Wednesday 26 October 2016
Tuesday 25 October 2016
New Gandalf WinPE available
The latest Gandalf WinPE ISO (2016-10-24) is available from here.
Convert it to a FAT32 .imgPTN file and add it to your E2B drive as usual. Then it will MBR or UEFI-64 boot.
If you like the Desktop analogue clock (which can be positioned anywhere on the Desktop), and want to add it to your own Windows Desktop, you can get it from here.
Convert it to a FAT32 .imgPTN file and add it to your E2B drive as usual. Then it will MBR or UEFI-64 boot.
If you like the Desktop analogue clock (which can be positioned anywhere on the Desktop), and want to add it to your own Windows Desktop, you can get it from here.
Monday 24 October 2016
E2B 1.86b Beta available
E2B v1.86b has a few changes from 1.85
- Windows 8/10 ISOs now give user the option to run a 'Repair' - see here for details.
- STRINGS.txt language files updated for new 'Repair' feature
- wsus offline update bug fix for Win8/2012R2 updates (SDI_CHOCO) - thanks to JW for reporting it.
I have also made a self-extracting exe file Easy2Boot v1.86b_Make_E2B_USB_Drive.exe available.
This self-extracts the E2B files to a temporary folder and then automatically runs MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd from the temporary folder. This may be useful for less experienced users because they don't need to extract the E2B files to a new folder.
If you want to update your USB drive, download the .ZIP file as usual.
Friday 21 October 2016
Windows Startup Repair (StartRep.exe) crashes on Windows 8/10 in E2B
A few days ago I used E2B to boot to a Windows 10 install ISO in order to repair a notebook that had some boot issues.
I ran the Win10 ISO from the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 folder and chose the 'S' Startup Repair option in the blue console window and it immediately crashed...
Coincidentally, a user also contacted me yesterday about the same issue! StartRep works fine on Win7 ISOs, but there seems to be something 'special' about the Win8/10 version of StartRep.exe!
Upon investigation, I found that the StartRep.exe also crashed if you chose the Windows Troubleshooter option (recenv.exe) and then ran the Startup Repair option (which runs StartRep.exe)! All the other troubleshooting functions worked, but not Startup Repair.
I also found that if I ran the ISO without using an XML file which had a WinPE section in it, then StartRep.exe worked OK. Also, Windows Setup only gives the user the 'Repair' option (Alt+R) in the Windows Setup menu as long as the XML file does not contain a WinPE section.
So, you can run Windows Repair if you place the Windows 8/10 ISO in one of the other menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\WIN or \_ISO\MAINMENU) and name it with a .iso01 file extension. However, this would mean having to have two copies of each Windows Install ISO on the E2B drive, which is not very convenient!
So, E2B v1.86 will now prompt the user to press a key within 4 seconds for a 'Repair' option whenever they choose a Windows 8/10/2016 Install ISO file from one of the Windows Install menus. If they press a key, the ISO will be run as .iso01 and the standard Repair option will be available. However, in this mode you cannot install Windows because the ISO will not be loaded as a virtual DVD by ImDisk.
I ran the Win10 ISO from the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 folder and chose the 'S' Startup Repair option in the blue console window and it immediately crashed...
Coincidentally, a user also contacted me yesterday about the same issue! StartRep works fine on Win7 ISOs, but there seems to be something 'special' about the Win8/10 version of StartRep.exe!
Upon investigation, I found that the StartRep.exe also crashed if you chose the Windows Troubleshooter option (recenv.exe) and then ran the Startup Repair option (which runs StartRep.exe)! All the other troubleshooting functions worked, but not Startup Repair.
I also found that if I ran the ISO without using an XML file which had a WinPE section in it, then StartRep.exe worked OK. Also, Windows Setup only gives the user the 'Repair' option (Alt+R) in the Windows Setup menu as long as the XML file does not contain a WinPE section.
So, you can run Windows Repair if you place the Windows 8/10 ISO in one of the other menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\WIN or \_ISO\MAINMENU) and name it with a .iso01 file extension. However, this would mean having to have two copies of each Windows Install ISO on the E2B drive, which is not very convenient!
So, E2B v1.86 will now prompt the user to press a key within 4 seconds for a 'Repair' option whenever they choose a Windows 8/10/2016 Install ISO file from one of the Windows Install menus. If they press a key, the ISO will be run as .iso01 and the standard Repair option will be available. However, in this mode you cannot install Windows because the ISO will not be loaded as a virtual DVD by ImDisk.
Thursday 20 October 2016
Restore disk images across the network using AOMEI Image Deploy (free PXE-boot deployment system)
If you take disk backups using the free AOMEI Backupper software (from a bootable ampe.iso file), then you can use AOMEI Image Deploy to write that image to multiple PCs across the network using PXE booting.
There are instructions on their site here.
This allows you to restore a disk image to any system that has a PXE boot ROM (pretty much all systems do!) without needing to boot it from a USB drive or CD or any 'media'.
There are instructions on their site here.
This allows you to restore a disk image to any system that has a PXE boot ROM (pretty much all systems do!) without needing to boot it from a USB drive or CD or any 'media'.
Wednesday 19 October 2016
Lakka - Take 2!
I have revised the instructions to make a bootable Lakka image in my previous post.
There is now no need to make a Lakka USB flash drive first, and you can make the storage partition any size you like too. Much easier!
There is now no need to make a Lakka USB flash drive first, and you can make the storage partition any size you like too. Much easier!
Tuesday 18 October 2016
Monday 17 October 2016
Add Lakka to your E2B USB drive and play SuperMario (and 100's of other console games)
Lakka is an open source game console emulator. See the YouTube demo here (there are many YouTube videos too, including a Hak5 intro video here!).
You can boot to Lakka from a variety of different computers including a Raspberry Pi. On an x86 PC you can directly boot from a USB drive (or install it onto a dedicated PC, if you have one to spare!).
Lakka does not support\work on a Virtual Machine - you must boot from a REAL SYSTEM!
You also need to connect USB or WiFi controllers to the PC too (recommended because using the PC keyboard is very difficult/impossible when playing games using the PC keyboard!).
I downloaded the Windows 32-bit version for a PC from here and then wrote the .img file (Lakka-Generic.i386-devel-20161002110423-r21593-g03241bf.img) to a spare 8GB USB 3.0 drive using RMPrepUSB (see below for details). For Nintendo 64 games, use Lakka 64-bit.
I then booted from the Lakka USB drive on my IdeaPad 300 (does not work on Virtual Box).
You can boot to Lakka from a variety of different computers including a Raspberry Pi. On an x86 PC you can directly boot from a USB drive (or install it onto a dedicated PC, if you have one to spare!).
Lakka does not support\work on a Virtual Machine - you must boot from a REAL SYSTEM!
You also need to connect USB or WiFi controllers to the PC too (recommended because using the PC keyboard is very difficult/impossible when playing games using the PC keyboard!).
I downloaded the Windows 32-bit version for a PC from here and then wrote the .img file (Lakka-Generic.i386-devel-20161002110423-r21593-g03241bf.img) to a spare 8GB USB 3.0 drive using RMPrepUSB (see below for details). For Nintendo 64 games, use Lakka 64-bit.
I then booted from the Lakka USB drive on my IdeaPad 300 (does not work on Virtual Box).
Sunday 16 October 2016
E2B v1.85 now available
E2B v1.85 is now available from the Alternate Downloads Areas.
After a few days, I will add the 1.85 download files to the www.easy2boot.com site.
Changes from v1.84 are:
After a few days, I will add the 1.85 download files to the www.easy2boot.com site.
Changes from v1.84 are:
- Add udefrag linux utility for making NTFS files contiguous under linux.
- ZGRUB_USB_046.mnu menu improved.
- Improve error checking in MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd to fix problem if you are using a proxy - now it just does not show the latest version available if a proxy has been set instead of bombing out! (thanks to JH for reporting it)
- German language files updated (thanks Frettt!).
Wednesday 12 October 2016
Experimenting with large fonts, line spacing and animation (GreatLakes_DNA)
If you want a 800x600 theme which use the 24-pixel high large fonts in E2B and increases the spacing between lines, you can try the GreatLakes_DNA.zip download in the Alternate Download Area - Themes folder. It includes the rotating DNA animation and the background is a shot of the Great Lakes taken from space.
As with all animations, you can use the F2 key to make it disappear and then press F2 again to make it reappear. The space between menu lines has also been increased.
The F1 Help menu is suppressed because the help text does not fit on the screen when using large fonts.
The .bmp file is actually compressed using LZMA.exe.
There are several different 24-pixel high large fonts to choose from - try using a different one by changing the MyE2B.cfg file.
When using Windows ISOs, etc., you may need to reduce the number of XML files, so that they will fit on the screen nicely.
As with all animations, you can use the F2 key to make it disappear and then press F2 again to make it reappear. The space between menu lines has also been increased.
The F1 Help menu is suppressed because the help text does not fit on the screen when using large fonts.
 |
| GreatLakes_DNA.zip |
There are several different 24-pixel high large fonts to choose from - try using a different one by changing the MyE2B.cfg file.
When using Windows ISOs, etc., you may need to reduce the number of XML files, so that they will fit on the screen nicely.
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