Boot from a Zorin ISO with persistence (Easy2Boot)

Zorin is a good free linux substitute for Windows XP. It feels pretty-much like XP and includes WINE so it can run Windows applications. It seems to have quite a few drivers too (my audio, WiFi, trackpad and video just worked on my Acer 7741 laptop). If you just copy the ISO to your Easy2Boot USB drive it should just work as a 'Live CD' (but it won't boot from a VM - only from a real system as it looks for a real USB drive).

It would be handy to have persistence too. I did this by adding a .mnu file to Easy2Boot and a casper-rw file for persistence.

Persistence seemed to work and Zorin remembered changes to the Desktop, the wireless WPA password and keyboard/country settings. However there were some problems running Windows applications under WINE as there was insufficient temporary file space. I suspect that it was using the ramdrive instead of the persistence file system.

However, you can at least boot to Zorin and use the Chrome browser and play YouTube videos, etc. with the Desktop and country settings, etc. of your choice, without needing to install it.

Note: For Zorin 9 use the Zorin-os-9.1-core-64-persistent.mnu file in 2016 versions of  E2B,

Here are the instructions:

1. Download and copy a Zorin ISO (I used v8.1) to a suitable folder on your E2B drive (must be at 3rd level or deeper) - I used \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU. Alternatively, the \_ISO\LINUX\MNU folder would also be OK. The 32-bit version would be a better choice if you want it to boot on a wider variety of systems.

2. Use RMPrepUSB to create a file formatted as an ext2 filesystem using the Create ext2 FS button.
    Filename        = zorin32-rw  (or zorin64-rw depending on which ISO you have)
    Volume name = casper-rw
    Size               =   (up to you! - I used 300MB)

3. Copy the appropriate E2B .mnu file (32 or 64-bit version) to the same folder as the .ISO file (see below). The Zorin .mnu files can befound in the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\linus folder.

4. Run RMPrepUSB - Ctrl+F2   (WinContig) to ensure all files are contiguous.

That's it. Now boot it on a real system to try it out.

Instructions are also inside each .mnu file.

You can add many more linux ISOs with persistence in the same manner (even if they all use casper-rw as the persistent file system!). See the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files folder for more .mnu files.
This scheme works on both FAT32 and NTFS E2B USB drives (even if the version of linux you are booting to, cannot mount NTFS drives whilst booting).

There are still weird BIOSes about!

I had two issues reported this week concerning booting .imgPTN images from E2B USB drives. Both issues show that even in the last few years, we still have BIOSes which have non-standard boot behaviour!

1. Intel Desktop Mainboard DP67BG

Art found that .imgPTN FAT32 image would not boot on this one mainboard but would boot OK on all other systems he had. It turned out that the partition geometry had to be set to 255 tracks per cylinder and 63 sectors per head instead of 128x63. I have now (v0.027) changed the default in MakePartImage to use 255x63.

2. Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E525 laptop

Alexandre found that on this laptop, it would not even try to boot from a .imgPTN FAT32 image but would boot OK from the same image via UEFI and boot to the E2B partition OK. It turned out that the .imgPTN FAT32 partition needed to be flagged as 'Active' (bootable) otherwise the BIOS would not try to boot from the USB drive in MBR\CSM mode! This was easily done by renaming all his .imgPTN files to .imgPTNA and now they all boot fine.

I am reluctant to always set the partition as Active as it may prevent some UEFI systems from booting (they may not like an 'Active' FAT32 partition and may only boot from it in EUFI mode).

The UEFI specification clearly states that the Boot Flag field '...shall not be used by UEFI firmware'. This does not appear to be the case for the Lenovo UEFI firmware!

If you see any similar behaviour, please let me know.

MenuetOS - a tiny GUI OS!

I found MenuetOS today. An entire GUI OS that can be contained on a single 1.44MB floppy disk!

It is written in x86 assembler and there is a 32-bit and 64-bit version. A new version was released yesterday.

Add it to Easy2Boot and try it out for a bit of fun!

1. Download the floppy image file M64-0.99.58.ZIP  - or the 32-bit version
2. Unzip it to obtain .img file - e.g. M6409958.IMG
3. Copy the file to your E2B drive - e.g. to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder
4. Try it!

Test using a Real system or QEMU. If you use VirtualBox, I found I needed to set a SB16 Sound  adapter in the Virtual Machine or disable it, and also disable VTx CPU acceleration and set a 32-bit OS. You may need to tweak a few settings to get it to run in VBox.


A more recent version of MenuetOS is Kolibri. The .img file still is only 1.44MB but it has network support, a basic text-only internet browser (WebView) and many games.

WebView showing a page from easy2boot.com

The forum is here, downloads here (.iso or .img works). To run under a VBox VM, I used - linux 32-bit, Sound Blaster 16, IDE, VTx OFF. This boots in just a few seconds!

___________________


I also tried adding the MRI GeekSquad ISO as a .imgPTN image file today and updated my previous blog on it here.

E2B v1.37 now available

• New image partition extensions (see below)
• Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd now installs grub4dos to the PBR and MBR

As well as .imgPTN, the following file extensions are now recognised:

.imgPTNA - same as .imgPTN but the partition is made Active (flagged as bootable). This may be required for some WindowsToGo first boot-time images to avoid a 'Windows could not complete' error on first boot. E2B v1.36 and later.

.imgPTNlba - same as .imgPTN but modifies the partition table - use this instead of .imgPTN is some BIOSes won't boot .imgPTN images. v1.37+
.imgPTNlbaA - same as .imgPTNlba but makes the first partition Active.

.imgPTNAlba23 - same as .imgPTNlba but partition entries 2 and 3 are not removed and partition 1 is made Active. This allows you to boot from a Windows image file but still be able to access the 2nd and 3rd partition on the E2B USB Hard disk. This extension cannot be used for UEFI booting. v1.37+

.imgPTNA23 - same as .imgPTNA but does not clear partition entries 2 and 3 - use for WinPE/WinToGo images on E2B USB hard disks where you want access to the 2nd and 3rd partitions when you boot from the image. Not for UEFI booting.  v1.37+

If you have an E2B USB hard drive which has 2 or 3 partitions, when you boot to a WinToGo image using a .imgPTN file, the 2nd and 3rd partitions on the E2B drive will be removed. You therefore cannot access any files on them when you boot to WinToGo. By using a .imgPTNA23 or .imgPTNAlba23 file extension, you can still access the 2nd and 3rd partitions on your E2B USB HDD.

Note that this is only for non-UEFI booting (UEFI booting requires the first partition to be a FAT32 partition).

The best booting compatibility is obtained using standard MBR boot code and a grub4dos PBR, however for Partition Image booting, a grub4dos MBR is required.  Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd now installs grub4dos to the PBR and MBR.

MPI Tool pack 0.027

Small change to MakePartImage - it now always creates partitions with a 255 Heads x 63 Sectors per track geometry. This may make the CSM mode more bootable on certain systems/BIOSes.

If you find that the CSM menu does not boot on some systems (but does on most others) please try (in order):

1. Re-make the .imgPTN file using the new 027 version of MakePartImage.
2. Try using a file extension of .imgPTNA and use the latest E2B version.
3. (for non-syslinux bootable images only) Use RMPrepUSB to install grub4dos to the PBR when it is in the CSM image mode (i.e. switch to CSM menu - unplug - re-plug - install grub4dos to PBR).
4. If it still does not boot, please contact me for help.

Easy2Boot v1.36 and MPI Tool Pack v0.026 now available

E2B v1.36 has .imgPTNA file extension support now. This is the same as .imgPTN but will make the partition active. If you read my last blog about WinToGo, you will know that the first boot of a WinToGo installation requires the partition to be marked as active. By using .imgPTNA as the file extension instead of .imgPTN, it saves you the bother of having the extra step of making the partition active using the Windows Disk Management Tool.

E2B v1.36 also has a workaround for a bug in grub4dos to do with files that are exactly a multiple of 4GB (which I found when I made a file that was exactly 20GB in size!).

MPI Tool Pack 026 has a small change to the way I set the menu title - now you won't see 'PAYLOAD=' if you don't use the MPI Tool and just copy the .\csm\menu.lst file to your image (as done in the previous blog). I have also increased the default size for very large ISOs (MS Win Install ISOs seems to be larger when you extract them than the total size of the ISO file - probably due to duplicate files inside the ISO).

Also, I have removed the 'beta1' password from the MPI Tool Pack zip file now as I have had over 40 people who requested the password and no negative reports about anyone losing their E2B drive contents or any other disasters.

If you have tried the MPI Tool and .imgPTN file booting - PLEASE add a comment or just contact me directly to let me know what you have tested and how it went. I realise that the MPI cmd script is very 'wordy' when it runs and may be frightening to some. Is it too flexible? For 90% of cases would you just want it to auto-run and not ask any questions (maybe have two versions - one that just ran automatically with the defaults and another that prompted you for each option?). Did you need to change the defaults at all? Please let me know.

Thanks
Steve

P.S. New french article on E2B at La vache libre

Add Windows 7/8 To Go images to your Easy2Boot USB drive

If you have a large E2B USB Hard Disk drive with plenty of space, why not add lots of Windows To Go images to it? Then you can boot to lots of different versions of Windows on any system that is capable of USB booting (even from a USB 3.0 port if it is Win8ToGo).

Note - see this blog post for an easier method which uses WinToUSB.

As a guide, you can follow the RMPrepUSB web site tutorials to make a USB drive (I recommend Win8ToGo as it has USB 3.0 support, more drivers and is easier to install):

• Windows 7 to Go
• Windows 8 to Go

When the USB drive has been made (and after you have booted it to complete the OOBE setup), convert the USB drive into a .imgPTN file using MakePartImage.

-- o --

If you don't have a spare USB drive, here is what I did to make a Win8ToGo .imgPTN file without needing to use a spare USB drive. I have a 2TB WD Passport external USB 3.0 HDD as the E2B drive, so I have plenty of space for images.

Note: Win8.1ToGo may have problems booting from a 'Removable' type of USB Flash drive (e.g. never-ending circling dots!). Use a USB Flash drive of the 'Fixed Disk' type or a USB HDD or USB SSD drive.

1. Install ImDisk onto your Windows system - ImDisk is also included in the MPI Tool Pack which you will need to download from the easy2boot site anyway in step 4.

2. You need to create a new empty image file called (say) Win8ToGo.imgPTN (use your fastest hard disk/SSD for this, not the USB drive). To do this, use Control Panel - run the ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver and create a new virtual disk (I used 20GB which was a big mistake! Due to a bug in grub4dos, the file size must NOT be exactly divisible by 4GB or else E2B will not list it - so do not use exactly 20GB like I did  - use 10 or 21 but not 4,8,12,16 or 20!!!!!).

3. Format the new volume as NTFS. You can use the ImDisk Format button for this, or just use Windows Format when Windows complains about an unformatted volume. Note: this may take some time even if 'Quick Format' is used - just wait!

Let us assume it was mounted as M:...

4. Copy the contents of the MakePartImage csm folder to the root of your new volume - you should have now, at least, these 2 files and folder:
M:\menu.lst
M:\grldr
M:\e2b folder

Note: You may want to edit the menu.lst file at this point - look for a PAYLOAD= string and replace it with the title you want for the menu - e.g. Win8ToGo Enterprise. Otherwise your menu title will be either 'PAYLOAD=' or will just not appear if using v1.36 or later.
e.g. in v1.36, change the line in \menu.lst to:

set PAYLOAD=WinToGo 8.1 Enterprise

5. In the ImDisk Control Panel applet, click Remove.

6. Copy the .imgPTN image file to your \_ISO\MAINMENU folder on your E2B drive and run WinContig to make it contiguous (RMPrepUSB - Ctrl+F2)

7. Boot from your E2B drive (you can use RMPrepUSB - QEMU for this or any real system) and select the WinToGo.imgPTN file - after switching to the new image, you should see the CSM menu load. Quit QEMU or your VM when done and Eject the USB drive using RMPrepUSB (or Safely Remove in the System Tray).

Tip: If you get the message 'ERROR: No Grub4dos installed to MBR of this drive!'  then simply re-install grub4dos to the MBR using RMPrepUSB - Install Grub4dos - Y.

8. Physically unplug the E2B USB drive and re-connect it. You should see a \e2b folder, etc. files in Windows Explorer now, inside the new volume. If you see a \_ISO folder then you have not selected and run the .imgptn file correctly!

9. The disk partition needs to be made Active (bootable) for WindowsToGo's first boot. If the partition is not Active, you will get a "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation." message when you first try to boot WinToGo.

If you the use .imgPTN file extension then the partition should already be marked as Active and you can skip this step...

If it is not already Active, run the Windows Disk Management plug-in (use Ctrl-K in RMPrepUSB or use Start menu - This PC\My Computer - Manage - Storage - Disk Management). Now right-click on the USB partition (it will appear to have unformatted space either side of it - DON'T attempt to format that unused space or you will erase E2B!) - and choose 'Mark Partition as Active'


10. Mount your Win7/8 ISO using ImDisk (right-click and choose 'Mount as ImDisk Virtual Disk') - I already had and used the snappily named x86 32-bit 90-day Enterprise Evaluation version called 9600.16384.WINBLUE_RTM.130821-1623_X86FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-IRM_CENA_X86FREE_EN-US_DV5.ISO. You can download an 8.1 version from here.

Tip: I used a 32-bit version so I could boot it on all types of systems.

Let us assume this is mounted by ImDisk as drive letter L:

(you can use any ISO mounting utility, including the built in Win8 one, to mount the ISO - you don't have to use ImDisk).

11. Now we need to 'Apply' the windows files to the volume and run BCDBOOT - follow the tutorial to do this. As I was running on a Win8.1 system, I used these commands, where the USB volume was E:

dism /apply-image /imagefile:L:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /Applydir:E:

bcdboot e:\windows /s e: /f ALL /v

The actual commands you need to use will depend on what versions of ImageX or Dism or BCDBoot you have (please refer to the tutorial).

Note: If you move the .imgPTN file or copy it, you will need to repeat the bcdboot command to correct the BCD so that it boots correctly.

Example using H: as USB drive and N: as the Windows 8 source

We are now good to go. The E2B drive is still in the 'CSM' image mode. When you boot it you will see the CSM menu.

If you select the 'BOOT from this drive' menu option it will boot to Windows To Go (in MBR mode). It will restart a few times, so always remember to boot back to the USB drive each time. For a description of the Setup stages and how to configure it further, see here.

To get back to the E2B menu, simply select the 0 EASY2BOOT menu option.

So now we have an E2B USB HDD which we can boot any number of different WinxToGo images on or simply copy the .imgPTN file to another E2B drive! Note: If you copy the .imgPTN to a different USB drive and get a 0xc000000e 'Repair' error immediately on boot, you will need to re-run the BCDBOOT command on the image to fix it for the new drive.


P.S. If you want to boot from the WinToGo images but still leave partitions 2 and 3 on your E2B USB Hard Disk in place so that they can be accessed once you have booted to WinToGo, use the .imgPTNA23 file extension for the WinToGo image files instead of .imgPTN.


To make a WinToGo that will boot on both a MBR and UEFI system, you can create two partitions and add both to the E2B drive (e.g. ptn1=FAT32, ptn3=NTFS).

MPI Tool Pack 0.025 now available

v0.025 Just a tidy up. Fixed a few problems with folder paths, etc. Messages/screens improved.

The MakePartImage.cmd file is available as a separate small download from the Alternative (Google docs) download area.

MPI Tool pack 0.024a and E2B 1.34a now available

I think the MPI Tool Pack should be out of Beta soon. I set a password on the zip file so that only people who are really serious would bother to ask for the password - the casual 'newbie fiddler' would not bother to ask.

MPI v 0.024a just has a bugfix to .\Utils\Convert_all_ISOs_to_imgPTN_Files (run as Admin).cmd so that the AUTORUN option works (it will convert all ISOs in a folder to .imgPTN files with a minimum of user prompts).

E2B 1.34a allows for E2B drives with the E2B files on the 1st partition or on the 2nd partition .

Please let me know if you find anything that needs fixing or didn't work for you.

Please comment on this blog or contact me if you have tried any .imgPTN files with E2B and let me know how you got on. I have not had a lot of feedback from any beta testers (except Krishna - thanks!), so it either means it all worked well for everyone else too or testers could not make it work at all or it was too difficult and they gave up! I don't know which is true!

If you have any .jpg screenshots of your own customised E2B Main menu and background, send them to me and I will add them to the Gallery page so everyone can see your handiwork!

Thanks
Steve

MPI Tool Pack (MakePartImage) v0.021/0.022 now available

The CSM menu now tells you if EFI boot files exist, so you can see if EFI booting should work from the image.
I also added a version of the 'E2B TXT Maker.cmd' file to the Utils folder. Just drag and drop any .imgPTN file that is already on your E2B drive, onto this file and it will prompt you to make a new .txt file for the .imgPTN file. P.S. Hit ENTER to make the new file when asked (don't answer Y - this is a bug which will be fixed in the version v0.022!)
By using a .txt file in the same folder as the .imgPTN file, E2B will display any menu entry you like instead of just displaying the name of the .imgPTN file. Of course, you can always use NotePad to manually create a .txt file for each of your .imgPTN files.

v0.022 - allows E2B to be on 1st or 2nd partition when you load a .imgPTN file. Note: old .imgPTN files will reboot before going back to E2B if you booted E2B from the 2nd partition (won't affect most users). so you will need to re-make your .imgPTN files to prevent this. Use with E2B v1.34a.
Also now uses Aurora bitmap for background. If not UEFI bootable then there will be a message under the menu - see screenshot below.