E2B v1.92i available

This version has a new version of grub4dos (\grldr) which has a nice new vol command, so I have also tweaked the UTILITIES menu commands for  'ls (DIR)' and 'List BIOS Disks' to improve the text output and show the volume labels.

I have also tried to improve some of the .cmd scripts which require Admin access so that they will now use Powershell to request Admin access (if Powershell is available). I have tested it on XP, Win7 and Win10 so I hope that I have not broken anything! The main advantage is that the MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd script now only gives you one UAC prompt instead of two.

Let me know if you find any issues.

Running a .cmd script with Admin rights

If you are interested, I used this single line near the top of each .cmd file

if not "%1"=="am_admin" call powershell -h | find /i "powershell" > nul && if not "%1"=="am_admin" (powershell start -verb runas '%0' am_admin > nul & exit)

The extra code is added so that under WinPE and WinXP, it does not just abort with a 'bad command' error if 'powershell' is not understood.

It checks to see if PowerShell is present and if so, it runs itself again using runas, so the beginning of the script actually runs twice.

E2B v1.92i

E2B v1.92h Beta available (Release Candidate)

1.92 will be fully Win10 Creator update compatible (I hope), so I am keen to release it soon.

Changes from 1.91B are:

• Ukrainian language added (thanks to 'ruffian')
• Small bugfix to XPWINNT.g4b to allow SVR2016 folder to be selected
• New Make_E2B to add Ukrainian lang
• Check added in Make_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd to check Windows find command is working
• Revised English F1.cfg help file
• New version of RMPartUSB to format the 2nd small hidden partition to prevent Win10 Format pop-up dialogue box and also sometimes failing to format as NTFS
• Bugfix to XP DPMS2 for AMD chipsets - was sometimes getting wrong PCI ID and hence wrong driver
• \_ISO\PimpMyDrive.cmd to add extra options to Main menu
• UtilMan account hack XML and CMD files added
• Delay added to linux fmt.sh scripts after parted command, 
• WinLite10 Sample XML files added
• \_ISO\mybackground.jpg will be used if \_ISO\mybackground.bmp is not present
• \_ISO\docs\SysInfo\SysInfo2.hta added
• PET theme added into Templates and mythemes folder
• New SanFrancisco Bridge default wallpaper

Please download and test it and let me know if you find any problems before I release it officially in a few days as version 1.92.

E2B v1.92g BETA available

This version has a few small tweaks to Utilman scripts and a new default wallpaper.
The XML files for UtilMan now start with 'UtilMan - xxxxx.xml' so that they are listed together in the E2B XML menu list. If you see four Utilman XML files, delete the ones which do NOT start with 'UtilMan - '

Let me know what you think of the new default wallpaper... ;-)

P.S. A variety of 800x600 jpg wallpapers are available in the Alternate Downloads Area - Themes  folder at WallPapers800x600.jpg.zip. if you copy these to the \_ISO folder and use the Change Wallpaper_JPG.mnu file, you can try them out.

XML file for WinLite10

WinLite10 v7.2 for Win10 1703 Build 15063

Alacran (on reboot.pro) has notified us of a few .cmd scripts available from 'sickdroid' (or Felix Wiegand) which can remove many non-essential Windows components such as Cortana, etc. during a fresh installation of Windows 1703.

You can automatically run the rmApps.cmd script during installation of Windows 10 as follows:

Commodore PET 40 year anniversary theme for E2B

The Commodore PET was first announced, and later released, in 1977 (40 years ago).

It was a complete All-In-One computer with built-in keyboard, monitor and storage media and was months ahead of the Apple II or TRS80 (Trash80!). In essence, it was an early Macintosh and was one of the first computers suitable for business use, rather than hobbyists.

On a side note, the PET never really took off in France for some reason (apparently 'pet' is slang for another word!). Later, Commodore released the VIC, which did not sell too well in Germany either, as it sounded like you were asking for a 'fick' which is German for something quite different!

At the time, my family ran a small 12th-Century hotel in Oxford, now made famous by my late friend Colin Dexter, who wrote the world famous Inspector Morse books (Colin reviewed examination papers with his colleagues, ate, drank and sometimes slept at our hotel). Our hotel was even featured on the front cover of one of the paperback versions of 'The Secret of Annexe 3'. Colin even gave me a few first edition signed copies of various Inspector Morse books over the years, which I guess must be worth a few pennies now!

When I was a boy, I was interested in computers and had built and programmed several of my own, but I really wanted a new Commodore PET...

Now, payroll software for the PET was non-existent at that time, but in early 1978 I persuaded my father to buy me a new PET, on the promise that I would write a complete staff wages program for the hotel. I explained that this would save him hours of pouring over his H.M. Gov tax tables and Kalamazoo wages sheets every week to work out the pay packets for the 12+ staff we had working at the hotel!

E2B v1.92f with revised UtilMan hack

E2B v1.92f has a slightly different and easier implementation of the UtilMan hack now.

Steps 3 and 4 have been reversed and there is much less typing for the hacker!

Basically the process is now:

1. Boot to E2B Win 10 ISO and choose Hack Windows (UtilMan.exe).xml to patch the .exe files.

2. At Windows login screen press WIN+U and type 2 [ENTER] to make the ADMIN account.

Now play around as you like!

3. At Windows login screen, press WIN+U and type 3 [ENTER] to delete the ADMIN account.

4. Boot to E2B Win 10 ISO and choose UnHack Windows (restore UtilMan.exe).xml to unpatch the .exe files.

I have updated the previous blog post to describe the steps in more detail.

P.S. It seems MS have broken SFC now so it is unable to repair utilman.exe and sethc.exe! For the last 4 weeks or so, SFC has not been able to repair some files and complains about corrupt source files, i.e. it does not recognise the files in its own WinSXS folders - probably because they were not updated by the recent Windows updates - but hey, it only affects millions of people all over the world and Microsoft cannot possibly afford to validate it's own software or respond to bug reports!

Hack any Windows OS - UtilMan scripts now added to E2B v1.92f

Note: This blog post has been changed to match E2B v1.92f and later versions of E2B! v1.92f is now even easier to use than v1.92e!
For updated details, go to the Easy2Boot website page here.

As you may know, if you have not encrypted your Windows OS with BitLocker, it is quite easy to get into your OS by using the trick of replacing UtilMan.exe and\or SetHC.exe with Cmd.exe.

Once you have done this, you can hit WINKEY+U or press the SHIFT key five times to bring up a Windows cmd shell box with full admin rights! You can then create a new Admin account and log into Windows.

This is especially useful if you have a system handed in for repair and the client does not know or remember any of the Admin account passwords.

To semi-automate this process and save some typing, E2B v1.92e now contains a new \_ISO\docs\utilman folder which contains four .cmd script files.

E2B v1.92c Beta available (with PimpMyDrive.cmd!)

v1.92c has a few, very small changes and also a new file has been added - \_ISO\PimpMyDrive.cmd.

This script must be run from the E2B drive. It copies a selection of Sample mnu files to the \_ISO\MAINMENU\PIMP folder.

Note that the Change Theme menu requires the current \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to be overwritten - so take a backup of the MyE2B.cfg file first (the script will take one backup for you)!

The extra menu items that are added can be see in the screenshot above menu items #1 to #21.

SysInfo2.hta - an hta Windows script to quickly collect System Information

Some years ago I developed a .hta script in VBScript to collect system information. This was used on thousands of systems by field engineers and customers alike, so that they could quickly send a report back to the office techs for further diagnosis and investigation.

You can run SysInfo file on any Windows system that allows .hta files and VBScript to run.

If you download and unzip it, make sure Properties - UnBlock is ticked or Windows may prevent you from running it.

I have slightly revised it now for Windows 8 and 10 and also tweaked the email facility so that you can send the report, using your gmail account, to yourself or to someone else.

You can easily modify it to display your own company name in a heading, etc.

RMPrepUSB v2.1.737 and 738 for Windows 10 Creator now available

If you tick the RMPrepUSB option Boot as HDD (C: 2PTNS) then RMPartUSB will create a second 31.5KB partition at the end of the drive. The type is 21hex which no previous Windows OS has ever recognised... until now!

This 2nd partition is only present because some BIOSes will boot a single-partition Removable USB drive as a floppy disk instead of a 'hard disk' and thus you just get a 'black screen - flashing cursor' when you try to boot from the drive. The presence of a 2nd primary partition ensures that even these BIOSes will boot from the Removable USB drive as a 'hard disk' hd0 instead of fd0.

Under all previous versions of Windows, this 2nd partition was not detected by Windows and was not given a drive letter.

However, in recent versions of Windows 10, Microsoft has changed the way Windows detects primary partitions on Removable drives such as Flash Memory devices (and without actually telling anyone!). Now we can have multiple partitions on USB flash drives - we can even boot WindowsToGo 10 Creator version from a flat-file (non-VHD) Removable flash drive now!

The means that now, if you use RMPrepUSB or RMPartUSB to format a drive with the Boot as HDD option ticked, the new Windows 10 will now 'see' the 2nd partition as an unformatted volume and prompt the user to format it!

v2.1.737 now formats the 2nd partition as a small FAT12 volume. Windows will give it a drive letter and you can even store files on it (though it is only 11.5KB in size after formatting!). Note that if you connect the same USB drive to a pre-Windows 10 Creator version of Windows, you will not see the 2nd partition though!

The download page is here.

I found a problem in that RMPartUSB would get confused because it would see two drive letters after partitioning the drive and sometimes chose the wrong drive letter to format as NTFS. v2.1.738 now fixes this (it ignores the small partition).

Please report any issues ASAP.