E2B Files and Folders explained

Do NOT edit any of the E2B files. You can change all the menu headings and menu text without needing to edit any of the original E2B files.
 
Note: \_ISO\WINDOWS and \_ISO\AUTO folders are 'special', but all other level-2 menu folders behave identically.
There is no functional difference between placing a ubuntu.iso file in the \_ISO\LINUX folder or placing it in the \_ISO\WINPE folder or the \_ISO\DOS folder or the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder.
 

User-added files which can modify the behaviour of E2B

The following extra files, if added by the user, will override the default behaviour of E2B:
 
  • \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp or .jpg - user wallpaper (can also be a JPEG or gzip or lzma compressed bmp)
  • \_ISO\(menu_folder_name).bmp or .jpg (where menu_folder_name can be MAINMENU or LINUX or BACKUP, etc. etc.)
  • \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg - user settings and Main menu heading + Footer menu helptext

    Less common user files (used for testing and debugging):
  • \_ISO\Menu.lst - overrides standard E2B menu.lst boot code (used for testing only)
  • \_ISO\STRINGS.txt - overrides E2B language settings, should contain all $$$STRxxxx keys for one language (used for testing a new language)
  • \_ISO\F1.cfg - this Help F1 file will be used instead of the language F1.cfg file (used for testing new F1.cfg language file)
  • .txt files - for instance, if you have \_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntu.iso and a matching \_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntu.txt, then the .txt file may affect the way that the Ubuntu.iso file is listed in the menu.
  • User-added .mnu files - these are added to the E2B menu and can cause problems if they are invalid. e.g. .mnu files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU\$$$$CONFIG folder.
If you are experiencing problems with E2B, delete or rename these files (if they are present), to see if they are adversely affecting E2B.
 

Easy2Boot Folder Structure

The menu folders will only be listed in a menu if there are files or folders inside them, e.g.  you will not see the Linux menu entry in the Main menu until you copy a file to the \_ISO\LINUX folder.
 

Main Menu folder

\_ISO\MAINMENU folder  - place iso/payload files here. User .mnu + payload files normally go in sub-folders (e.g. MNU) below the MAINMENU folder – these will be listed in the Main menu. This folder must not be deleted.
\_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZSubMenuAll.mnu -  contains all Main menu sub-menu entries and the F1 ,F7 and F8 Main menu entries.
\_ISO\MAINMENU\$$$SetDefaultMenu.mnu - contains the 'Set default menu entry and timeout' menu entry.
\_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU folder - used for .mnu files + payloads
\_ISO\MAINMENU\$$$$CONFIG folder - only use this folder for special configuration files (do not use for payload files).
 
Note: You can suppress the various Main Menu entries by using NOxxxxx variables, e.g. NOF1, NOF8MAIN, etc. (see Sample_MyE2B.cfg file).
If you really need to modify the ZZSubMenuAll.mnu file, then rename it first (e.g. ZZSubMenuDave.mnu). If you later update your E2B drive with a new version of E2B, you will need to delete the new ZZSubMenuAll.mnu file again.
 

Special Sub-Menu folders

\_ISO\WINDOWS       - place your Windows install ISOs (and .imgPTN files, v1.75+) in the correct sub-folders under here
\_ISO\AUTO              - place only iso/payload files here or in sub-folders. All .mnu files are ignored.
 

Standard Sub-Menu folders

\_ISO\ANTIVIRUS      - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\DOS                - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\BACKUP          - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\LINUX              - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\UTILITIES        - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\WIN                - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
\_ISO\WINPE            - place ISO and other payload files here. Place .mnu files and their payload files in the MNU folder under here.
 

The above folders are sub-menu folders that will be listed in the Main menu. If a payload file uses a .mnu file, then place both files at the 3rd level (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX\MNU), otherwise both the .mnu and payload file will each cause a new menu entry to be created.

Note: Sub-folders with a dot in the name (nnnnn.mmmm) will be ignored - e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU\UBUNTU10.1\Ubuntu.mnu will not work, use \_ISO\MAINMENU\UBUNTU10_1\Ubuntu.mnu instead.

Matching payload .txt files containing menu titles can be added (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX\MNU\Ubuntu9281.iso + \_ISO\LINUX\MNU\Ubuntu9281.txt).

The folder \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST is actually a sub-sub-menu which can only be reached via the Utilities menu. It functions just like a standard E2B folder. If you wish, you can add more sub-menu and sub-sub-menu folders.

E2B folders (for reference - do not edit any original E2B file!)

\_ISO\docs                - help documents and .mnu menus and good stuff like that – check it out! 
\_ISO\e2b\firadisk      - used for all Windows installs and booting XP-based ISOs – do not touch! 
\_ISO\e2b\grub          - contains the menus and batch files used by Easy2Boot - do not touch!
\_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS - contains files used for automatic F6 floppy generation for XP/W2K 32-bit installs - the Mass Storage drivers go under here in the D\M folders
\_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG  - contains some of the English text strings used in the menus. Do not change these files - copy them to a new folder before editing them and you can define a new 'language' to use it. Other language folders are also present.
 

Files in root of the Easy2Boot USB drive

  • \autounattend.xml - used by Vista\7\8\2012\10\2016 installs - the file is overwritten by E2B during installation – do not touch - should be 100KB!
  • \unattend.xml       - used by XP WinPE installs - the file is overwritten during installation – do not touch - should be 100KB!
  • \grldr                   - grub4dos 2nd stage boot file included in E2B download! Beware, many versions of grub4dos have bugs!
  • \menu.lst             - first menu loaded by grub4dos. If you already have an existing \menu.lst file, you will need to add a new menu item to your own \menu.lst file to run Easy2Boot (e.g. configfile /_ISO/E2B/grub/menu.lst).
  • \autorun.inf          - used to display the E2B icon when displayed by Windows Explorer (may be falsely detected as a virus!)
  • \E2B.ico               - drive icon specified in the autorun.inf file
  • \FASTLOAD.YES    - only present if you copy this file to the root. It causes the Main menu to be cached for faster booting and loads of a cached version of the Main menu. Useful if you have lots of payload files in the Main menu which takes a long time to load! Delete to disable menu caching.
  • \EFI folder            - (not present in recent versions of E2B) - I recommend you delete this folder if it exists - some modern system BOISes will not MBR-boot to E2B if there are EFI boot files present, in this case the BIOS\UEFI firmware may only display a UEFI-boot option in the BIOS pop-up boot menu!
  • WinxxPESE.ini files - used by some WinBuilder-based ISOs such as Gandalf PE, etc. (updated automatically by E2B)

Files in \_ISO\e2b\grub folder

Note: Some of these files may be compressed using LZMA_Encode. You should not touch these!
 
  • AUTO.hdr - used by E2B to define the heading for the AUTO/DIRECT menu
  • AUTOMN.g4b - grub4dos batch file, used by easy2boot.lst and menu.lst and ZZSubMenuxxx.mnu files
  • Background.bmp.gz - aurora 800x600 bmp wallpaper compressed to .gz
  • backup.lst - used for debug – don’t delete!
  • bios - a grub4dos executable used by E2B to make BIOS calls
  • centrehd.g4b - used to calculate the padding needed to centre menu headings
  • CheckAccess.g4b - this runs on startup to check for buggy BIOSes with a 137GB limit
  • ConfigX.g4b - used by E2B to convert and run a menu file containing keywords
  • CopyFF.g4b - used when a .ISODOS file extension is found - copies files to a virtual floppy disk
  • CountFiles.g4b - helper batch file which counts files
  • CountISOs.g4b - counts the number of ISO files in a folder
  • Date.g4b - used by sample mnu file $$FixDate.mnu (if copied to a menu folder) to set a different system date
  • delptn3.g4b - if (hd0,3) is found to contain a partition on startup, this code allows the user to delete it
  • dow.g4b - gets the day of the week
  • E2B.cfg - default config file (used before \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg is called)
  • E2B_GRUB.txt - marker file used to find the grub folder - do not delete!
  • E2BPlate.bmp - E2B boiler plate stamp
  • FASTLOAD.MNU - the cached Main menu is written to this file if \FASTLOAD.YES is present
  • fat - a grub4dos executable to perform file operations on FAT partitions (used in CopyFF.g4b)
  • firadisk.gz - floppy image containing firadisk driver
  • getline.g4b - gets a line of user input (does not stop any animation that is already playing)
  • getpass.g4b - gets a password (does not stop animation)
  • getstr.g4b - gets the value of a $$STRxxxx keyword into the variable STR
  • grab.g4b - saves the text on the grub4dos console to a text file (for bug reporting)
  • grldr_046 - grub4dos grldr file version 0.4.6a
  • grldr_045 - grub4ods grldr file version 0.4.5a
  • grab.txt - screen text is saved into this file when you run grab.g4b
  • HitmanXfer.g4b - transfers special HitmanPro sectors to the E2B drive
  • hotkey - a grub4dos executable to allow the menu to respond to hotkeys or set active hotkeys 
  • isoboot.g4b - boots a linux ISO using cheat codes (ISO does not need to be contiguous)
  • KBDxxxx.g4b - specify one of these in your MyE2B.cfg config file for your keyboard layout (default=US)
  • ListDir.g4b - lists files in a directory
  • LstFExt.g4b - helper file to list files with a specified extension (e.g. all .iso files)
  • MAIN.hdr - header used by grub\menu.lst as precursor for the dynamic main menu
  • memdisk - executable to load a ramdrive, used by .gzmd and .zip file extensions
  • menu.lst - this is the start script for E2B – called by \menu.lst - don't change this file
  • menu_defaults.txt - this holds the default menu number and timeout values set by the user
  • MenuF10.hdr - menu entry for F10
  • MenuF7.hdr - menu entry for F7
  • MenuF8.hdr - menu entry for F8
  • MenuF9.hdr - menu entry for F9
  • MenuFastLoad.hdr - menu entry for 'REFRESH THIS FASTLOAD CACHED MENU' entry
  • menusetting.gz - grub4dos executable for menu position and border
  • MenuWinInstall.lst - menu entries for the Windows Install menu
  • MenuWinMenu.hdr - 'Back to Windows Install Menu' menu entry
  • NewWinVBlock.ima.gz - F6 floppy disk image with WinVBlock drivers
  • NTBOOT - Chenall's batch file to boot VHD and WIM files
  • PickaFile.g4b - batch file used to ask user to pick a file from a numbered list
  • QAUTO.g4b - this makes the menu from the \_ISO\AUTO folder contents (searches all subfolders - ignores .mnu files)
  • QRUN.g4b - this determines what action is taken based on the file extension of the payload file
  • rtl.g4b - reverses text for right-to-left languages
  • RunVista.g4b - batch file used for Vista, Win7 and SVR2K8R2 installs
  • RunWin8.g4b - batch file used for Win8 and SVR2012 installs
  • SearchBS.g4b - searches for BIOS strings (uses wenv) - used only when you use the sample menu file 'BIOS detect and Run.mnu' - e.g. E2B can run a different ISO depending on what BIOS is present.
  • SetHPAD.g4b - grub4dos batch file which calculates the padding required for the menu headings
  • SubMenu.g4b - grub4dos batch file used to make submenus
  • SVR2012.hdr - header code for the SVR2012 menu
  • SVR2K8R2.hdr - header code for the SVR2K8R2 menu
  • SVR2016.hdr - header code for the SVR2016 menu
  • TimeAccess.g4b - times grub4dos file access (Utilities menu)
  • tp.g4b - PIN code entry
  • true_hide.g4b, true_unhide.g4b - hides/unhides partitions
  • unifont.hex.gz - unifont font file (required for non-ASCII character sets/languages)
  • VarsLeft.g4b - counts the number of variables left in the environment (for debugging)
  • Vista.hdr - header code for the Vista menu
  • VistaMn.g4b - batch file used to install Vista, Wk8/7 user input
  • wenv - grub4dos utility used by SearchBS.g4b
  • wimboot - used to boot WIM files
  • Win7.hdr - header code for the Win7 menu
  • Win8.hdr  - header code for the Win8 menu
  • Win8Mn.g4b - batch file used for the Win8/2012 user input
  • Win10.hdr - header code for the Win10 menu
  • winvblock.img.gz - FDD image used by QRUN - do not removeZZZ
  • XLATE.g4b - translates keywords and appends them to the E2B dynamic menu
  • XPStep1/XPStep2/XPStep2LowRam.g4b - used by XP menu system
  • XPWINNT.g4b - used by the 'XP install from WinPE' menu to select which ISO you want, etc.
  • xxxx.f24 - 24-pixel high font files (LZMA compressed)

Language files (e.g. \_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG)

The ENG folder contains English menus and text - don't change these files - see 'Changing the Language' section for details on how to change to a different language or if you want to copy and modify the text in these files.

  • STRINGS.txt - contains the keyword text substitutions (e.g. $$STRm001)
  • F1.cfg - contains the F1 Help menu

Included payload files

Some payload files are included in the download - you can just delete these to save space if you don't want or need them:

  • \_ISO\DOS\MNU\Freedos288.IMA.gz and .mnu (100KB) - this will boot to a virtual freedos floppy disk image - allows you to access the E2B USB drive as C: (FAT and NTFS, v1.83+)
  • \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST\MEMTEST.IMG.gz and .txt (64KB) -  runs memtest86+, Memtest86-5.0.0.iso is memtest86
  • \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST\MNU\MEMTEST86 files - runs memtest86+

Note: The latest version of Memtest86 requires you to make a FAT32 UEFI .imgPTN file and UEFI-boot to it.

Note that if any file or folder (of any sort) is present in the ANTIVIRUS, BACKUP, DOS, LINUX,UTILITIES, WIN or WINPE folders, then that sub-Menu will be listed in the Main Menu (even if there are no proper payload files in it). Just make sure the folder is completely empty (no sub-sub-folders either) and it won't be listed in the Main menu.

If you have an old version of E2B which has a \EFI folder, I suggest you delete the \EFI folder as it can prevent some systems from booting to the E2B menu in MBR mode.

\_ISO\UTILITIES contains the file Utilities_MemTest.mnu which is responsible for the sub-sub-menu at \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST. You can study this .mnu file for an example of how to make your own extra sub-sub menus and folders. All menu folders must be directly under \_ISO.