E2B v2.05 and agFM v1.57 released

 

To update, click the Make_E2B.exe - Update E2B button.

Then check that you have E2B 2.05 and agFM 1.57 by MBR and UEFI-booting.

To add Ventoy, download the latest version of Ventoy .ZIP file and drag-and-drop the Ventoy zip file onto the \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd file on the 2nd agFM partition.

Ventoy does not require the ISO files to be contiguous.

# Change Logs

E2B 2.05 2020-09-09

1. Change sort code so E2B menu system can now work on systems with just 64MB RAM.
2. Bugfix in Make_E2B.exe for Chinese language not working
3. Enhancement - alphabetically sort files in LstFExt.g4b - so now \_ISO\WINDOWS\XP ISO files are sorted alphabetically.
4. Add_Ventoy.cmd added - \_ISO\docs\MAKE_E2B-USB_DRIVE\Add_Ventoy.cmd can be used with Ventoy.xx.xx.xx.zip to add or update Ventoy onto 2nd agFM Partition.
5. Windows Install menu will display 'HDD1=GPT' if it detects that the first internal hard disk has GPT partitions.

agFM v1.57 2020-09-09

1. Bugfix for MBR\Legacy install of Windows Setup not allowing Internal hard disk to be selected
2. Update agFM version
3. Ventoy support - F5 now will boot to Ventoy if present on Partition 2
4. \e2b\Update agFM\Add_Ventoy.cmd added (drag and drop Ventoy zip file onto Add_Ventoy.cmd to add Ventoy MBR+UEFI64).

Note: I have also updated eBook #4 and eBook #1. You can obtain the updates by using the link in the confirmation that was email sent to you by Payhip when you first purchased it.

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to this blog for more news!

agFM v1.56 now available

Anwar has discovered a bug where agFM (MBR grub2 only) can report a contiguous file as being non-contiguous.

agFM v1.56 - changes from v1.55 are...

1. SAMPLE_startup_menu.txt revised - now only shows 'Restore E2B Partitions' menu entry when the backup partition is a valid MBR.
2. Bugfix in agFM MBR code (grubfm.iso) to fix issue of some files reported as not contiguous (thanks to Anwar for reporting bug).
3. Latest agFM build with various bug-fixes.
4. Variable 'hires' (set hires=1) can now be set in your menu so that WinPE runs at highest screen resolution available (e.g. set in in startup_menu.txt). Setting this may cause virtual machines to default to their highest resolution but it should be OK to set the hires variable when booting from real systems.
5. The wimboot code has changed - do not specify bcd, boot.sdi or bootmgr files in wimboot command list as they are not needed. MBR\Legacy also uses the wimboot command now.
6. Ventoy modules have been removed by a1ive from agFM..

The new v1.56 version of E2B agFM can be found here. Just unzip the file directly onto the second FAT32 partition to update from v1.55.

The Update download is still 1.55 and will be updated in a few days to 1.56.

Add the new 2020 Medicat to your E2B USB drive

The release of Medicat 20.05 is rather odd. It is intended that you make a Medicat 64GB or larger USB drive from it and it is not suitable for multibooting.

Note: See also https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2022/01/quickly-add-medicat-2112-to-easy2boot.html

The new Medicat only supports 64-bit CPUs. It is based on Ventoy which requires two particular partitions in a specific order and the download is a PassMark .bin file which has a 512-byte header portion and so it cannot be treated as a VHD file or normal disk image file which we can use with a Zalman\IODD virtual drive emulator.

The main Medicat ISO is inside the image and contains the WinPE .wim file.
When Medicat boots, it will look for the USB drive and mount the USB drive as Y:.
It then expects to find program folders under Y:\Programs and the PortableApps programs under the Y:\PortableApps folder.

There are other ISOs within the image and Ventoy is used to boot them. We can extract these other ISO files from the .bin image and simply copy them to our E2B USB drive.

Medicat 20.06 is a .img file. It does not have the 512-byte header and can be renamed to .VHD for use with a Zalman\IODD. However it does not boot correctly as a .vhd using E2B and so must also be converted as below if using it on an E2B USB drive.

Medicat 21.01 is in the form of zip files for use with 7Zip and Ventoy. You are supposed to extract the contents to the first partition of a previously-made Ventoy USB disk. Instead, you can extract the files to an empty folder on your Windows hard disk and then decide which ISOs, etc. you want to copy to your E2B USB drive's first NTFS partition and choose the appropriate menu folder. Alternatively, just copy all the files (except \autorun.inf and \autorun.ico) to the root of your E2B first NTFS partition and only use Ventoy to boot to Medicat. It will add lots of folders to the root however and may overwrite the contents of your \ventoy folder which will affect the Ventoy theme and menu settings.

Medicat 21.01 zip file contents

Instructions (v20.06)

Boot any ISO from the IODD Mini USB SSD CD\DVD drive emulator

IODD Mini

The IODD Mini #ad  SSD CD\DVD drive emulator is a solid-state version of the IODD 2531 and 2541.

You can see from the picture below that it is approx 9cm x 4cm in size and will easily fit in a pocket.

Note: This IODD Mini was supplied to me by IODD for evaluation and feedback.

In fact, the white 1m USB 3 cable (micro-B USB 3 to Type A USB 3) that comes with it, is larger and bulkier than the device itself.

agFM v.1.51v with Ventoy now available

A1ive has now added Ventoy v1.0.10 to the main build of agFM.

You can download the latest beta v1.51v from here.

The advantage of Ventoy is that it can work from a write-protected drive (but agFM requires writeable media for some functions) and the ISO files do not need to be made contiguous. It may also boot faster. The disadvantage is that it is relatively young and may have quite a few compatibility issues.

I have found that Ventoy does not seem to like UEFI-booting under VirtualBox, so if you experience any issues with the Ventoy boot option for ISOs, please test it on a real system.

Please note: There are three 'SKUs' of Ventoy v1.0.10:

1. Official Ventoy release from Ventoy website
2. Ventoy as added to A1ive grubfm
3. Ventoy as added to E2B+agFM

If you experience any issues on a real system with Ventoy, please first test by renaming \boot\grubfm\config on the agFM partition so that the E2B+agFM modifications are suppressed and thus you are testing the pure a1ive version of Ventoy.

Before reporting any Ventoy issues it is best to make an official Ventoy USB drive and re-test the same ISO on that and then report the issue to Ventoy via reboot.pro. Make sure you clearly state what version you have tested (Ventoy USB drive, or A1ive Ventoy (no config file), or E2B agFM Ventoy) and also how you booted (MBR or UEFI) + make\model of target system.

a1ive grub2 File Manager v1.41 available

v1.41 2020-04-15 

• Bugfix to allow non-contiguous Windows Install ISOs to run
• Latest grub2/agFM from a1ive
• A few French language corrections

Just run the update .cmd script from the agFM partition e2b folder to update.

Easy2Boot v2.00 released

V2.00 is now released.

https://www.fosshub.com/Easy2Boot.html

The main change is that when you make a new drive, it will now download the agFM files and copy them to the second FAT32 partition (if present). This allows UEFI-booting to the agFM grub2 File Manager system. All thanks to 'a1ive' for developing his grub2 branch and agFM.

• Make_E2B.exe and Make_E2B_USB_drive.cmd - downloads agFM if 2nd FAT32 partition is made. If drive is <128Gib then 2nd FAT32 partition of approx 500MB is automatically made. Allow user to define sizes in GB of ptns1, 2 and 3 if Gear Wheel button used. If drive >128GB it always prompts user for partition 1, 2 and 3 sizes and type even if AUTO selected.
• New default wallpaper.
• .isoPE extension now updates the WinBuilder .ini files (e.g. for Gandalf ISOs) - use .isoPE extension if you get a yellow warning triangle on desktop.
• \_ISO\docs\Wincontig folder can now be copied to any volume\folder - e.g. copy to partition 3 so it will make all files on that partition contiguous.
• Update SDI_CHOCO scripts and add chocolatey.nupkg for offline install of chocolatey.
• Add support for windows ISOs on ptn3 in qrun.g4b so can have Windows Install ISOs on ptn3 or ptn2 or ptn1 and use a .mnu file, add $$Install_Win10_from_Ptn2or3.mnu sample mnu file
• Switch_E2B.exe now looks for auxiliary *. files on other volumes at \(path), then \_ISO, then \ - e.g. ptn1:\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Win10.imgptn23 and ptn3:\_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Win10.
• Bugfix - Latest grldr with bugfix for non-contiguous files
• Bugfix - Fix EXTOFF variable not working in MyE2B.cfg (file extension always displayed in the menu).

Read more: https://www.easy2boot.com/download/e2b-version-history/

E2B v1.B9k with grub4dos 'Error 25:' bugfix

There was a bug introduced into some recent grub4dos versions used in E2B v1.B7 and 1.B8.
A typical symptom is 'Error 25: Disk read error'.

To fix the error, it was necessary to make sure all ISO files are contiguous by running \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd.

E2B v1.B9k2 has the new grub4dos version (v1.B9k had the old version).

previous versions:

2019-08-09 OK (E2B v1.B5)
2019-09-09 OK (E2B v1.B6)
2019-10-28 FAIL (E2B v1.B7)
2019-12-30 FAIL (E2B v1.B8)
2020-01-28 FAIL (E2B v1.B8A)

Other changes:

• The \_ISO\docs\Wincontig folder can now be copied to any drive volume and be placed in any folder. You can then make files contiguous on that volume by running one of the .cmd files.
• Bugfix - set EXTOFF=1 did not suppress the file extension in the menus.

agFM v1.21 Beta now available

The developer a1ive has yet again done loads of brilliant work and managed to get the contiguous file test working for the partnew command. He has also added multiple language support to the main English version - just press F4 and select a different language or set the language in your user startup_menu.txt file.

F4 Settings Menu (auf Deutsch).

In your startup_menu.txt file, set the desired language:
#set language: en_US, ru_RU, fr_FR, tr_TR, ko_KR, ja_JP, zh_CN, de_DE, he_IL, vi_VN, es_EM, zh_TW
export lang=de_DE

I feel that the UEFI agFM system is getting very near to release status now, so please try it out for yourself.

Try the new version.

agFM v1.20 now available

The main change in this version is that a1ive has added an option to remove filename case sensitivity.

I don't know about you but I find the case-sensitivity of Linux\grub very annoying - especially when you have to verbally tell someone the name of a file and you have to say 'oh - and you have to type it with an uppercase F and a lowercase u'!

This change means we don't need to use the exact case for any letters used to specify the filenames in any of the .cfg or .grubfm menu files that we make.

There is now an extra option in the F4 Settings menu to enable case-sensitivity if you wish to have it on. You would only need to enable case-sensitivity when the same folder has two files with the same name but some of the letters were in a different case - which is quite unlikely!

agFM is looking quite nice now, however there is one major issue to overcome which I hope a1ive can crack. When using the partnew command to switch in partition images or ISO files, we should check to make sure that the file is contiguous. If it is not then it may fail to boot or it could even result in serious file corruption of the E2B drive! However the grub2 commands used to check if a file is contiguous (blocklist and stat -c) currently take over 1 minute to check a large 3GB file if the file is on an NTFS partition. If there are two files to switch in then it can take even longer. The partnew command currently does not check that the .imgPTN or .ISO file is contiguous.

E2B v1.B9j Beta available + grub4dos bug discovered

This version fixes the issue where Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd did not make a CONTIG.ISO file when requested.

It also now searches on Partition 3 for partition image files which have no file extension.

e.g.
Ptn1: \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Win10 x64.imgPTN23    (FAT32 boot files)
Ptn3: \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10\Win10 x64    (NTFS >4GB INSTALL.WIM)

The Win10 x64 file (which has no extension) can either be in the root of the volume or in \_ISO or in the same path as the .imgPTN file. The file name should not have any dot in it or else it will be treated as having an extension.

This means the .imgPTN23 file can be the FAT32 boot partition and the file with no extension can be the NTFS volume containing your large install.wim file. You can secure boot and install >4GB install.wim files in this way. Instructions are on the agFM E2B page here.

Grub4dos bug discovered!

Direct UEFI64 boot from Tails 4.2/4.16 ISO file using a1ive's grub2 File Manager

Note: Later versions of Tails Live DVD ISO files (e.g. Tails v5.1, now have a UEFI-boot grub2 menu with a 'Tails (External Hard Disk) option. So just use a _.isodef.iso file extension and choose that option if you have an E2B USB HDD - otherwise choose one of the first options.

--------

This .grubfm menu can be added to the same folder as the ISO to get a 'User Menu' option when you select the .iso file. This allows us to UEFI-boot to Tails ISOs.

You must test on a real system (not a Virtual Machine) as it needs to detect a USB boot device.

Note: for Tails 4.6, and 4.16 you must delete the union=aufs parameter (why do the devs keep changing linux parameters every distro?).

As Tails seems to change on every version (!), you should look at the isolinux\live64.cfg file to get the correct 'params' parameters if you have a different version.

Tip: If you are booting from a VM or a Fixed-disk type of E2B USB drive (e.g. USB HDD or Corsair GTX flash drive), then you will need to press TAB at the Tails grub menu and edit the kernel parameters to remove the 'live-media=removable' entry each time you boot. For E2B, you can instead use the Tails_generic_for_USB_HDD.mnu from the sample mnu files folder (copy it and the ISO to the \_ISO\LINUX\MNU folder and edit the .mnu file with the name of your tails ISO file in two places).

tails-amd64-4.2.grubfm

Try this UEFI multiboot E2B drive (just add ISOs)

This E2B drive should run most UEFI payloads once you switch-in the a1ive File Manager.

Once it has been made, just copy your .ISO, .VHD, .VHDX, .WIM, .IMG. EFI, .IPXE payload files to the 3rd NTFS partition then run WinContig or Defraggler to make the ISOs contiguous.

You should then have a USB drive which will Secure or non-Secure UEFI64 boot or non-Secure UEFI32 boot (and MBR boot on some systems too).

It will also allow you to run SWITCHPE so that you can switch out the a1ive File Manager partition and switch in a different .imgPTN file should you need to.

This system is much easier to maintain than the E2B grub2 menu system because you just add (or delete) payload files. No other .imgPTN files need to be made. You can create grub2 menus if you wish however (e.g. UEFI\MBR booting Ubuntu-based ISOs + persistence in my previous blog).

Note: Win8.1 ISOs will require you to enter a Product Key. This can be an installation-only generic key (or you can add a \sources\ei.cfg file into the ISO). Version 1.4 or later also accepts XML unattend files too!

See also here for a E2B UEFI USB drive.

Instructions

MBR-boot and UEFI-boot (almost) any file using a1ive's new grub2 and grub2 File Manager

a1ive has been busy modifying and extending a branch of grub2.

 Just copy your ISOs, etc. onto the drive and Secure UEFI boot!

Later versions: 
https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2020/01/a1ives-grub2-file-manager-v12.html 

https://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2020/01/a1ive-grub2-file-manager-menu-for.html

As you know, grub4dos only supports MBR\Legacy-booting but grub2 also supports 32-bit and 64-bit UEFI. Now, a1ive has added support to UEFI-boot Windows Install ISOs, .wim files, .VHD files using NTBOOT. grub2 now supports the partnew and map commands even under UEFI, so we can generically boot most Linux ISO files under UEFI too.

He also has scripted a grub2 menu as a 'File Manager'. You can Legacy or UEFI-boot to grub2, select a partition and then select a file (.iso or .vhd(x) or .wim or .img, .ima or .efi). The File Manager will then offer a range of various options. The current supported list includes:

Also boots Windows Vista//7/8/10 Install ISOs too!

File extensions supported are:
.cfg - run as grub2, syslinux or pxelinux menu
.efi - run as UEFI file (UEFI mode only)
.img - run as disk image
.ipxe - run as ipxe
.iso - run as .iso (also includes .grubfm file of the same file name)
.lst - run as grub4dos menu (MBR mode only)
.lua - run as lua script
.mod - load grub2 module
.pf2 - load font file
.png  - graphics image
.vhd - run as VHD
.wim - run as NT6 .wim file

Add this to your Easy2Boot USB drive

If you want to try this with Easy2Boot, you can download the .imgPTN23 file (from Alternate Download - Other folder).

Note: This .imgPTN23 file also supports an automated workaround for bypassing Secure Boot on UEFI64 systems so you can boot any unsigned payload from a Secure UEFI boot!

Easy2Boot v1.B7b with bugfix for non-contiguous files hanging menu loading

I just came across a long-standing bug in grub4dos which has the affect of making E2B freeze when listing a non-contiguous ISO file, as shown below...

It is not supposed to hang!!!

Version 1.B7b avoids this bug by not showing the Volume and UUID details of the ISO which is normally listed under the menu and so avoids the issue.

By habit, I always make files contiguous after I copy them to the E2B drive, so I never noticed until now!  This issue must have been present since E2B v1.B0!

The grub4dos bug report is here.

E2B v1.B5a Beta now available

Booting Windows NT6 .VHD and .WIM files

Previously although .wim and .vhd files did not need to be contiguous, their file extension had to be unaltered so you could not use a file extension of say .wim64 so that it would only be listed on 64-bit systems, or perhaps  Win7Ult.vhd64ncq so that it would only be listed on 64-bit systems and so E2B would not complain about the fact that it was not contiguous.

E2B v1.B4 now available

I just noticed that the file extension suffixes '64', '32', '4GB' and '3GB' no longer work on recent versions of E2B!

e.g.  Ubuntu 64.iso64 should only be listed in the menu if the CPU is a 64-bit CPU. Similarly, Ubuntu.iso3GB should only be listed in the E2B menu if the system contains less than 4GB of RAM.

E2B extension suffixes (not case sensitive)

These should work with most file extensions (v1.B5 will also allow .wim and .vhd extensions to have these suffixes)...

32 - file is only listed in menu on systems with 32-bit CPU
64 - file is only listed in menu on systems with 64-bit CPU
3GB - file is only listed in menu on systems with less than 4GB of RAM
4GB - file is only listed in menu on systems with more than 4GB of RAM
pwd - user must enter a password before the payload file can be run
NCQ -  (non-contiguous+quiet), the payload will not prompt the user with suggestions, redir will be set and will not try to make the file contiguous
quiet - redir will be set so that most messages will be suppressed
quietp - redir and redirp will be set so that all messages including warnings will be suppressed

e.g.
Ubuntu amd64.iso4GB64pwdquietp
Ubuntu i386.iso3GBncq

Read more: http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-file-extensions-recognised-by-e2b/

New feature in v1.B4

I have also added support for Debian\Kali + persistence by using the new .isopersistdebian file extension in E2B v1.B4 (details here). Although you still have to create the persistence file, you don't need to create a .mnu file for it now.

I noticed the issue '64' extension suffix bug because I tested .isopersistdebian64 as a file extension and found it was still being listed on a 32-bit system!

The new 1.B4 version is also available on the two Alternate Download Areas.

Add Windows Install ISOs to your E2B grub2 menu system

I have made a new version of the E2B grub2 menu system - version 10W.

The 'W' is for Windows because it allows you to MBR or non-secure UEFI-boot directly from Windows Install ISO files.

Assuming you already have your E2B drive setup for the grub2 menu system, do this...

1. Just download the new .imgPTN23AUTO file   UEFI_GRUB2_PTN2_Beta10W_Beta.imgPTN23AUTO   from the Alternate Downloads Area and copy it to your \_ISO\MAINMENU folder.
2. Then switch to it in the usual way (e.g. using SWITCH_E2B.exe)
3. Now create a new folder at \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 on Partition 2 and add all your Windows ISOs into it (you can also use WIN8, etc. too if you wish).

4. Now you can MBR or UEFI boot to the grub2 menu system and then select the new Windows Install menu (W) and pick any ISO listed in the menu.

You don't need to make a menu for each ISO and the ISOs don't need to be contiguous and the filenames can contain spaces so you can rename them as you wish. Microsoft dual/both (x86+x64) ISOs should also work.

More info at the bottom of this page.

Switch to the new .imgPTN file (sorry about the background and the animated squirrel!)

Raspberry Pi 3 multiboot E2B USB drive (untested!)

I notice that the Raspberry Pi 3 can be made to boot from a USB storage device by setting a one-time programmable bit (see video here and blog article here).

The Raspberry Pi 4 does not yet have this capability, but it should be possible in the future.

I don't own a Pi 3, but looking at the Raspbian download .img file, it contains two MBR-partitions, a FAT32 boot partition and a ext partition. This means it should be possible to boot a Raspberry Pi 3 (and later on, a Pi 4) from any .imgPTN file on an Easy2Boot drive. So you could have multiple Pi .imgPTN files all on one E2B USB drive.

I am unsure if it also makes a swap partition and if it does, how it makes the swap partition, so this process may totally corrupt your E2B drive. For this reason I suggest that you test it on a spare E2B USB drive first. Please let me know if you feel like experimenting but don't use your E2B drive if it contains any wanted files! It would be cool to have multiple Pi images on one E2B USB drive.

E2B v1.B0 and MPI Tool Pack v0.039 now released

Available from Alternate Download areas here.

New eBook on UEFI multi-booting using WinPE images here.

E2B v1.B0 changes: