Add PeppermintOS 8 + persistence to E2B

PeppermintOS 8 is based on Ubuntu\Lubuntu, so I have modified one of the Ubuntu_Persistence Sample menu files.

I used the Peppermint-8-20170527-amd64.iso (1.2GB) with the .mnu file shown below:

Easy2Boot v.1.93A available (to work around Win10 1703 bugs!)

Windows 10 Creators update (1703) is still buggy.

As you may be aware, Windows 10 1703 now recognises all partitions on Removable USB drives and attempts to mount them.

Sometimes it will assign a drive letter to each partition (and sometimes not!).
The Disk management console however still only shows one volume and one drive letter for the Removable drive even if it has multiple partitions.
Also DiskPart only lists one volume on a multi-partition USB drive.
If Windows assigns a drive letter to the 2nd partition, the letter cannot be changed or removed.

Explorer view of Removable USB drive with two primary partitions F: and J:

Disk Management console (where is F: ???) 

Disk Management Console (Disk 4 Partition 2 has no drive letter!)

DiskPart - where is volume F: ???

E2B v1.93A includes a new version of RMPartUSB which attempts to force Windows to assign all the USB drive partitions with a drive letter.

This should prevent the format that is done by RMPartUSB from failing and then prompting you to assign a drive letter manually.

P.S. If you are having problems changing the drive letter of a volume on a Removable USB drive because the letter is not listed by Disk Management or DiskPart, I have written a ChangeLetter.cmd script which you can download here (in Alternate Downloads areas). It only works on Removable USB drives and you must run the .cmd file which then runs the .vbs script as admin.

Easy2Boot v1.93/A Full version released

E2B v1.93A full release is now available.

It will also be uploaded to the E2B website in a few days.

Changes from v1.92 are:

1. Offline choco package support added to  SDI_CHOCO.cmd template
2. \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages
3. NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag now detected by SDI_CHOCO
4. Chocolatey offline package added - version 0.10.6.1
5. Snappy Driver Installer 'Origin version' now used
6. QRUN.g4b changed - small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one 
7. Suppress suggestion prompt if *q.iso used (useful for WinBuilder ISO or other .iso files which don't work if you use the .isodefault extension)
8. Switch_E2B.exe v1.0.16 hidden file fix
9. OpenMandriva ISO sample mnu file added
10. New grub4dos 0.4.6a
11. GIFtoIMA.cmd script provided to make animations from GIf files
12. Make_E2B.cmd will now download bootmgr from internet and add it to E2B drive
13. \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd added
14. New default menu wallpaper

Please feedback ASAP if you spot a problem with the new version (and give step-by-step details about how I can reproduce the problem).

Tip: You can use v1.93 to update any previous DPMS USB drive.

You may get some AV warnings but these are false positives (honest!).

Add you own background wallpaper

Place an 800x600x24bit colour .bmp or .jpg file at \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp or \_ISO\MyBackground.jpg and it will be used instead of the default E2B wallpaper.

Copyright free images can be found on www.pexels.com.

MPI Tool Pack v0.076 available

I discovered a few issues in v0.075 to do with converting payloads which used isolinux/syslinux.

I have also simplified the way syslinux is installed - it now creates a \syslinux.bin file which the CSM menu can use as the boot file.

v0.076 is available on the Alternate Download sites and will also be updated on the E2B website soon.

Easy2Boot v1.93i available

This version has these extra changes:

• Feature for WinBuilder ISOs - if .ISO file ends in q.iso or Q.iso then auto-suggest prompt will be suppressed - use for WinBuilder ISOs which must use a .iso file extension, e.g. Gandalf_2016_x86q.iso. 
• Make_E2B.cmd changed - Win 8.1 bootmgr is now downloaded from the internet using JFX's GWT tool and added to USB drive if no good version of bootmgr is found on Windows host drive.
• \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd will download the Win8.1 version of bootmgr and add it to any E2B drive you have connected.
• Latest grub4dos 0.4.6a

I will release v1.93 as a full release soon. Please let me know if you spot a problem.

Summary of changes from v1.92:

• Offline choco package support for SDI_CHOCO function
• \_ISO\docs\Chocbox\ChocBox.cmd for making offline choco packages
• NoSpeak.tag and NoBeep.tag detection for SDI_CHOCO
• New Chocolatey version 0.10.6.1
• GIFtoIMA script to make animations easily
• Snappy Driver Installer Origin version now used
• QRUN.g4b changed - small change to .imgPTN so if second *. image file present it will get a partition type number of 7 if grub4dos does not give it one 
• Switch_E2B.exe v1.0.16 hidden file fix
• OpenMandriva ISO sample mnu file added
• New grub4dos 0.4.6a
• Make_E2B will download bootmgr from internet and add it to E2B drive
• \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd
• Suppress suggestion prompt/text if *q.iso used (for WinBuilder ISO or other .iso files)

Add bootmgr to your E2B drive

As you may know, E2B does not include bootmgr for legal reasons.

The Make_E2B.exe and the 'make' scripts look for the correct Win 8.1 version of bootmgr on your Windows system and will copy it to the E2B drive for you.

If you don't have the correct version, the E2B 'make' script will warn you that, in order to boot Windows .VHD and .WIM files, you will need to add it.

Note: E2B v1.93+ now will download the bootmgr file automatically when you run Make_E2B.exe.

Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives

\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd will automatically add bootmgr to the \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD folder of any E2B drive that you have connected when you run it. Internet access is required.

It takes just a second or so to run.

Note: The new Make_E2B script will automatically download bootmgr for you and put it on the E2B USB drive in the correct folder.

See here for more details on GWT.

E2B v1.93h available

v.1.93h has just a few small tweaks + latest grub4dos. + bug in ChocBox.cmd fixed.

One small change in SDI_CHOCO is that you now do not need to edit the SDI_CHOCO.cmd file when you copy it, to change the name of the configuration folder that you want it to use.

For example: if you want to make a new configuration called 'NEW', then you just copy and rename the SDI_CHOCO.cmd file and the SDI_CHOCO folder to NEW.cmd and NEW (folder).

The code in NEW.cmd will automatically look for a configuration folder of the same name as the .cmd file.

So your modified XML file will call NEW.CMD which will automatically use the NEW folder as the configuration folder. The files in the NEW folder:

• MySpecialize.cmd             - runs after Snappy driver installer before reboot
• MySetupComplete.cmd     - runs before OOBE
• MyStartup.cmd                  - runs after OOBE on first user login (which can be automatic)

will control the installation of additional drivers and apps, etc. and the .TAG files will control other
features:

• NoInternet.TAG - Internet connectivity will not be checked, msoobe will not be called to initialize n/w during Specialize
• NoChoco.TAG - choco will not be downloaded from internet (but can still be installed Offline)
• NoSDI.TAG - The Snappy Driver Installer will not run (useful if you install your own drivers)
• NoWSUS.TAG - WSUS Offline Updater will not run
• OfflineChoco.TAG - \_ISO\WINDOWS\INSTALLS\CHOCBOX folder is copied to C:\DRIVERS\CHOCBOX and Chocolatey is installed directly from E2B drive
• NoBeep.TAG - do not beep the speaker (v1.93+)
• NoSpeak.TAG - don't tell me what you are doing (v1.93+)

Read more: http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/sdi-choco/

Removable v. Fixed 

I have added a new page to the E2B site  here  about why the type of USB drive you use for E2B matters.

How to add the UBCD4WIN ISO to E2B

The UBCD4WIN ISO is now quite old and development has been discontinued and the website is no longer available.

UBCD4WIN miniXP (BartPE) lacks drivers for modern systems and so is really only suitable for older systems and chipsets.

Offline Chocolatey for Win7 installs

I was asked yesterday (using online 'Chat') about using the E2B SDI_Choco offline feature to install Windows 7.

The problem here is that Chocolatey requires .Net 4 Framework and this is not included in Windows 7.

If you download the standalone install package for .Net 4 and try to install it, it requires a reboot before it will work. However, we cannot reboot during the Specialize pass or Windows Setup will complain about it when it reboots and will not proceed.

Equally, we cannot allow a reboot during MyStartup.cmd because this only runs once on first user login and so the code to install the offline choco apps will never run.

The solution was to install the .Net 4 package at the end of MySetupComplete.cmd when a reboot is imminent anyway.

I have added the necessary instructions to the Offline Choco page on the E2B website here under the Requirements heading.

If you have any questions, you can chat with me by clicking on the chat icon on the E2B website.

Click to chat

Old PC won't boot from E2B USB drive (flashing cursor)

To ensure that your E2B USB flash drive will boot from as many systems as possible, it should have the following characteristics:

1. Have the boot partition marked as Active (bootable)
2. Have grub4dos boot code in both the first sector (master boot record or MBR) and the first sector of the first partition (partition boot record or PBR)
3. Have two primary partitions in the MBR partition table
4. Have all boot files and E2B files within 137GB (128GiB) from the beginning of the drive

If you use the Make_E2B.exe GUI to make your E2B USB drive, then it will have these properties already.

It has been rumoured that some BIOSes will only boot from a USB FAT partition and not from an NTFS partition (although I have never seen this personally and I have never had any specific confirmation of this phenomenon!).

However, even if your drive is correctly made, some early PCs with USB 1.0 and early USB 2.0 ports may not boot to grub4dos\E2B.