I can boot to CloudReady from Ventoy from my E2B USB drive + IdeaPad 300 notebook!
CloudReady instructions
1. Update your E2B USB drive to the latest Ventoy version by double-clicking on the "\e2b\Update agFM\Update_to_latest_Ventoy_version.cmd" file on Partition 2 of your E2B USB drive.
2. Download a version of CloudReady. I use the free Home version 64-bit Image file from here.
3. Unzip the .ZIP file that you just downloaded and copy the 6GB file to your Easy2Boot USB drive. Since this will only work under Ventoy, I made a \_ISO\VENTOY folder on my E2B USB drive.
4. Rename the .bin file extension to .img.
CloudReady only supports UEFI, so you need to UEFI64-boot to agFM and then run Ventoy.
Now you should be able to sign into your Google account. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you will need to confirm via your mobile phone (enable Bluetooth and Location detection on your phone).
Once logged in successfully, any future boot to the CloudReady img file will just require your Google account email and password.
Note: You will need to test using a real system as Virtual Box did not seem to work for me. I successfully tested on an IdeaPad 300.
FydeOS
I used 'mirror 2' to download the 2GB .img.xz file and then unzipped it to make a 7.3GB .img file.
I had problems using the trackpad on the IdeaPad300 with this distro and it appears to be a version aimed at China, so I did not test it by logging in.
