How to add Android x86 + Persistence to your Easy2Boot multiboot USB drive

You can run android x86 on an Intel\AMD x86 system from an ISO with persistence directly from your E2B drive.

The steps are:

1. Download a suitable version of Android x86 as an ISO file. Note that you can obtain versions to match different systems (e.g. eeePC, etc.). Using the wrong version on some systems may result in problems with the mouse or touchscreen, etc.

• android-x86-4.0-r1.1-asus_laptop.iso  for ASUS Laptops/Tablets 
• android-x86-4.0-r1-amd_brazos.iso     for AMD Brazos platform 
• android-x86-4.0-r1-eeepc.iso          for ASUS Eee PC family 
• android-x86-4.0-r1-s103t.iso          for Lenovo S10-3t tablet
• android-x86-4.0-r1-tegav2.iso         for Tega v2(Atom N455)
• android-x86-4.0-r1-thinkpad.iso       for IBM thinkpad tablet
• android-x86-4.0-r1-tx2500.iso         for HP tx2500

2. Copy the ISO file to a MNU folder on your E2B USB multiboot drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU or \_ISO\LINUX\MNU).

3. Copy the android_x86_Persistent.mnu file to the same folder as your Android ISO file.

Then Edit the .mnu file so that the ISO filename matches your ISO filename.

4. Create an ext2 file in the E2B root (top level folder) using the RMPrepUSB - Create ext2 FS button - the file name should be \android-rw, but the volume name and size can be whatever you like.

You can instead use Make_ext.exe which is already on the E2B drive. (\_ISO\_Make_Ext.bat).

5. Make all files contiguous using RMPrepUSB - Ctrl+F2.

You can find the android .mnu file in the Alternate Downloads area (link on this page) or in later versions of E2B in the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files folder (1.54 or later).

Note that for persistence, we must specify the linux drive name in the kernel parameters. The .mnu code tries to calculate this, but you can override it by typing in the correct letter if it guesses wrongly.

For instance, if you boot from your E2B USB drive on a laptop containing a single HDD, the .mnu file will guess that the USB drive will be 'sdb' once android boots - if this is incorrect, and it will actually be 'sdc' then just type c followed by the [ENTER] key when you are prompted by the E2B menu. If you don't type anything within 2-3 seconds then it will just use the calculated value. If the drive letter is wrong, you just won't get persistence!

Tip: You can tell what drive letter the E2B USB drive is as android boots.

In this case it was a  (sda)

If your mouse is not working in android x86, use the TAB, ESC and ENTER keys as well as other keys to navigate the menus and icons.

Note: I had a few problems booting some of the ISOs in 'Resident' mode on some systems, but the Guest mode seemed to work. Android_x86 also did not seem to like VBox virtual machines much!

See also this video.

UEFI-booting

It seems that the .iso files do not work well with UEFI-booting and there is a separate .img download for UEFI-booting. Simply drag-and-drop one of the EFI .img files onto the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut (after installing the MPI Tool Kit), and create a .imgPTN file. This should now UEFI-boot (but won't MBR boot!)

You can also try the E2B Grub2 menu system which can boot to PhoenixOS via UEFI&MBR 32&64 and remix via UEFI&MBR 64-bit.

Please tick 'funny' 'interesting' or 'cool' or add a comment to let me know which posts you most enjoy.

Booting Windows8.1ToGo from a 'Removable-type' of USB Flash drive

I was recently contacted by 'JFL' about getting Windows8ToGo working on his 64GB SanDisk Extreme flash drive.

He was using Windows 8.1 Enterprise as the source and was following my earlier blog here.

The problem was that although he could install Windows OK, it would not boot.

His SanDisk Extreme was listed as being of the Removable type in RMPrepUSB and it was suspected that this may have been the problem because I found some comments from madscye and creosotechris here which sounded suspiciously like something has changed in Win8.1!

Now, in the past, I have had Win7ToGo booting from a USB removable flash drive OK many times. I have also booted Win 8 in the past on a removable USB Flash drive and that had worked OK.

Experiment 1
I already had a  21GB Win8.1ToGo.imgPTN file which I made earlier on my E2B USB HDD and I copied that onto my 32GB USB 3.0 Corsair GT E2B Removable-type drive (after deleting some ISOs to make room!).
I switched partitions using E2B and then I ran BCDBOOT on it to set the BCD correctly to boot from the different drive.
Result: it booted fine under VBox (which treats the USB drive as an HDD) but NOT on my Acer laptop (ever-lasting spinning circle of dots!).

So I did another experiment...

Experiment 2 - fresh install
1. Using DISM, Install Win8.1 Enterprise onto a 16Gb Lexar JumpDrive USB 2.0 which appears as a Fixed Disk (install took about an hour!)
2. Boot from the Lexar USB drive on an Acer Aspire 7741G laptop - go through user setup to Desktop (again very slow!).
3. Reboot and check boots from USB drive OK - all was working fine.
4. Use Bootit.exe to Flip the Bit so the USB drive is now a Removable drive
5. Boot from it on the Acer laptop again
Result: FAIL! (ever-lasting spinning circle of dots)

Experiment 3
1. I re-ran BootIt.exe and flipped back to a Fixed Disk type again
Result: The Lexar boots just fine!

So proof that Win 8.1 ToGo must be run from a Fixed-disk type of  USB drive!

[Update] Win10 (first release) also has same issue. It can be overcome by booting from a VHD file containing WindowsToGo.
Windows 10 Creator now allows us to use Removable or Fixed disk USB drives for flat-file booting - hurrah!
Please tick 'funny' 'interesting' or 'cool' or add a comment to let me know which posts you most enjoy.

E2B Updates

In the last few days there have been a few small changes to E2B.

E2B v1.53 - has TRAD_CHINESE language added (thanks to Andrew :-). It also has a bugfix to the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script which used the wrong version of grub4dos to install code to the MBR of the E2B USB drive (reported by JF-L). This did not cause a problem unless you tried to boot a .imgPTN file - then you would get an error from E2B Qrun.g4b complaining about 'No Grub4dos installed to the MBR of this drive!' I have now changed the script and also changed Qrun.g4b so any version of grub4dos MBR code can be used. If you have seen this error message, it can be fixed by using RMPrepUSB to reinstall grub4dos to the MBR of your USB drive (recommended) or by updating your E2B USB stick to v1.53.

Info: The version of grubinst.exe used in RMPrepUSB has been modified by me to make it more boot-compatible on a wider range of systems than the standard grubinst.exe (the standard version is called grubinst_new.exe in RMPrepUSB). The boot code in the standard grub4dos MBR does not boot on some systems due to some BIOSes detecting what they think is invalid boot code. The special version of grubinst.exe in RMPrepUSB is limited to installing grub4dos to drives numbered 0-9 only, but fixes this problem, so that these few weird systems will also boot to grub4dos. That is why I recommend you always prepare your E2B USB drive using RMPrepUSB or the Make_E2B_USB_Drive script (and for other reasons too, like FAT32 writes are up to 10% faster on a flash drive if you use RMPartUSB to format them!).

The other update is to the MPI Tool pack - MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_035. This has been updated to version 035a. It has the latest version of ImDisk now. Also, there was a problem if you tried to run  'RestoreE2B (run as admin).cmd' from Windows Explorer by using right-click+Run as Admin AND if you had not installed RMPrepUSB into it's default location on your Windows system (reported by Anderson - thanks!) - this is fixed in the new version.

P.S. No more language files have been sent to me yet - why not achieve some small amount of fame and world gratitude by translating the E2B strings.txt file into your own language?  Instructions are in a previous blog post here. You can even use Google Translate to do most of the grunt work! If you are German or Spanish speaking, please can you check the existing STRINGS.txt files as there are probably some errors as I used Google Translate to make them!

Another E2B language and @DED-LEGO@

Mr TSAI has kindly sent me a Traditional Chinese language file.

The latest languages will always be in the E2B_LANGUAGE_PACK.zip file located in the Easy2Boot Alternate Download areas.

These are now:
Chinese Simplified
Chinese Traditional
English
German (Beta)
Spanish (Beta)

Memoarfaa has confirmed that the @DED-LEGO@ GFX menu package works with E2B - see the reboot forum posts starting here. You will need to increase the default number of entries from 15 however by re-compiling the file (why not try 100?).

@DED-LEGO@ showing the E2B menu with walking penguin and animated clock, etc.

Please note: E2B does not fully support GFX Menus or @DED-LEGO@/RIPPER menus and I am only willing to spend a few minutes on any issues/questions you may have concerning these.

Easy2Boot v1.52 includes SPANISH, GERMAN and CHINESE support

The Spanish and German STRINGS.txt files probably need some corrections. If you see any problems please just modify the STRINGS.txt file and send me the new version.

Sprechen sie Deutsche?

I have tried to convert E2B into German even though I failed my German O-Level!

If you speak German, please you can check my translation by downloading the German STRINGS.txt file and copying the STRINGS.txt file to your Easy2Boot    \_ISO    folder. This file is already in v1.52.

I expect there are some issues - if so please just edit the STRINGS.txt file and test it.
Then email me the corrected version! Use E2B v1.52 to test it.

Don't forget to test the XP, Vista and Win8 installs to (you can use a dummy ISO file).

Note: first version had a $$STRl1x1 problem when loading Windows Install menu - please re-download the corrected version if you have the old version.

To make a STRINGS.txt file in your own language, see the previous blog for instructions.


Thanks
Steve

Please send me your own language files!

Mr Lin has translated E2B v1.51 into Chinese. The new STRINGS.txt file is available on the E2B Downloads page and will be added into the next version of E2B.

If you would like to translate E2B into your own language, just make a new STRINGS.txt file.

Please send me your new STRINGS.txt file and I will add it to E2B and your fame will be immortalised!

Here is the best way to do it. First make an E2B USB stick if you don't have one already, then...

1. Copy the \_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG\STRINGS.txt file to the E2B drive's  \_ISO folder - always use latest BETA version of E2B (do not use an earlier version).

2. For test purposes - ensure that there are ISO files in all E2B menu folders - the ISO file can be just a one-byte dummy file (e.g a small .txt file renamed to dummy.iso). It is easier to use dummy files because they won't boot and will just return back to the E2B menu again.

Place a dummy ISO file in each of these folder:
\_ISO\ANTIVIRUS, AUTO, BACKUP, DOS, LINUX, MAINMENU, UTILITIES, UTILITIES_MEMTEST, WIN and WINPE folder.
Also add an ISO to each of the folders under the \_ISO\WINDOWS folder so that the Windows menus will appear. Ensure there are two or more ISO files in the XP folder (if only one ISO then it will be automatically selected by E2B and you may not see all the dialogue strings).

3. Boot from the E2B stick using an emulator\VM - if using RMPrepUSB and QEMU - use CTRL+SHIFT+F11  (not the F11\QEMU button) - if using VBOX - do not use DavidB's VMUB.
This allows you write access to the USB drive without needing to quit the emulator/VM each time you make a change.

4. Load the \_ISO\STRINGS.txt file into your favourite text editor (e.g. Windows NotePad) - ensure that it supports UTF-8 format so you can save non-ASCII characters.

5. Edit the English text on the right-hand side of all the $$STRxxx= keywords and change it into your own language.

Tip: You may find it quicker to upload the English Strings.txt file into Google Translate and cut and paste the translated text back into your STRINGS.txt file.
You can use FIXLANG.cmd to tidy up the mess that Google Translate makes of it as follows:

• 1. Paste the English text into Google Translate and select your language

• 2. Cut and paste the new translated text into a STRINGS.txt file on a folder on you Windows disk

• 3. Download the FIXLANG.zip file and extract the files that are in it into the same folder as your STRINGS.txt file

• 4. Double-Click on the FIXLANG.CMD file to fix the errors. A NEW.txt file will be made and then loaded into NotePad. You can re-save it as STRINGS.txt if it looks better.

FIXLANG.cmd will fix many of the problems caused by Google translate but you will still need to check each line carefully. I recommend using WinMerge to compare the new NEW.TXT file with the original English STRINGS.txt file.

To replace strings in more than one file, I recommend 'Find and Replace' (FNR.exe). FNR is a standalone .exe. It allows you to preview results before you change any files.

6. Save the file (don't quit the text editor)

7. Hit F9 in the E2B emulation session to reboot E2B - the new changes should now be visible.

8. Go through all the menus and also all the XP and Windows Vista and Windows 8 install screens (you can use a dummy ISO file for these).

9. GOTO STEP 5 and repeat until it is all perfect!

Tweaking

This is the hardest and most time-consuming part!

You will need to check each line carefully, especially any \n  syntax and file paths such as \\_ISO\\AUTO. Check all $$STR keywords and any $[0104] colour strings have not been corrupted.

Also, any question which requires a Yes/No answer must keep the same letters because E2B will expect either the 'Y' or 'N'  key to be pressed - e.g.  Ja/Nein (Y/N)  is correct, but Ja/Nein (J/N) may not work because E2B is expecting 'Y' not 'J' for Yes.

Hotkeys
Any string that starts with a ^hotkey symbol must not be translated - e.g.

$$STRm016=^Ctrl+A ANTIVIRUS-Menü                    [Strg+A]\n Antivirus-Dienstprogramme

because grub4dos hotkey names are coded keywords. You can change the letter from A to something else but don't change ^Ctrl+.

Underlined headings

Some headings are underlined using  ===== , e.g.

This is a heading
=========

The number of = characters must match the number of characters in the heading - e.g.

$$STRb001=XP-Installation - Schritt 1 \n===========================\n\n$[0104]WICHTIG: Du musst wieder von einem USB-Laufwerk starten und danach Schritt 2 durchführen! \n

The heading (XP-Installation - Schritt 1) has 27 characters and so there must be 27 = signs for the underline.



Finally - contact me and let me know what language and locale it is (e.g. Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese-Spanish, etc.). I will reply by email so you can email me the new files.

Also you can translate the F1.cfg file too if you like!

What's eaten up all my disk space?

Tip: The best free utility I have found for seeing what files take up what space is Sequioaview

Really easy to see what is taking up the space on a disk and easy to use too.

WinDirStat is a derivative of this

E2B v1.51a (with XP bugfix) and method for adding multiple background bitmaps to E2B

• I have had three reports from users recently complaining about the Step 2 XP Install stage not working. When I looked at the XPStep2.g4b file, I found that I had accidentally commented out the line that loads the XP ISO into memory! The bug existed in all versions between v1.32 and v1.51! This has now been fixed in v1.51a. This probably explains why there have been some complaints (it is not always necessary to load the ISO into memory, but in helps in cases where XP does not contain compatible USB drivers and so cannot access the ISO file when it boots to XP).

• I have now documented how you can have multiple wallpaper background bitmaps here.
  You can have one bitmap displayed whilst E2B is enumerating files and another for the Main menu. You can also have different bitmaps for each sub-menu. Here is a demo...

Note: MyE2B.cfg needs 'call Fn.70 3' so you can see the background during file enumeration.

\_ISO\MyE2B.cfg
=============
!BAT
call Fn.70 3

\_ISO\Mybackground.bmp.gz (first 'blue' image)

Read more: http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/multiple-backgrounds/

See the YouTube video on how to set up multiple menu backgrounds by Liu Evan here.

To update E2B, download the non-DPMS zip file and extract the files onto your E2B USB drive - you don't need to download the large DPMS zip file even if your previous version was with the DPMS drivers. Then use the \Update_E2B_Drive.cmd file to update your E2B drive.

New GEGeek Tech Toolkit released

In case you missed by previous blog about the GEGeek Tech ToolKit here, I just thought I would mention that a new version is now available from the GEGeek website.

It is a hefty 1.7GB download but worth adding to your USB Flash drive as it contains hundreds of useful Windows tools and utilities. Click on the GEGeek Tech Toolkit link to get to the download.