This startup banner (and the 5-second delay) can be removed by following the instructions in eBook #1.

If you have already made a donation of £5 or more, please Contact Me for instructions.

More Information

E2B eBooks are available here.

If you are interested in automated Windows install, read eBook #2.

Details on how to make a pure-UEFI multiboot E2B drive (with links to some sample files) can be found in the E2B UEFI multiboot eBook #3.

There are over 100 pages of information on this site. Always use the Site Map on this website to find stuff.

For a fast, reliable USB drive for use with E2B and WindowsToGo, I recommend the Sandisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 (Amazon affiliate link).

These items are caused by entries in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file.

You can play/remove the animation by pressing F2 when the E2B menu is displayed.

To remove the animation and boiler plate, edit the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file using Notepad and delete the STAMP1, ANIMFD3 and ANIMATE lines:

This error message normally is seen if your E2B USB drive is not a 'Removable' drive or you are booting Windows Vista/7 from a USB 3.0 USB port. Even if you are using a USB 2.0 port, it may be that Windows does not contain the correct drivers for the USB controller chip if it is a modern PC/notebook. 

For Windows 10 TH2 (1511) ISOs, please update your E2B USB drive to the latest version of E2B.

Note that Windows Vista/7 does not contain USB 3.0 drivers, so you must use a USB 2.0 port when installing Windows Vista or 7.

Tip: When you get this error message, unplug the E2B USB drive and try different USB ports.

You can add Intel and AMD USB 3.0 drivers into the Win7 ISO using this tool.

CHECK THAT WINDOWS HAS THE CORRECT USB DRIVER:

1. After booting to Setup, type SHIFT+F10 to open a console window.
2. Type 'diskpart' and press ENTER key.
3. Type 'list disk' - check that your USB drive is listed - if not, then Windows (WinPE) does not contain the correct driver for your USB controller.
4. Type 'exit' to quit diskpart.
See here for how to add the correct USB driver into the ISO file. Ytube video here. Intel driver Win7 ISO patch utility here.

First check that you have the ISOs in the correct sub-folder under \_ISO\WINDOWS  (note: do NOT use the \_ISO\WIN folder for Windows installer ISOs). 

e.g. a Windows 7 installer ISO would go in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 folder that is already present.

You MUST get the blue console window (shown below) when booting Vista/7/8/10 ISOs using E2B. If not then the ISO will not be loaded as a virtual drive and Windows Setup will not be able to access any files inside the ISO (hence the missing driver message).

  Blue console window - tis runs ImDisk and loads the ISO as a virtual CD drive
  so that Windows Setup can access the files within the ISO file.

There are two types of USB drives, 'Removable' and 'Fixed'. Most USB Flash drives are of the 'Removable' type (RMPrepUSB will display which type it is).

This blue window will only appear if there is a Removable-type of USB flash drive with a \AutoUnattend.xml file on it. Windows only searches for this file on Removable drives.

E2B USB Hard disks (or Fixed-disk type USB Flash drives)

If your E2B USB drive is of the 'Fixed-disk' type, then for Windows ISO files, you will also need an extra 'Removable Disk' Helper USB Flash drive for Vista/7/8 installs, which will contain the \AutoUnattend.xml file. You will need to make and connect this small, removable-type of 'Helper' USB Flash drive and use a Real System (not a VM) if you want to use a USB 'Local/Fixed Disk' type of drive for E2B.

Note: Ensure that the NOHELPER variable is not set in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file. This will prevent the Helper USB Flash drive from working! If in doubt, delete the MyE2B.cfg file and try again.

Alternatively, use MakePartImage to make an image file (.imgPTN) from the ISO. You can then boot from an E2B USB hard disk or Removable disk without needing a 'Helper' flash drive. You can use a VM and you can also boot via UEFI too! 

Even if you are booting to E2B from a removable Flash drive using QEMU or a VM such as Virtual Box or VMWare, using a ISO file may not work because any USB drive will appear as a Fixed Disk under a VM and so Windows Setup will not see any 'Removable' USB drive.

Troubleshooting

1. Windows Setup boots and runs wpeinit.exe
2. All Removable-type drives are searched for a \AutoUnattend.XML file (CD\DVD\Flash drive)
3. The XML file is processed, it should contain RunSynchronous section which tells Windows to run a .cmd file (e.g. LOADISONP.CMD)
4. The CMD file runs Imdisk which loads the Windows ISO file as a virtual DVD drive (blue cmd window should be seen)
5. Windows Setup can now access the \Sources\Install.wim file on the virtual DVD drive (e.g. Y:) to obtain the Windows files it needs.

To find out what the problem is, get to the Window Setup error point (or just before) and press SHIFT+F10 to open a command console.

First check that the USB drive can be accessed by Windows (use DIR C:\, DIR D:\, etc. to find it or run Notepad - File Open dialogue box to find it).

If using a WINHELPER USB flash drive, that should also be accessible by Windows.

If using a Removable-type E2B drive, check the contents of the \AutoUnattend.xml file has LOADISO.CMD or LOADISONP.CMD entries in it. 
If using a WINHELPER USB flash drive, then check the contents of the \AutoUnattend.xml file has LOADISO.CMD or LOADISONP.CMD entries in it.

Then look in the log file X:\Windows\Panther\Setupact.log. The lines after

Read more: https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/unattended-installs/

Windows 10 (especially 1903?) seems to get very confused sometimes. It may think your E2B drive is corrupt and may want to format both partitions.

Another symptom is that it will not assign any drive letters to it.

The drive may look OK on a different system and may boot OK.

The fix!

1. Download and run NirSoft USBDeview.exe (USB Device Viewer).

2. Highlight the USB drive

3. Right-click - Uninstall Selected Devices

4. Now unplug and reconnect the USB drive.

Please use v1.B7 or later (check Alternate Download sites - Latest Beta folder).

Some modern (2018 or later) UEFI BIOSes do not allow MBR (Legacy BIOS) access to the internal hard disks! They do allow MBR-booting from external disks however (often a BIOS option).

Usually there is no BIOS configuration option to enable Legacy access to the internal hard disks.

This means that you cannot MBR-boot from the internal disks.

The system can only be installed with a UEFI OS because you cannot MBR\Legacy boot from the internal disk.

This means that you must UEFI-boot from a FAT32 .imgPTN UEFI image (Linux or Windows) in order to be able to access and install an OS onto the internal disk.

In the case of Win7/8/10, that means the internal boot disk must contain GPT partitions. 

If your E2B drive works OK using the \QEMU_MENU_TEST (run a admin).cmd utility but not on a real system, then your BIOS is probably one of the newer UEFI BIOSes. 

Most UEFI BIOSes only boot 64-bit UEFI boot files.

By default, the manufacturer will have configured your BIOS to only boot from UEFI boot files.

The E2B menu system only works using the older Legacy\MBR BIOSes which is what QEMU_MENU_TEST uses.

There are two solutions, 1) Set the BIOS to CSM\Legacy boot, or 2) make a UEFI-bootable .imgPTN file and add it to the E2B drive:

Tip: Make sure you connect the USB drive first and then power-on the computer before entering the BIOS Setup menu.

1. (Recommended) Go into the BIOS settings menu of the target system and set:

• Secure Boot: Disable  - this allows UEFI-booting from unsigned boot files
• CSM\Legacy: Enable   - this enables the older type of BIOS
• Fast Boot: Disable      - this ensures that the BIOS enumerates USB drives on startup

2. To UEFI-boot, you must convert your payload\ISO to a partition image file (and it must be UEFI-bootable):

1. Convert the UEFI-compatible ISO to a .imgPTN file using the MPI Tool Pack.
2. Copy the .imgPTN file to the E2B drive
3. Run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS (run as admin).cmd
4. Run \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe in Windows and double-click on the .imgPTN file to 'switch' in the new partition
5. Now plug the E2B USB drive onto the target system and boot from it.

UEFI Multiboot

You cannot directly UEFI-boot from an ISO file using the E2B menu.

To boot via UEFI, you first need to convert each payload to a partition image file (.imgPTN).

When you select a .imgPTN file from the E2B menu, it will replace the E2B partition on the USB drive with the new partition - i.e. the first partition on the E2B USB drive will now contain the contents of whatever files were inside the partition image file.

To understand what UEFI is and how it differs from Legacy BIOSes - please read this page then watch the YouTube video.

How to convert your UEFI-bootable ISO to a .imgPTN file and UEFI-boot it

1. First convert your 'payload' file (e.g. ISO) to a FAT32 .imgPTN file using MakePartImage (use the MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut provided).
2. Then copy it onto your E2B USB drive and make sure it is contiguous.
3. Next, boot from the E2B USB drive in MBR mode as normal and choose the .imgPTN file from the E2B menu system. When it runs it will swap in the payload partition and the E2B partition will be replaced with a FAT32 partition which is UEFI-bootable.
4. Finally, reboot the system from the USB drive in UEFI mode (you should see a 'UEFI: xxx USB drive' menu entry in the UEFI-BIOS Boot Selection menu) - it should now boot to the payload in UEFI mode.

If your system only boots via UEFI and cannot boot in MBR\CSM mode, then you need to MBR-boot the E2B drive in another way first and then switch in the .imgPTN file. You can use the the Windows \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe utility...

Other options include:

• Boot the E2B drive using another system that does support MBR/CSM booting
• Run the QEMU_MENU_TEST (run as admin).cmd script under Windows
• Run RMPartUSB - QEMU (F11) under Windows
• Boot the E2B drive using MobaLiveCD.exe under Windows (which uses QEMU) - this is a single .exe file which can be kept on your E2B USB drive
• Boot the E2B drive using VirtualBox+VMUB (see here for details)
• Boot the E2B drive using VMWare
• Boot to WinPE from another USB drive and run QEMU or SWITCH_E2B - see here for details.
• Add WinPE files to a second FAT32 partition on the E2B drive and UEFI boot to WinPE so you can run SWITCH_E2B.exe.

Sorry! There was a bug in v1.B2. 

This was fixed in v1.B3c, 1.B3 and later versions.

Please update to latest version (or downdate to v1.B1).

If you still see this error when using v1.B3 - please delete the XP ISO file from the E2B drive and replace it with a fresh copy (E2B may have incorrectly patched the ISO file).

See here.

INFORMATION: No internal Hard Disk (hd1) detected by BIOS!
Some payload files may not work correctly.

If the BIOS does not detect any hard disks in the system, E2B will warn you with this message.

This informational message may be seen when you boot E2B on a system that has no working internal hard disk fitted.

(hd0) will be the USB boot drive, (hd1) will be the first internal hard disk (if present).

Some of the menus and operations in E2B assume that an internal hard disk will be present in the system and may not work correctly or may report an error if no other disk is detected.

This message will always be seen when you boot to E2B using the QEMU_MENU_TEST (run as admin).cmd script because the QEMU script sets up a virtual machine which does not contain an internal hard disk. If you also want an internal hard disk under QEMU, use RMPrepUSB to run QEMU.

Tip: You can suppress this message (and some other informational messages) by using set redir=1 in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file but this is not recommended.

Modern 2018+ systems

Many modern systems support UEFI BIOS + limited CSM\Legacy mode - the CSM\Legacy mode does not allow Legacy access to any internal disks (only UEFI access is allowed).

This means that you can MBR-boot from an external USB device, but you will not be able to see any of the internal disks.

The only solution is to UEFI-boot (from a .imgPTN file).

The disk file system probably has numerous 'gaps' in it due to many file additions and deletions since it was first formatted.

To avoid this problem (v1.B0 or later)

Copy the secondary file (not the .imgptn* file) to a \_ISO folder on second partition on the E2B drive.

Example 1
E2B Ptn 1 - \_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntu64.imgptn
E2B Ptn 2 - \_ISO\Ubuntu64

Example 2
E2B Ptn 1 - \_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntu64.imgptnX4Winpe
E2B Ptn 2 - \_ISO\Winpe

Example 3
E2B Ptn 1 - \_ISO\LINUX\Ubuntu64.imgptnX4Winpe  and Ubuntu64   (must be in order)
E2B Ptn 2 - \_ISO\Winpe

To re-order the files on a fragmented USB drive

If you have a slow or

You can use "USB:\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Backup_E2B_drive_to_MASTER.cmd" and "USB:\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Restore_E2B_drive_from_MASTER.cmd" for this. The partition must be formatted after the backup.

If you have a large USB3 drive then try this...

1. Run Defraggler - select the E2B USB disk (in it's E2B state with the\_ISO folder visible) and select Analyze

2. Defraggler - Action - Advanced - Defrag free space (allow for fragmentation).

3. Defraggler - Analyze - select all fragmented files that are under \_ISO (if any) and click 'Defrag'.

4. Run USB:\MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS (run as admin).cmd.

5. Run USB:\_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe and select the .imgPTN file - if prompted to Move the files, answer 'Yes'. This time it should work!

Use DeFraggler to make files on the second partition contiguous (Explorer - (right-click) - Defraggler - Defragment).

This is due to a bug in grub4dos and seems to occur when the ISO file is not contiguous and E2B tries to mount and unmount the file.

This bug may be present in E2B v1.B0 to v1.B6. Please update to E2B v1.B7 or later (2019-10-10).

See blog article for more details.

VMUB v1.72 is not compatible with VBox v6.

Only use VBox v5.

Info

VBox v6 and VMUB v1.72 are not fully compatible.

To run an existing VM with VBox 6 you need to call VirtualBoxVM.exe but to add/change a VM in VBox 6 you need to call VirtualBox.exe. VMUB v1.72 can only call one .exe.

With VBox v5 there was no VirtualBoxVM.exe.

Temporary workaround for VBox v6 (--startvm error):

VMUB - Options - VirtualBox - Exe Path = C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VirtualBoxVM.exe

However, this does not work when adding new VMs or changing a VM to use a new USB drive. 

So you must use VBox v5.

Some E2B Windows helper apps such as E2B_Editor.exe, SWITCH_E2B.exe, Make_E2B.exe, etc. are written in Visual Basic 6.

There is a bug in some versions of Windows which give this error with VB6 applications.

See here for details.

Microsoft released the following cumulative updates on August 16, 2019 that address the Visual Basic issues in these operating systems:

• Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1: KB4517297
• Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: KB4517298
• Windows 10 version 1709: KB4512494

Copy the ISO to \_ISO\Windows\xxxx folder, e.g. \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 folder for Windows 10 Install ISOs.

Even though some ISOs may work on some systems if you place the ISO in a normal menu folder such as \_ISO\MAINMENU, it will work more reliably if you use the correct \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxxx folder (especially if your system has

If your E2B drive is not a 'Removable' Flash drive, you may need to add a small WinHelper USB Flash drive before you boot to E2B.

For UEFI booting + MBr booting, make a partition image of the ISO using MakePartImage. 

Note: Special attention is required when converting a Win7 64-bit ISO to a .imgPTN file for UEFI-booting.

Windows 10 does not normally require you to specify a Product Key, so you can use the NO KEY (choose a version to install) option. If you do select a Product Key, it MUST match the version of Win 10 that you are installing or you may get a 'License error'.

Windows 8 may require you to input a Product Key unless you choose an XML file or Product Key when prompted. If you have placed the ISO in a dfferent menu folder, then no XML file will be used and it may not work correctly.

XP\Vista\Win7 do not have USB 3.0 drivers or modern drivers for new hardware, so use a USB 2.0 port or see here.

E2B will work using standard Microsoft Windows Install ISOs. Some modified All-in-One ISOs may not work correctly as a .ISO file - in this case, convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file.

Make sure you have placed the ISO in the correct \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxx folder.

Choose a suitable Product Key when prompted (these keys are legal Microsoft keys which only work for installation purposes, they cannot be activated).

To avoid picking an XML file or Product Key, when you are prompted to press [ENTER] or Setup\Repair, then press [ENTER] quickly. You can instead copy the Win8 ISO to a 'standard' folder (such as \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN) and run it using the standard menu (E2B v1.A8+).

This issue is usually because you have not selected the correct Product Key when asked to by E2B before Setup starts to run. e.g. A Windows 8.1 Pro Retail\OEM ISO requires a Win8.1 Pro Retail Product Key. A Windows 8.1 Pro Volume Licence ISO requires a Win 8.1 Pro VL Product Key.

Typically, a Retail ISO will contain multiple editions (e.g. Core and Pro). Some other versions (e.g. Enterprise or VL versions) may only contain one Edition.

Some Windows Install ISOs do not normally require a Product Key to be entered by the user when instaling from a DVD. However, when using E2B and installing from an ISO, you still need to specify the 'internal' Product Key. If you do not know the 'internal' Product Key, then install Windows using the DVD (or perhaps from a USB drive made using Rufus). When the install is finished, used an application like ProduKey or Magical Jelly Bean Key Finder to reveal the internal Product Key. Then use that same Product to install from the ISO using E2B.

An alternative for these types of instal ISO is to use E2B v1.A8 or later and place the ISO in a standard menu folder such as \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN.

The ISO is probably not a standard Microsoft ISO or you have not selected the correct Product Key to use in the XML file.

First try the 'No Key' XML file.

If that does not work, use E2B v1.A8 or later and try either:

1. Place the ISO in one of the standard E2B menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN)

or

2. Place the ISO in a suitable Windows Install menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10) and press ENTER when you are prompted to 'Press a key to Repair'.

Copy the ISO to the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN8 folder.

IMPORTANT: Many Windows 8/SVR2012 Install ISOs require a Product Key when using E2B (even if they don't normally ask for a Product Key).

Ensure that you know what the Product Key is and then select the correct one from the menu when asked by E2B. You can add more Product Keys to the menu - look at the .key files to see how to add the Product Key you need for your ISO.

If you use the wrong Product Key, you can get all sorts of errors such as incorrect licence, etc.

For UEFI booting, make a partition image of the ISO using MakePartImage.

Use the E2B+DPMS download or copy the Mass Storage driver pack files to the E2B USB drive (the Install ISO files can remain unaltered) and rename the .ini file - see here for details.

For Troubleshooting hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

Note that E2B v1.92+ contains a bug fix for AMD chipset drivers for XP.

Copy the ISO file to \_ISO\Windows\XP folder. To install it, you can either use the Step1/2 menu entries or use the WinPE install method (requires another WinPE ISO to be added).

See here for more details.

For Troubleshooting hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

Use the Site Map to find the relevant page.

Hirens

All items (files and folders) are sorted alphanumerically.

Use Windows Explorer to sort the files by name (click on the top of the Name column in Explorer) and that will be the order that the files will be listed in, in the E2B menu. 

E2B enumerates all payload files in the 2nd level folder and .mnu files in all folders: e.g. if you have files in folders $$FRED and FRED, this will be the menu order when they are alphabetically sorted by E2B:

\_ISO\MAINMENU\$$$Ubuntu.iso

\_ISO\MAINMENU\$$FRED\Doris.mnu

\_ISO\MAINMENU\$$FRED\ZPenny.mnu

\_ISO\MAINMENU\FRED\Jim.mnu

\_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZSubMenuAll.mnu

Note that sub-folders are sorted by name, together with payload files and .mnu files. You may need to change the name of the subfolder (e.g. change \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU to \_ISO\MAINMENU\$MNU) to make the menu entries list in a different order.

ZZSubMenuAll.mnu contains many Main menu entries in a pre-set order - if you want to change the order of these, then rename the file (e.g. rename to ZZSubMenuMe.mnu) and then edit it to change or modify the menu entries or their order.

E2B v1.A9 and later allows you to use a sort override prefix such as _nnn_ , the prefix is not displayed when the files are listed in the menu, e.g.

\_ISO\MAINMENU\_000_Ubuntu v13.1 64-bit.isodef
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_100_Ubuntu v13.1 32-bit.isodef
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_200_Ubuntu v13.1 64-bit with persistence.mnu
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_300_Ubuntu v12.1 32-bit.isodef
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_400_Ubuntu v12.1 64-bit.isodef

e.g. If you want the menu entry to appear before the 'Set default menu entry and timeout' menu entry, use _$$$000_ (up to _$$$999_) as a prefix.

e.g. If you want the menu entry to appear after the F8-F10 menu entries, use _ZZZ000_ (up to _ZZZ000_) as a prefix.

To add a blank menu entry (empty line) or separator line (dashed line), copy one of the blank .mnu files in the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\E2B Menu folder to your menu folder and rename it so it appears in the correct place - e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU\_251_A_BlankMenuEntry.mnu.

Highly Recommended: use the 'Update E2B Drive' button in the Make_E2B.exe GUI download - or extract the new version of E2B onto your Windows drive and run the \UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd Windows batch file from the new folder.

Otherwise, simply overwrite your existing E2B USB drive with the new version of E2B. You should not have changed any of the original E2B files, so overwriting should not undo any of your changes. 

If updating from E2B v1.5x to 1.6x or later, remove all old \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZ*.mnu file so that only ZZSubMenuAll.mnu and the ZZGRUB_USB_046.mnu menu files are left - otherwise you will get multiple Main menu entries.

If you have edited any of the original E2B files (which you should NEVER do!)  then you will need to use a utility such as WinMerge to see what changes have been made. 

Note: Unless the Mass Storage Driver Pack drivers have been updated (check the revision history), you only need to update using the smaller non-DPMS E2B download file, even if your original E2B drive was made from the larger E2B+DPMS download.

Tip: You can run "\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\CheckForUpdate.cmd" to check if a more recent version of E2B is available.

You may get this error when trying to switch to a .imgPTN file. The issue is caused by you downloading and using the latest version of RMPrepUSB 2.1.740+ to install a slightly different version of the grub4dos MBR boot code. This issue is fixed in MPI v0.081 and later. You can either remake the .imgPTN file or replace the \menu.lst file inside the .imgPTN file with the one from the .\csm folder of the new MPI download.

Although the issue can be fixed by re-installing grub4dos to the MBR of the E2B drive, the same error will occur again unless you update to MPI v0.081 or later and remake the .imgPTN file.

You should also update E2B to v.1.99 or later which fixes a problem with .imgPTN files not being able to change back to E2B mode.

See 'How to fix a corrupt drive' page.

If a USB drive once held a Windows To Go OS, Windows (10) may lock the drive to prevent you from causing any harm (it 'thinks' that it may have booted from it!).

You may be unable to CLEAN the drive or partition it.

First try selecting FAT32 instead of NTFS (in Make_E2B or RMPrepUSB).

If you are getting 'Cannot write to MBR' errors or 'Write-protect' errors, run diskmgmt.msc, right-click on the USB drive volume coloured bar and choose Delete Volume.

Then try unplugging the USB drive and re-connecting it.

The new Windows 10 Creators Edition (April 2017) appears to have a few new (ahem) 'features'.

It now seems to recognise the 2nd hidden partition on a normal E2B USB Flash drive (removable media) and offers to format it!

You can either cancel the Format pop-up dialogue box each time, or just go ahead and format it to prevent it from popping up every time you insert the E2B USB drive into a Windows 10 system.  IMPORTANT: Make sure it is the 31KB small partition - do not format it, if it is not the special E2B 31K partition because it may be a linux partition or something else that is important!

The new Win 10 version seems to be able to mount and give drive letters to multiple volumes on USB removable media now, even hidden ones (but not logical partitions)!

Update to the latest versions of E2B and RMPrepUSB to fix these issues when you make a new E2B drive.

Note1: If you view the USB drive in the Disk Management Console (diskmgmt.msc), it may not show the 2nd partition as being formatted or as having a drive letter! I guess Microsoft forgot to validate Windows properly before making everyone update!

Note2: If you have switched to a .imgPTN file, be careful not to format a perfectly valid ext\swap partition by mistake! Never attempt to resize partitions after you have switched in a .imgPTN file, it will corrupt your E2B drive! You can only resize partitions in 'normal' E2B mode (when you can see a \_ISO\e2b\grub folder).

E2B does not support modified XP ISO files which include a \$OEM$\ folder structure and use OEMPREINSTALL=Yes in a WINNT.SIF file.

If E2B finds such an ISO, it will automatically modify the ISO to change it to OEMPREINSTALL=No - this means that the $OEM$ folder will not be used and the XP files will not install correctly.

Solution

To work around this:

1. Create a new USB Flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB and your XP ISO file

2. Test that your WinSetupFromUSB flash drive works correctly

3. Drag-and-drop the WinSetupFromUSB flash drive letter onto the MPI_FAT32 or MPI_NTFS Desktop shortcut to make a new .imgPTN file from the USB drive (you will need to install the MPI Tool Kit onto your office Windows system)

4. Copy the .imgPTN file to your E2B USB drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN)
    Note: A .imgPTN file will not work in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\XP folder.

Ensure that Windows has assigned a drive letter to the USB drive of between C: and Z:.

Do not use drive letters of A: or B: for the USB drive.

To change the drive letter, type Windows-key+R - diskmgmt.msc - right-click on the drive partition - change drive letter.

Use the latest version of RMPrepUSB and E2B (inc. fix for Windows 10 Creator update).

If using Windows 10 - sometimes unplugging and reconnecting the USB drive prevents Windows 10 from locking the drive.

Fake Drive?

If you use the Make_E2B.exe GUI on a USB HDD that is over 137GB in size, it will automatically limit the partition size to approx 137GB (128GiB) in size.

This is because many BIOSes have a serious bug. They cannot access any file past 137GB on a USB drive (using the MBR\CSM BIOS).

You can use the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd button to make a full-sized partition, however you should be aware that on some systems with this 137GB BIOS bug, any file past 137GB on the USB drive will not be accessible by the BIOS. E2B will warn if it detects a buggy BIOS as it boots.

One alternative, is to make a large second partition on the USB HDD.

I recommend using Easeus Partition Master Home Edition (free):

1. Delete the small 2nd partition on the E2B drive

2. Create a new second PRIMARY NTFS partition

3. Don't forget to click Apply or nothing will happen!

You can use the second partition for backup images, etc.

I do not recommend using Removable USB flash drives that are larger than 128GiB.
Older Windows versions can only access the 1st partition of a Removable-type USB drive 
This means that the 2nd partition will not be accessible under Windows or WinPE.

(note: Win10 Creator update and later versions can now access a 2nd partition!).

1. Right-click on the \menu.lst file - Properties - Hidden

2. Now run the E2B download .exe file and click on the Update button (or run .\UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD from the extracted folder)

This will now hide the files in the root.

From now on, if you update E2B with a later version, the files in the root of the USB drive will remain hidden.

Original:

      > now..    

The Main Menu heading and Menu help text ('F7/F8/F9/F10 easy2boot.com') are set in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file.

Use the Sample_MyE2B.cfg as a template for your own MyE2B.cfg file or use the E2B_Editor.exe utility to design your menu. e.g.

!BAT

set HEADING=\x20 EASY2BOOT MAIN MENU (%VER%) %B64% %day%-%month%-%year%

set HELPTEXT=Help [F1]  Reboot [F9]  Power Off [F10]

#or for no footer text - uncomment the next line
###set HELPTEXT=\x20

This might happen if you are installing linux to a partition on the E2B drive and you let it install grub to the MBR (/dev/sdx) instead of /dev/sdx3 or /dev/sdx1.

To fix:

First install grub4dos to the MBR 

RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos - MBR=Yes  (do not copy grldr)

Next make a copy of the MBR...

RMPrepUSB - Drive->File - mbr.bin - start=0 - length=0 (all) - filestart=0

then write the MBR to LBA30...

RMPrepUSB - File->Drive - mbr.bin - start LBA=30 = length=0 (all) - filestart=0

Now you should be able to boot to the CSM Menu and switch back to the E2B menu and then switch to the .imgPTN menu at will.

See Repair a corrupt E2B drive

StartRep.exe will immediately give an 'Application Error' dialog box if you boot the ISO with an XML file specified (as used by E2B).

Use E2B v1.86 or later. When you select a Win8\10 ISO you will immediately be prompted to press any key to Repair Windows...

Press any key for Windows Setup\Repair only...

Alternatively, copy the Windows 8/10 ISO to \_ISO\WIN folder and give it a .iso file extension.

When you boot from the ISO, choose the standard Setup 'Repair' option (Alt+R).

This will allow you to repair (but not install) Windows.

Make sure you have the latest version of MPI.

If the ISO is based on isolinux\syslinux then MPI_FAT32 may not have used the correct version of  syslinux (e.g. syslinux v4).

Typically you will see a SYSLINUX error message when it tries to boot and there may be syslinux boot options in the CSM menu. Sometime, pressing the TAB key will list some choices - type the choice that you want to use.

Look at the ISO files to see if there are isolinux folders or files.

If so, use the MakePartImage.cmd shortcut to make the .imgPTN file.

You should be prompted to choose a version of syslinux.

Choose a different version of syslinux than the one used previously.

If version 5 does not work, then re-make the .imgPTN file and choose syslinux 6.

Look in the 'List of tested payloads' page for instructions for your particular ISO.

Switch_E2B.exe only lists USB drives which have the grub4dos MBR boot code installed in the first sector of the disk.

It is possible that the boot code has been replaced (even though it may still boot successfully to E2B by using the PBR boot code).

To fix, run RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos - Yes=MBR  (do not overwrite the glrdr file).

Ensure Windows has assigned a drive letter to the USB drive (and all internal hard disks).

Bug in earlier versions meant sometimes E2B drive was not listed in drive listbox - update to SWITCH_E2B v1.0.20 or later (E2B v1.A4+).

Some USB Flash drives have really good read\write specifications for sequential file access (used for large files) but terrible performance for random 4K write accesses (typically used for writing small files).

The E2B+DPMS download contains thousands of small files (XP Mass Storage driver files) and this can cause these inferior performance affects to be seen. Transferring large files may work fine. An example of such a drive is the Lexar P20 flash drive. 

A good test is to use 7Zip and extract all files from an XP ISO (approx 580MB which contains 1000+ files) onto the USB drive. Then compare this with the time it takes to copy the large XP.ISO file (e.g. 45 minutes v. 10 seconds!)

See my blog post here.

See 'repair' page

If you have a mainboard made after approx 2010, it may be in UEFI-only boot mode. In this mode it will only boot from UEFI boot files.

You need to change the firmware Setup options to enable CSM Mode (sometimes called BIOS or Legacy or MBR mode) and disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot.

See here for an Acer YouTube video.

If E2B works OK on some systems and QEMU and VBox but not on other systems and you get just a flashing cursor and no wallpaper and no menu displayed, this may be due to a graphics mode problem and grub4dos 0.4.6a compatibility.

Ensure that the E2B drive has at least 2 Primary partitions (this is the default arrangement) - if there is only one Primary partition then add another Primary partition of any type of size to the USB drive using Easeus Home Master partition tool. If you are booting from a .imgPTN image and get this issue, try renaming the file extension to .imgPTN23.

Try copying \_ISO\e2b\grub\grldr_045 to \grldr and replace the existing \grldr file. This will make E2B use grub4dos 0.4.5c instead of 0.4.6a. If it fixes the problem, E2B should still work but .jpg wallpapers will not work and Arabic (right-to-left language) support will not fully work. Please let me know if you think there is a problem with grub4dos 0.4.6a.

This problem can also be caused by the wrong BIOS configuration settings. Ensure the USB drive boots as a 'hard disk' and not as a Floppy drive or ZIP drive. Try different USB BIOS boot options. Do not set the USB drive as the first boot device - instead use a BIOS hotkey (e.g. F12 or F8)pop-up menu to select the boot device. Switch of the PC\notebook (power off not reset) and try again.

You can also try formatting the E2B USB drive using FlashBoot. This is a commercial product but you can try it using a trial version first. 

Windows 7 does not include USB 3 drivers, so make sure you use a USB 2.0 port for your mouse, keyboard and USB drive (or PS/2 port). Even this may not work if the chipset is very new.

Look in the BIOS Settings menu for an option to do with 'USB KBC Support' or 'Win7 keyboard support' or 'XHCI support' or other USB options - e.g. DEVICES>USB SETUP>USB VIRTUAL KBC SUPPORT>ENABLED

Another alternative is to add the USB 3 drivers to the Win7 install ISO. Google for 'Win7 USB Patcher' or 'Intel Windows 7 USB 3.0 Creator Utility'.

Tip: I find it easier to boot from any recent Windows Install ISO that supports USB 3.0 (e.g. Win 8.1 or Windows 10), and then run WinNTSetup.exe and install the Windows 7 ISO. There is no need to modify the Windows 7 64-bit ISO if you use this method.

This is a BIOS bug, it is not a problem with E2B!
Many system BIOSes have a 137GB (128GiB) USB limit. This bug will affect other multiboot utilities like YUMI, XBOOT, SARDU, etc. too!

E2B checks for a particularly common bug with many BIOSes. Although the BIOS can access all sectors of a large internal (non-USB) hard disk, many BIOSes have a bug in their USB BIOS code which means they cannot access any USB disk sector beyond 137GB. If you have a >137GB USB drive and you see the 'BIOS BAD!' error message, then your BIOS has this bug and your BIOS cannot access any sector past 137GB on your USB drive. Once you boot to a linux or Windows XP+ OS, the BIOS is not used any more and the OS should be able to access all sectors on your drive.

You can press [ENTER] key to continue booting but you may get more errors. If so, again press [ENTER] until you reach the E2B Menu. However, if you have any files that are past 137GB on the USB drive, you may find that they do not work.

You also may find that if you try to use .imgPTN files, they will not 'switch in' or you cannot boot to the CSM menu on systems which have this BIOS bug.

If your E2B drive is less than 137GB, then this error message is probably caused by the last partition on the E2B USB drive extending to the very end of the USB drive. In this case you can either use the E2B download or RMPrepUSB v2.1.730+ to reformat your USB drive (or use the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script) or simply reduce the size of the last partition on your USB drive by using a free utility such as EaSeus Home Partition Master and move the end of the last partition back by about 1MB or so.

Fixes

Possible fixes are:

1. Make sure you have the latest revision of BIOS for your system.

2. Use the grub4dos 0.4.6a fast USB 2.0 driver  (Utilities Menu). This has it's own USB drivers which will replace the buggy BIOS USB driver (see below for details).

3. You can set CHECKBIOS= in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to suppress the warning message but this does not fix the BIOS, so some payload files beyond the 137GB position on the disk may fail to boot!

4. Make the first E2B partition

Fast USB 2.0 driver

To check the BIOS, boot to the E2B Utilities menu - you will see a menu entry 'Install the Grub4dos USB Driver' - run this and if you are using a USB 2.0 port and have a compatible chipset/mainboard, grub4dos will detect your USB device and install the new USB driver which will replace the bad BIOS USB driver. Not all chipsets are suported however.

If the grub4dos USB driver detects the USB drive, then all menu entries should now work (even if the files are situated past 137GB on the USB drive).

If you hold down the SHIFT key as E2B boots, it will automatically load the grub4dos fast USB driver. If the driver fails to recognise your USB drive try a different (front, side or rear) USB port instead (some PCs use two or more different USB controllers for different ports).

You can set E2B to always load the 0.4.6 USB driver my making a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file and adding a set GRUB_USB=Y line.

CSM Menu booting

There is no way to fix booting to the CSM menu (when a .imgPTN file is used as a new partition and the .imgPTN file is situated beyond 137GB on the USB drive), because the new partition and the grub4dos \grldr file may be beyond the 137GB point and so the MBR BIOS cannot load grub4dos! You can UEFI-boot using the system UEFI firmware (if that isn't buggy too!), and then use QEMU\VBox\Switch_E2B to switch to the E2B menu when finished.

Keep the E2B files in the first 137GB on the USB disk

If some of the E2B files are situated on the USB drive beyond the 137GB point, then you could try re-making the E2B drive and then copying on your payload files again. Reformatting and then copying over the E2B files in this way will ensure that all E2B files are before the 137GB point. However, if you update the USB drive with a later version of E2B, you may find that some of the E2B files are now beyond the 137GB point again, and it may fail to correctly boot to the E2B menu. It is best to simply use a 137GB (128GiB) partition for E2B and use the spare disk space for another Primary partition to hold your own user files.

Some older Dell systems have a buggy BIOS. First try updating the DELL system to the latest BIOS firmware version.

If that does not fix the issue, modify the XP install .ISO file as follows:

1. Load the ISO file using 7Zip

2. Download the ntd file from the E2B Alternate Downloads Area - Other Files, rename it to ntd.zip and extract the ntdetect.com file

3. Drag-and-drop the ntdetect.com file into the 7Zip \i386 folder to replace the existing \i386\ntdetect.com file

4. Quit 7Zip and save any changes

For copyright reasons, the Easy2Boot download does not contain the Microsoft file 'bootmgr'.

If you see this message when attempting to directly boot an NT6 OS from a .VHD, .VHDX or .WIM file, it means that you need to find a copy of the Windows 8.1 bootmgr file and copy it to the \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD folder of your Easy2Boot USB drive.

E2B v1.93 and later versions now have a \_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd script. Just run this to add the correct version of bootmgr to any connected E2B USB drive.

As E2B enumerates the files press the SPACEBAR quickly twice - this should pause file enumeration. Now check to see if E2B has actually detected your file. If it has not detected it then you may have an invalid file extension - .txt, .cmd and files with no file extension will not be added to the E2B menus. 

The most common mistake is that you have copied the file to the wrong menu folder/directory, see here for details. Windows Installer .imgPTN files should NOT go in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\XP folder. Remember that for the ' normal' sub-menu folders, .ISO and other payload files are only auto-detected if they are at the 2nd level (e.g. \_ISO\BACKUP) - they will not be detected at lower folder levels unless you also add a .mnu file.

Check that the file extension is correct. If you are using a Windows system, right-click on the file and click on 'Properties' to check the file extension or use the E2B - UTILITIES MENU - ls (dir) menu to list files in a menu folder - check the file name and file extension is correct.

If you have created a .txt file of the same name as the ISO or payload file, then check the syntax of the text. If in doubt, delete the .txt file and reboot.

Next, did you enable 'FASTLOAD'  (does the file \FASTLOAD.YES exist)? - if so, you need to press F8 in the Main Menu to refresh the menu cache file whenever you add or delete a payload file.

Files with special suffixes may not be listed in the menu - for instance 'Ubunto.iso64 will only be listed in the menu if booted on a system that contains a 64-bit CPU.

Use the Utilities - DIR (ls) menu to list files in the folder.

If you are still having problems, boot to E2B and type  SHIFT+P, enter the password (default='easy2boot') and then type SHIFT+C to get to the grub4dos shell console. Now you can look for your file, e.g.

ls /_ISO/WINDOWS/WIN7/     - list files in \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 folder

ls /_ISO/MAINMENU/wi [TAB]  - where [TAB] is the TAB  key - lists all files beginning with 'wi' in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder

Check the file extension is listed as expected (note: grub4dos lists spaces in a filename with a preceding \ symbol - e.g. /_ISO/MAINMENU/Spaces\ in\ this\ filename.iso).

Note: It is possible, by using a .mnu file or .txt file or a .iso64 or .iso32 file extension, to prevent the payload from being listed on 32-bit or 64-bit systems.

It may be that you have too many .mnu files and that you have exceeded the buffer space which E2B uses to store the whole dynamic menu. Try moving some of your payloads and .mnu files to a different menu folder (or create a new menu folder).

Use the E2B_Editor.exe GUI to configure E2B

OR

To use your own wallpaper image, copy your own 800x600x24 colour mybackground.bmp or mybackground.jpg file to the \_ISO folder  (you can compress a .bmp to a .bmp.gz using 7Zip and by selecting gzip as the compression type – this greatly reduces the file size).

OR

CSM MakePartImage menu

First try a standard ISO from a reputable source.

If you have made the ISO yourself, a common mistake is that you have not included the correct boot file and so the ISO is not actually bootable.

If there is a specific ISO or payload that you cannot get to work, or you want to alter E2B in some way...

1. Make sure you  press SCROLL LOCK to light the LED before you select the ISO - this will force E2B to show you suggested file extensions when you run the ISO
2. Search this site for the name of the payload/ISO (e.g. 'ubuntu')
3. Check in the list of tested payloads here and also use the Site Map (signpost icon)
4. Check the Sample .mnu Files list here  (and check the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files folder of your E2B download)
5. Search my blog here
6. Google it
7. Contact Me

Special instructions for Windows 7 64-bit UEFI booting here.

The ISO does not contain the correct EFI boot file for USB booting, it only contains the CD boot file \EFI\boot\cdboot.efi which is not used when booting from a disk. To fix this...

1. Make a .imgPTN file from the Win7 64-bit install ISO using the MPI_FAT32 shortcut

2. Switch to the .imgPTN file using the E2B menu (e.g. using \QEMU_MENU_TEST (run as admin).cmd or real system)

3. Connect E2B drive to a Windows\Linux system so you can access the files

4. Move the \efi\microsoft\boot folder up one level into the efi folder as \efi\boot (see piccy below). 

5. Using 7-zip, open the original ISO and navigate to the \sources\install.wim  -  1\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi on the E2B USB drive, select the bootmgfw.efi file, copy it to the \EFI\boot folder on the E2B USB  drive.

6. Rename \EFI\boot\bootmgfw.efi to bootx64.efi

OR

1. Use RUFUS to create a FAT32 (not GPT) UEFI-bootable flash drive

2. Drag-and-drop the USB flash drive letter onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut to make a .imgPTN file

3. Copy the .imgPTN file to your E2B USB drive

You must boot to E2B and choose XP Install - Step 2 - do not try to boot from the hard disk after Step 1 has completed.

"Files Needed" 
The file 'Asms' on Windows XP Professional CD-ROM is needed. Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK. 
GLOBALROOT\DEVICE\CDROM0\I386

If you see the error message from a Windows XP install from ISO after choosing Step 2 from the Easy2Boot XP install menu, please ensure you are using E2B v1.51a or later. There was a bug in v1.32-1.51.

This error means that XP is unable to find the source installation files which it expects to find in the \i386 folder of the installation device. In the case of running from E2B this can mean that FiraDisk was unable to access the USB drive and load the ISO as a virtual drive. 

You will know if the ISO is loaded into RAM because it will take a minute or two to load before it starts to boot from the hard disk into the GUI mode of XP Setup. e.g.

Loading XOPROSP3.ISO into memory - please wait...  

  [312M/589M]  

Tip: If you are still getting a 'missing file' error - try disabling the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM in the BIOS Setup menu before installing XP.

For hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

Make sure the ISO file is contiguous. Run WinContig (RMPrepUSB - Ctrl+F2) or Defraggler (right-click on the ISO file).

Make sure the ISO is bootable. Some ISOs are 'update' ISOs and not designed to be bootable. Look for a boot file such as \ntldr or \bootmgr

Tip: You can test directly booting from an ISO file by using RMPrepUSB.exe - File - Boot from ISO file using emulator (Ctrl+F11).

Ensure you are not using USB 3.0 ports. If you have tried loading the ISO into memory and tried the 1, 2 and 3 DPMS options for Firadisk\WinVBlock, then there is probably some USB/reset/chipset incompatibility. Installing direct from an ISO does not always work on some systems - it is not as reliable as a 1-step process but in order to install direct from an ISO, two USB boot steps are required.

If you have made a USB Flash drive that does install XP using some other method, e.g. Rufus or YUMI or WinSetupFromUSB (which also uses the DPMS2 code from E2B and is recommended), then make an image of that USB Flash drive using MakePartImage. Watch the YouTube videos on MakePartImage to see how to install it. Then just drag-and-drop the USB Flash drive icon that you want to make an image from, onto the MPI NTFS Desktop shortcut. Then copy the image to your E2B USB drive and run WinContig on it.

Note: Use the latest version of E2B. This blog post may help.

Tip: If you are getting a 'missing file' error - try disabling the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM in the BIOS Setup menu before installing XP.

For hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

Simply ensure that the \_ISO\BACKUP, \_ISO\BACKUP_LINUX, \_ISO\DOS, \_ISO\UTILITIES and \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST folders are empty (no sub-folders or files)

1. Boot the E2B drive in MBR mode using QEMU (you can use RMPrepUSB and press F11 to boot it or use a real system) and then select the 'Easy2Boot menu - switch' option from the CSM menu. 
2. If you don't see the CSM menu at all (it doesn't boot or just boots to the payload that was in the image) then run SWITCH_E2B.exe or  'RestoreE2B.cmd' under Windows, which you will find in the MakePartImage download and also on the E2B drive (in the \e2b folder if present). This must be run as admin from your Windows system.

If this happens on some systems but not all systems, re-make the .imgPTN file using MakePartImage v0.027 or later.

Tip: use an extension of .imgPTN23 if you want to keep the 2nd partition accessible.

N.B. Some UEFI systems will not offer the user a MBR\CSM boot option if there are UEFI boot files present on the USB drive. This means that after changing to an .imgPTN file which contains EFI boot files, you may not be able to boot to the CSM Menu and restore the drive back to the E2B menu. For these systems, you must either MBR-boot on a different system, or use a Windows system to run \e2b\SWITCH_E2B.exe to restore the E2B partitions.

The volume name of the ext file must be correct - check the instructions in the .mnu file carefully.

You MUST run WinContig after preparing the USB drive and making the ext file - all files including the ext file need to be contiguous. 

Check that you have created the ext file according to the instructions in the .mnu file (use the latest RMPrepUSB version 2.1.711+ which allows you to set the file name and volume name separately). 

Check the file name and the volume name are correct - you can edit\change the ext filename but do NOT change the name of the Volume name from the one specified in the .mnu file.

Try the .isomemF01 file exension 

OR 

Copy the ISO file to (for example) \_ISO\UTILITIES\Dart5 folder and also the ERD2005.mnu file. Copy, read and edit the ERD2005.mnu file (which can be found in the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files folder) for more details.

OR

For best results or if your target system has a SATA hard disk, use the DPMS2 version of E2B and the ERD5_DPMS.mnu sample menu. This allows you to repair an XP system containing SATA or RAID hard disks, even if the ISO does not contain suitable drivers!

Rename to .iso01 or use .isoPE01 to also mount the ISO file as a drive letter.

If using .isoPE01, you will need to have E2B on a Removable USB flash drive or also have a E2B Helper USB Flash drive connected. This will ensure that the ISO file is loaded as a virtual DVD when it boots to WinPE.

If you require UEFI booting of MSDaRT, use MakePartImage to convert the ISO into a partition image file - see here for details. This also avoids having to use a Helper USB Flash drive.

The start addresses of each 16-byte partition entry in the MBR partition table must be in ascending order - otherwise you may not get a UEFI boot option. Use SWITCH_E2B.exe to re-order the files if required.

The problem may be due to the UEFI firmware not 'liking' the partitions that it sees once you have switched to the new .imgPTN file. The UEFI specification is not very precise and so some manufacturers can interpret it differently. Also it may just be a bug in the firmware on that system (see if there is a later BIOS update available from the manufacturer).

First try selecting the .imgPTN file using both the E2B Menu system (by MBR-booting) and then try again by using the SWITCH_E2B.exe utility. Check if they both give the same results (if not please Contact Me with the details).

Next, try experimenting with different file extensions for the .imgPTN file - e.g.

• .imgPTNLBAa
• .imgPTNna
• .imgPTNAUTO
• .imgPTNa
• .imgPTNLBA
• .imgPTNa23

If you find this fixes the problem, again please Contact Me with the details, so I can tweak the next version!

Make sure you have enable the BIOS for Legacy\CSM booting. You cannot boot to the E2B menu using UEFI.

If MBR-booting, this problem is usually due to a 'bad' BIOS. First check if there is a more recent BIOS for that system on the manufacturers web site. 

Next, check the BIOS settings to make sure it is booting the USB drive as a Hard/Fixed Disk. Also check that your BIOS Setup menu is set for Legacy/CMS mode and not UEFI mode. 

If you see an error message, check the FAQ list on this page for the exact message.

If the 'check last sector' test is causing a problem, reformat using RMPrepUSB v2.1.714 or later. If necessary, you can just delete the \_ISO\E2B\grub\checkaccess.g4b file (but be aware that the BIOS is still bad and so you may get other problems!).

If you see a 'Fatal! Inconsistent data read from (0x80) xxxxxx + 127' error  - reduce the size of the last partition by 1MB so that the very last sectors of the USB drive and unused.

Update to the most recent version of E2B.

Check how much RAM (memory) is available. If booting Windows Install ISOs on systems with

Short answer = No (not easily)!

You can boot from a CD containing Plop and then choose the boot from USB menu option in Plop to boot from the E2B USB drive, even if your system is not capable of booting from a USB drive directly.

However, Plop contains a read-only USB 2.0 driver that does not support writes to a USB device.

As most functions of E2B (e.g. boot from ISO) involve writing to the E2B boot drive or E2B helper Flash drive, writes need to be supported for E2B to work it's magic. 

Therefore, if you boot to Plop and then try to run an E2B menu entry, you will probably see a 'write error' message. However, if you use grub4dos 0.4.6a (standard in v1.62+ or a menu entry older versions), you can boot to E2B from Plop and then use the - Utilities - Install fast grub4dos usb 2.0 driver menu entry. The grub4dos USB 2.0 driver has full rd/wr support and after the USB driver is loaded, E2B should work as normal (until you reboot).

Tip: When you select the USB Boot option in Plop, hold down the SHIFT key first, before pressing ENTER. This will cause E2B to load the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver (E2B v1.91+).

Unfortunately, the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver has limited USB controller support and may not work on many modern systems!

You can also try using the USB_BOOT CD/ISO instead of using a Plop CD - see my blog post here.

Yes. Install grub4dos using RMPrepUSB and add the E2B files. See this section for details of how to avoid having to rename iso file extensions. When booting E2B, the Zalman will be seen as a Fixed Disk and so you will need a USB 'Helper' flash drive for some functions (e.g. Windows 7/8 Install isos).

First search this pa ge for the name of your particular version. There is a list of the different possible file extensions here.

Press SCROLL LOCK before you select the ISO file in the E2B menu to see suggestions.

If you are still having problems, name your .iso file as .isoask - you will then be prompted by E2B and asked how you want to run the .iso file. Once you find an extension that works, rename the file to whatever file extension worked best.

E2B may suggest you try .isoask and prompt you - answer I quickly and press ENTER  and E2B will display the .isoask menu for you.

To avoid being prompted, use the .isodefault file extension.

WinBuilder ISOs require a .iso file extension. If the filename ends in q or Q, the auto-suggest prompt will be suppressed - e.g. Gandalf_q.iso.

See  here  for MSDaRT or here for WinBuilder.

Try installing a Standard MBR using the RMPrepUSB - BootLoaders tab and installing grub4dos only to the PBR. If that doesn't work, try preparing a USB flash drive using flashboot - see Tutorial 113 for details.

If the problem is with .imgPTN files, try renaming them as .imgPTN23LBAa instead.

See the 'Some systems do not give a UEFI-boot option...' FAQ if it is a UEFI boot problem.

On older systems, you may have more luck using FlashBoot with E2B - see the box on this page for a link and a tutorial.

Ensure the BIOS boot order has the internal hard disk as the first disk (do not set the E2B USB boot disk as the first disk in the boot order). 

Then use the BIOS Boot selection menu (e.g. F8 or F11 or F12 or F10) to select the E2B USB drive to boot from. Remove any SD cards or other unnecessary storage devices. See here for a discussion. Ensure the internal hard disk has an active (bootable) partition.

If the internal hard disk has previously been formatted as GPT, you may need to use Diskpart - CLEAN and CONVERT MBR on it first.

This has probably been suppressed because E2B has to use an xml answer file. You may need to add a 'WillShowUI' section and make a new .xml file. Place it in the same folder as the Windows ISO. See here for an example file. Try selecting the Full_Language_UI.xml file (see \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7 folder for an example file).

You can also create an unattend.xml file to specify the exact language and country settings that you want and even fully automate the install - see here for more information.

This usually means your payload file (.ISO, .IMA, etc) was not bootable or it is corrupt. Some Windows ISOs are upgrade CDs or DVDs and are not bootable - they are designed to run from within Windows.

If you made the ISO yourself - do not use Joilet format and make sure you add in the boot sector code to make it bootable - see here for more details.

Use E2B v1.30 or later.

For Troubleshooting hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

The default \_ISO\CONTIG.ISO is 500MB in size. E2B can use the dd command to copy the contents of a non-contiguous ISO to CONTIG.ISO (which needs to be contiguous). This error message means that the ISO you want to boot is larger than CONTIG.ISO and so cannot be copied.

You can replace the CONTIG.ISO file with a larger file (of any type, any contents) and just rename as it as CONTIG.ISO. Then run WinContig to make sure the new CONTIG.ISO is contiguous.

Bear in mind that larger ISOs will, of course, take longer to copy into CONTIG.ISO.

If you don't want the 'Set default menu and timeout' menu entry, add this line to \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg (file must start with !BAT):

set DEFMENU=0

See here for more details.

Some systems + Windows 10 1803 have a compatiblity issue.

The simple fix is to disable Vt-d support in the BIOS settings for that system. See here for more information.

Note: Vt-d needs to be enabled to support MS Hyper-V (VM virtualisation).

If E2B reports that the file is not a .imgPTN file or displays ERROR 60: file not contiguous or corrupt - run WinContig on the drive (RMPrepUSB - Ctrl+F2) to make all files on the drive contiguous or run the \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd batch file. This works on the first partition of the USB drive only.

If your USB drive has more than one partition and the .imgPTN file is on the second partition, run WinContig.exe manually and select the partition to 'defrag'.

You should always use  MakePartImage to make .imgPTN files.

Note: Some USB Flash drives seem to have a problem with some system's BIOSes and are very slow - e.g. Emtec USB 3.0 Color Mix and Mushkin Flash drives. If possible, try a different make or model of USB Flash drive and also try a completely different computer.

If it takes a long time to display the Main Menu, then your BIOS probably has very poor USB drivers. It does not matter how fast the CPU is - it is the BIOS's USB code that is causing the slowness (or maybe some other USB device)! Known slow systems are: Asus P5E-VM, AMI BIOS MSI K9N Neo, Shuttle SD30G2 Core2Duo with Phoenix-Award BIOS, Shuttle SK21G, Dell GX260, Lenovo R51, systems with AWARD V6.00PG BIOS.

Tip: (E2B v1.91+) - press and hold down the SHIFT key just before E2B starts to boot. This will cause the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver to load which may result in much faster performance and also fix any BIOS 137GB limit bug. If the driver fails to recognise your USB drive try a different (front, side or rear) USB port instead (some PCs use two or more different USB controllers for different ports).

1. In the Utilities menu you can find a Measure USB Performance menu entry - 100 loops should take between 1 to 5 seconds. If it takes much longer than this, your BIOS has very bad USB driver code! Some bad BIOSes can take over 40 seconds!
   Try grub4dos 0.4.6a with it's own USB 2.0 driver to replace the BIOS USB driver. To do this, use the 'Install the Grub4dos USB driver' menu entry in the Utilities Menu (or hold down the SHIFT key just before E2B boots). If the driver successfully detects a USB device then try the Measure USB Performance test again to see if it is faster.
   To always enable the Grub4dos USB driver use  set GRUB_USB=Y in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to permanently enable it (not recommended).
   It is a USB 2.0 driver and may not work on all systems with USB 2.0 ports however.
2. Use a fast USB 3.0 drive if possible (even if you only have USB 2.0 ports). Slow USB 2.0 Flash drives can drastically affect the time it takes for the Main menu to appear. USB 2.0 card readers are notoriously slow!
3. You can delete any .mnu or other files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder that you don't need or move payload files to sub-menu folders.
4. Create more sub-menu folders using the \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd script and distribute your ISOs amongst these folders - e.g. \_ISO\CLONEZILLA, \_ISO\OPHCRACK, etc. A Menu will take longer to display if the menu folder contains lots of payload files.
5. File enumeration is much slower on NTFS E2B partitions (takes twice as long as FAT32 or exFAT) - so if possible, format your E2B drive using FAT32 if you have a slow USB drive.
6. You can pre-cache the Main menu by using the E2B 'Fastload' feature. Just copy the FASTLOAD.YES file (found in the \_ISO\docs\FASTLOAD folder) to the root of your E2B drive. After the first boot, the Main menu will be stored on the E2B drive. When you boot again, the menu contents will be read from the store. If you add another ISO to E2B \_ISO\MAINMENU folder, it will not show up in the Main menu until you reload the Main Menu (press F8).
7. If you are using a USB 'Removable-type' Flash drive then you will never need to use a 'Helper' USB Flash drive for Windows Vista/7/8 installs or for WinPE ISOs, so use the 'set NOHELPER=1' setting in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to tell E2B not to look for one during start-up.
8. If you have lots of files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU and lots of Windows Install ISOs in \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxx folders, then the Main menu can be slow to load on a slow USB Flash drive. Delete or move all uneccesary files from the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxx and \_ISO\MAINMENU folders and sub-folders (e.g. the empty 'hint' files with no file extension, ReadMe.txt files that are in the E2B download, any .mnu files that you will never use, .key and .xml files that you don't need, etc.). Files in the non-menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\docs) will not affect performance.
9. Try the TextMinimal MyE2B.cfg file (copy it from \_ISO\docs\Sample E2B Templates\TextMinimal to \_ISO). This suppresses loading of the large unifont file and bitmap wallpaper. This can save 10 seconds or so on a very slow system. 
   
   You can also use a plain coloured background instead of loading a large bitmap, by setting the wallpaper colour in the MyE2B.cfg file: e.g.
   set MYWBMP=0xCC77EE

To run .imgPTN files, you need to install grub4dos to the MBR (first sector) of the USB drive.

If you used the Make_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd file to make the USB drive or followed the instructions here and used RMPrepUSB then you should not see this error.

It is easy to fix. Just run RMPrepUSB, select the USB drive and click on Install grub4dos - and choose YES=MBR when asked. 

This will install the grub4dos boot code to the MBR of the USB drive. Be careful not to overwrite the \grldr file with an older version though!

If most systems boot successfully from a .imgPTN partition image file (including booting using RMPrepUSB - QEMU), but one type of system does not and you just get a flashing cursor, re-make the .imgPTN file using MakePartImage v0.027 or later. Also try renaming the file extension to .imgPTN23A. Ensure that a small 2nd partition is present (check using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - 0). If you have a 'BIOS BAD' message on booting E2B, make sure all files are below the 137GB point on the USB drive (or reformat/resize the E2B partition to be 137GB).

If you get a 'Missing MBR Helper' message when booting in MBR mode from a .imgPTN file on some systems, rename the file to .imgPTN23LBAa

You can use the \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe Windows utility 

OR...

Boot to the E2B Main Menu using QEMU first (from E2B drive run \QEMU_MENU_TEST (run as admin).cmd) in order to switch the partitions over to the UEFI image. 

By adding a second FAT32 partition containing WinPE boot files, you can UEFI-boot to WinPE and then run SWITCH_E2B.exe to switch-in any of your .imgPTN23 files containing your desired UEFI payload. See here for more details.

See also FAQ How do I boot a payload (ISO) file in UEFI mode?

If you want to UEFI-boot to Linux ISOs, you may find the E2B grub2 menu system more convenient.

Also read my blog post here.

If you are using a USB Hard Disk, this may be a detection issue. Look for a Hard Disk delay option in the BIOS Setup Menu and set it to 5-10 seconds.

Otherwise, when you get to the BIOS Boot Selection (BBS) menu, press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot and try again.

Different systems/models use different HotKeys for the BBS Menu:

Asus F8 or ESC, Sony F2, GateWay F10, Gigabyte F12, Dell F12, HP/Compaq Esc, Acer F12, eMachines F10, Toshiba F12, Fujitsu F12

Note this list is a guide only - different models may use a different hotkey!

Check you BIOS options for Secure Boot = Disable and CSM\Legacy boot mode = Enable.

Also note that many BIOSes require you to hold down the Fn key and then press the correct F key - there is often a BIOS option setting to enable\disable this very annoying feature!

If your E2B USB drive a 'Removable-type' USB Flash drive, add the ISO file to one of the E2B menu folders (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN) and rename the file extension as .ISOpe01. If your USB drive is of the 'Local\Fixed Disk' type, then you will also need to connect a USB 'Helper' Flash drive (any size). Your E2B drive obviously needs to be formatted as NTFS to hold large files.

If this fails to work, convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file (see below).

If your AIO ISO supports UEFI-booting or you don't want to use a 'Helper' flash drive, use MakePartImage to make a FAT32 partition image from the ISO. Then add the file to your E2B drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN) and rename the file extension as .imgPTNLBAa). You should now be able to boot to the image and install in both MBR and UEFI mode (if Clover is in the image, you can boot via Clover straight to UEFI mode).

In order to hold .imgPTN files that are larger than 4GB, you will need to make your E2B USb drive using the NTFS filesystem.

Note: Even if you ISO is larger than 4GB, as long as no file inside the ISO is larger than 4GB, you can convert it to a FAT32 .imgPTN file (the E2B volume needs to be formatted as NTFS).

If your ISO contains .wim or .esd files larger than 4GB and you want to support UEFI-booting, see here.

It may be due to a 'bad' BIOS. Is the .imgPTN file on a large hard disk and past 137GB? Does normal booting to E2B give you warnings about a BAD BIOS? If so there is not much that can be done. The grub4dos grldr file is located beyond the 137GB point and the BIOS has a USB disk-access bug and cannot access blocks past 137GB. 

To fix, erase and reformat the whole USB drive and copy the E2B and .imgPTN files on first so the important  image files are before 137GB on the disk. Files that you only boot to using E2B - e.g. ISO files, can be added after these. If you later try to add another .imgPTN file, make sure it is below the 137GB point, otherwise you will need to reformat and re-copy the .imgPTN files on first again!

If you have ISOs which are located beyond 137GB, use a USB 2.0 port and load the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver in the Utilities Menu before running the ISO file.

If some .imgPTN files successfully UEFI-boot but others do not, then it may be due to a number of reasons:

1. You must make a FAT32 .imgPTN file (e.g. use the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut). Do not use the MPI_NTFS shortcut because most UEFI systems cannot read NTFS partitions.

2. The ISO/payload does not support UEFI-booting. This is easy to spot. When you select the .imgPTN file in the Easy2Boot menu, it will list the .efi boot files that are present. The CSM menu also lists the UEFI .efi boot files. These are \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi for 64-bit UEFI systems and \EFI\boot\bootia32.efi for 32-bit UEFI systems. If these are not present in your ISO\payload then they do not support UEFI-booting. E2B and the MPI Toolkit cannot make a non-UEFI payload into a UEFI-bootable payload - it has to be UEFI-bootable and contain one or both of these UEFI boot files in the original ISO\payload.

3. The UEFI system you are trying to boot with is not the correct type and your UEFI payload only has the 'wrong' type of efi boot file.

• x86 32-bit UEFI firmware will only UEFI-boot from the \EFI\boot\bootia32.efi file
• x86 64-bit UEFI firmware will only UEFI-boot from the \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file

Note: Even though a system may contain a 64-bit CPU, the firmware may be a 32-bit UEFI version and thus only boot \EFI\boot\bootia32.efi files (e.g. Asus T100).

A few ISO\payloads contain both 32-bit and 64-bit UEFI boot files (e.g. Clonezilla and Parted Magic).

Check my blog articles for details, e.g. look for Kali, Arch, antiX, Mint, Ubuntu and others.

You can fully install linux to a .imgPTN partition image file, or in some case, add persistence files.

Some notebooks have a (very annoying) default BIOS configuration setting which requires you to hold down the Fn function key before press an F-key.

e.g. press Fn+F1 instead of F1.

So if F1 does not work on some notebooks, try Fn+F1 or change the BIOS configuration setting (e.g. HP - ESC or F10 or Fn+F10 - System Configuration - Action Keys Mode - Disabled.)

The F1 key should produce the scan code 3b00. To check this, go to the grub4dos command console (type SHIFT+P in E2B menu and then enter password of easy2boot, then press SHIFT+C). Then type this line and press ENTER:

pause --test-key

now press the F1 key - grub4dos will print the key scan code which should be 3b00 for the F1 key or 4100 for the F7 key, 4200 for F8, 4300 for F9 or 4400 for F10.

It is always preferable to use the computer BIOS Boot Selection menu popup box (usually obtained by pressing a Fxx key or the ESC key) than to preset the boot order in the BIOS. However, if a BIOS boot option popup menu is not available, you can proceed as follows:

1. make a $$$$BootHdd.mnu file so that the Boot to HDD menu entry will always be number #1 (the second menu entry in the menu)
   
   
   title Boot to internal Hard Disk 0\n
   map (hd0) (hd1) && map (hd1) (hd0)
   map --hook
   chainloader (hd0)+1 
   rootnoverify (hd0)
   
   You can instead copy the file \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\E2B Menus\$$F07_Boot_HDD_F7.mnu if you prefer and rename it.
    
2. Boot to the E2B menu and select menu item 0 Set default menu entry and timeout
3. Set the Default Menu Item to 1
4. Set Menu timeout in Seconds to 10  (or whatever you prefer)
5. (Optional) Supress the F7 menu entry by adding  set NOF7HD=1 to the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file

Now you can install Windows Vista/7/8 and when the system reboots, it will reboot to the internal hard disk after 10 seconds unless you press a key to stop the timeout.

You can have one or more WindowsToGo installations on the same E2B USB drive. See my blog post here.

You can also boot from .VHD and .WIM files too - see blog post here.

Supported languages can be detected by looking for their folders \_ISO\e2b\grub (e.g. ENG) - language folders will have a STRINGS.txt file in them.

You can copy the \_ISO\docs\Change_Language.mnu file to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder to get a menu entry which will allow the user to temporarily change the language.

For instructions on how to translate E2B into another language, see here.

Why not send me your translated STRINGS.txt file (and F1.cfg file) and I will add it to the next version of E2B?

\_ISO\CONTIG.ISO is used by E2B to make an ISO file contiguous if it is not already contiguous. It is optional and you can delete it if you want to save 500MB of filespace.

e.g. If \_ISO\MAINMENU\fred.iso is not a contiguous file, E2B will copy the contents of the file to CONTIG.ISO (if it is contiguous) and then boot from CONTIG.ISO.

If you always make sure that all your files are contiguous on the E2B drive, you can delete the CONTIG.ISO file and save space. It will also cut out the long file copy time too!

If you have non-contiguous ISO files that are larger than CONTIG.ISO, E2B will warn you and will be unable to defragment the file. To fix this, just copy a larger file (any type) to \_ISO and name it CONTIG.ISO. Obviously, large ISOs will take longer to copy into CONTIG.ISO, so it is best to defragment the E2B drive if possible before you boot to E2B. Tip: A quick way to make a large file of a specific size is to use the RMPrepUSB - Make ext2 FS button.

Tip: Some non-contiguous linux ISO files can be booted using E2B's isoboot feature - select the ISO in the menu, hold down the SHIFT key and press ENTER whilst keeping the SHIFT key held down. This should run isoboot. E2B v1.62+ is required.

For non-standard XP Install ISO files, I recommend you create an XP Install USB Flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB - then use the MPI Tool Kit to make a NTFS .imgPTN file from the USB Flash drive and add the .imgPTN file to your E2B USB drive. For more details, read my blog post here.

Cause

You are probably using a modified version of the ISO. It probably contains a \i386\winnt.sif file with the following line:

OemPreinstall=Yes

Usually this issue is caused by the OemPreinstall entry being set to Yes in the Unattend section of the Winnt.sif file, so you should change it to No - the example below will work almost automatically, note the line in bold red. Be sure to set a valid Product key. Alternatively you can delete or rename the \i386\winnt.sif file in the ISO and enter in the key and other answers manually.

E2B v1.62+ versions detects a winnt.sif file containing OemPreInstall=yes and will offer to modify the winnt.sif for you so that it will install correctly. if you load the XP ISO into memory, it will automatically remove the OemPreinstall=Yes line.

Note: ISO files which contain a \$OEM$ folder may not work correctly with E2B (e.g. Error 0x80070002 - cannot validate) if you change the OemPreinstall value to No.

 

The OemPreinstall option is set by default to No but if the ISO is using the $OEM$ Distribution Folders then it needs to be set to Yes, so that Setup regards this installation as a distribution and copies these files over to the system drive. This occurs at the end of Text-mode Setup. However, having OemPreinstall set to Yes will also prevent you from loading RAID/SATA drivers and FiraDisk/WinVBlock drivers using E2B DPMS or F6 during textmode setup.  This means that the E2B installl of XP from an ISO file will not work correctly with .iso files that contain a $OEM$ folder. The only workaround for the problem is to directly integrate the firadisk and mass-storage drivers into the CD, as described here.

For Troubleshooting hints and tips and 'Gotcha's on installing XP from an ISO see http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/install-xp-from-an-iso

• Delete the \_ISO\CONTIG.ISO file if present (this will prevent auto-defragging of ISOs though) (500MB) 
• Delete the \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\D folder (it is only required for XP installs from ISO) (60MB)
• Delete unwanted language folders at \_ISO\e2b\grub\xxx except the default ENG folder and your own language folder (approx 200KB)

More (reduces functionality)...

• Delete the \_ISO\WINDOWS\installs folder  (11MB)
• Delete the \_ISO\WINDOWS\installs\SNAPPY folder if you don't intend to use the SDI_CHOCO or Snappt Driver Install feature. (9MB)
• Delete the \_ISO\docs\CHOCBOX folder if you are not going to use SDI_CHOCO and offline installs (1.4MB)
• Delete the \_ISO\docs\GFXBoot folder if you don't intend to make you own GFXBoot menus (1.6MB)
• Delete file \_ISO\DOS\MNU\Freedos288.IMA.gz if you don't want to boot to FreeDOS (1MB)
• Delete the \_ISO\docs\linux_utils folder if you don't have a linux system. (1MB)
• Delete  file \_ISO\e2b\grub\bsd.imgptn if you don't want to boot BSD-based ISOs using .isoBSD (800KB)
• 
  Only if you are desperate:...
• Delete part or the whole \_ISO\docs\Templates folder if you think some folders are unwanted) (2.5MB)
• Delete the contents of the \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST folder (if not wanted)  (150KB)
• Delete any folders under \_ISO\docs that you don't need (take care!).

You can usually avoid the CONTIG.ISO copy process if you make all files on the USB drive contiguous.

To speed up the copy process however, use the Utilities menu option to load grub4dos 0.4.6 (usually this is already loaded) and then use the 'Install Grub4DOS USB Driver' menu option to load the in-built grub4dos 0.4.6 USB 2.0 driver - or just hod down the SHIFT key as E2B starts to boot to load the USB 2.o driver.

After doing this, select your ISO and it usually loads much faster if it detects the USB drive!

Note: The grub4dos USB driver only works on USB 2.0 USB ports and may not work on modern systems.

You can configure E2B to always try to use the grub4dos USB driver by using a setting in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file (not recommended).

Or get a decent USB Flash drive like this one!

These Keywords are translated into text strings by E2B as the files are loaded.

The default text strings are in \_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG\STRINGS.txt.

For instance, if set LANG=SPANISH is specified in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file, then the \_ISO\e2b\grub\SPANISH\STRINGS.txt file is used by E2B to convert each $$STRxxxx Keyword into words. In this way, E2B can support many different languages by using different STRINGS.txt files.

Note: If a \_ISO\STRINGS.txt file exists, then that file will always be used instead of any other language file.

If you want to copy any of the .mnu files and edit them, just replace the $$STRxxxx Keyword with text (in any language):

e.g.

This is probably due to the BIOS of that particular type of system.

Ensure the .imgPTN file is situated below 137GB on the USB disk. Ideally the E2B partition should be the first partition on the disk and less than 137GB in size - see BIOS bugs page for more details.

Flashing cursor

The most common problem is that some systems just boot from a 'CSM-mode' drive to a 'flashing cursor'. This is usually because the BIOS is trying to boot the USB drive as a floppy disk rather than a hard disk.

To fix this we need to create a 2nd partition on the drive - there are two ways to do this:

1. Use EaseUS Home Partition Master to create a 2nd Primary partition (any type) on the E2B USB drive (i.e. when it is in the E2B mode and boots to the E2B menu) - if it already has one then you don't need to create one. 

If it still won't boot, change the .imgPTN file extension to .imgPTN23LBAa.

2. You can make a small partition image using ImDisk (e.g. 10MB) of the same name as your .imgPTN file, but with no file extension. Then place the file in the same folder as the .imgPTN file, e.g.

\_ISO\MAINMENU\Clonezilla.imgPTN

\_ISO\MAINMENU\Clonezilla

It can UEFI-boot, but not MBR-boot (on some systems)

Some UEFI systems have a 'bug'. If they see valid UEFI boot file(s) on a valid FAT partition, they do not allow the option to MBR-boot from that device (even if you have enabled CSM/Legacy mode and disabled Secure Boot and Fast Boot in the BIOS settings).

Apart from updating the BIOS for a fixed version, there is not much that can be done. You need to run Switch_E2B.exe to restore the E2B partitions or boot the USB drive on a system which does not have a buggy BIOS (or boot to the CSM menu using QEMU or a VM and restore the E2B partition).

Other problems (system tries to boot something else)

.imgPTN partition images use the same Master Boot Record as the E2B-mode and the code in the MBR will boot to the E2B CSM grub4dos menu - this is the standard way all IBM-compatible BIOSes should boot. However, the Partition Boot Record of the image file may contain code which boots to Windows or Syslinux or Clover (depending on what image you are using). Some 'deviant' BIOSes do not boot from the MBR but ignore it and boot directly to the PBR instead (of whatever partition is marked as Active/bootable).

If the E2B USB drive was made correctly, grub4dos is installed both to the MBR and PBR, thus it will always boot to the E2B menu even on the 'bad' BIOS systems. However, when using .imgPTN images, grub4dos is not in the PBR and so these 'bad' BIOSes just run whatever code is in the PBR.

If you run Clover once on these images, it installs Clover onto the PBR. If you have never run Clover from that partition image, then the PBR will contain Syslinux or bootmgr boot code.

Look for a BIOS update from the manufacturer. Otherwise, use E2B for MBR\CSM booting and only use the .imgPTN file for UEFI booting.

grub4dos is trying to access a disk which does not exist. For instance, the system does not contain a working hard disk.

When you boot from a USB drive it will always be hd0. The internal hard disk(s) will be hd1, hd2, hd3, etc.

The most common reason for this error is that you have chosen a .mnu file or file extension that assumes that you have an internal hard disk in the system when you don't (or at least the BIOS cannot detect one). For example, you are trying to run a Windows Install ISO or you have named an ISO file with the .iso01 or .isope01 file extension, but grub4dos cannot detect hd1 and so cannot swap over hd0 with hd1 before it boots the ISO file. In this case, use the file extension .iso or .isope.

If you have a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file which has a 

set LANG=xxxx

line, this will always set the language so that the Change Language menu will not work.

Change the line in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to

if "%LANG%"=="" set LANG=xxxx 

(where xxxx is your language). 

Also, make sure the file  \_ISO\STRINGS.txt is not present as this will override any language setting.

E2B alphabetically sorts all files and folders in the 'target' folder (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU), then it starts to go down the sorted list and add each entry to it's menu. If it finds an entry that is a folder (directory), then it starts to enumerate all files and folders in that folder, sorts them alphabetically and then starts to add those entries to the menu, etc. etc. If no more folders are found, it goes back to the previous list.

For instance all files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU folder will appear in the Main menu before \_ISO\MAINMENU\Ubuntu.iso because M comes before U. You can change the name of the MNU folder to $$$MNU and the files inside it will be listed earlier - or change the MNU folder name to ZZZZZMNU and the files inside it will be listed at the end of the menu.

Tip: As the payload files are listed on the display by E2B, press the SPACEBAR. This will pause the display so you can see the order that the files and folders are enumerated in.

If you are still having problems working it out, then look at the files as they are enumerated by E2B on the screen before the menu is displayed. This will show you the file enumeration order.

An example of the messages and file enumeration order of the MAINMENU folder can be seen here.

Recent versions of E2B allow you to order payload and menu files using a _nnn_ prefix, e.g.

\_ISO\MAINMENU\_100_Ubuntu v1 64-bit.iso
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_110_Ubuntu v4 32-bit.iso
\_ISO\MAINMENU\_120_Ubuntu v2 64-bit.iso

Acronis Active Protection is blocking writes the MBR (sector 1) on USB drives. You need to disable the service or configure it to not protect USB drives.

In the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file add set NOF1=1 (see Sample_MyE2B.cfg file for details) (v1.57a and later).

(older versions only) The Help [F1] Main menu entry is caused by the \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZZF1SubMenuHelp.mnu file, you can instead just delete it to remove the menu entry (if it is present).

If you want to make your own Help menu, copy the \_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG\F1.cfg file to the \_ISO folder and then edit it (save it in UTF-8 format using Windows NotePad if you want non-ANSI characters). Do not delete the  \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZZF1SubMenuHelp.mnu file if one is present.

If you don't want a menu entry for Help, but want the F1 hotkey to be active in all menus, then read the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file for details of how to set up an F1 global hotkey using a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file.

If using a Virtual Machine to boot E2B, check that the .vmdk file is of the correct size. If using VBox+DavidB's VMUB - edit the VMUB options and set the correct USB drive.

If E2B also displays a 'ERROR: xxxxxxx IS NOT CONTIGUOUS (or is corrupt or missing)!' then your BIOS may have the 128GB USB BIOS bug - check that your E2B partition is the first partition on the USb drive and is less than 128GB in size. If the file you are trying to boot from is past 128GB on the USB drive, the BIOS will not be able to access it. To workaround this problem, try loading the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver when you boot to E2B (hold down the SHIFT key before the Main Menu loads - press F8 - then hold down SHIFT key to load USB 2.0 driver).

If E2B is copying a file, then this error is often due to the target file not being large enough. Check that the file exists and that it is large enough to hold whatever is being copied into it.

The most common problem is that you did not press a key when prompted.

Because you are booting from an ISO, it will ask you

Press any key to boot from CD or DVD

and there should be a delay of several seconds to allow you to press a key.

You must press a key, so that it boots from the ISO (i.e. DVD) - otherwise the Windows Install ISO will boot from your hard disk instead.

Note that some systems may 'miss' the key press and boot to the hard disk or the timeout (which is usually several seconds) may be very quick.
In this case, press several keys quickly.

You can prevent the 'Press any key' prompt by making a new .ISO file but deleting the \boot\bootfix.bin file from the ISO.

See here.

Most Windows ISOs contain boot code. If you make your own ISO, you must make it using a utility that will make bootable ISOs.

For an example of a command line utility that will make a bootable Windows ISO see here.

More Information

The E2B code can boot from some non-bootable ISO files by directly booting from the \bootmgr or \ntldr file which is inside the Windows ISO file.

Check using the .isoask file extension and try a few different options.

For instance, you may boot from a Ubuntu ISO file and a different linux OS and desktop appears instead of Ubuntu (such as eset sysrescue).

The problem is usually that the linux kernel has found and loaded the wrong squashfs filesystem. For instance, it may find a \casper folder containing some squashfs filesystem files on a volume in the system and has loaded that filesystem instead of the one from inside the ISO file.

For instance, if you are using an E2B USB drive containing a second partition with the grub2 menu system, it may contain a \casper folder which you have previously extracted.

Solutions

1. Look for a linux folder such as \casper on any partition or drive connected to the system you are booting from and temporarily rename the folder.

2. As an alternative, if the \casper folder that is causing the problem is on a partition on the E2B drive, to convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file .

Please refer to the ReadMe.txt file in the MPI Toolkit download

For some UDF ISOs, you may also need you to install either PowerIso or WinRAR.

The MPI script will automatically use WinRAR and/or PowerIso if 7Zip cannot read the payload file format.

Answer: As many as you can fit on the E2B drive!

The same goes for any other payload files such as linux or other types of .ISO files or .imgPTN files or .ima files, etc.

• You must save the config file as \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg.
• The wallpaper file must be on the USB drive (because it is not copied to the USB drive by E2B_Editor).
• If you are using a .jpg file it must not be in 'progressive' format (as used on many web pages) - to fix it, simply load it into Paint and save it again as a .jpg file.
• Check the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file contains a 'set MYWBMP=' line and that the path and filename is correct. Note that spaces should be preceded by \.

E2B requires a special RunSynchronous section to be added to the XML file which will find and run LOADISO.CMD from the E2B drive (but not if E2B uses 'WIMBOOT' to boot the ISO).

See the bottom of this page for details. You must have a Removable USB Flash drive (either the E2B drive or a Helper drive) connected to the system. 

If installing Vista or Win7, do not use a USB 3.0 port. Even the USB 2.0 ports may not work if the system has a modern chipset that is not supported by Vista\Win7.

The XML RunSychronous entries can be copied and pasted from any of the Sample XML files provided in the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WINxxx folders. Note that Win8 XML files should also contain a Product Key entry. If you want the user to pick different Product Keys, use the dummy Product Key TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF in your XML file, otherwise the Key cannot be changed.

Ensure you have the correct XML syntax and place the RunSychronous entry in the WindowsPE section, e.g.

i.e. The section order must be as below:

unattend

setting pass="WindowsPE"

(any number of 'component' sections here)

component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" xxxxxxxxx

RunSynchronous

RunSynchronousCommand 

Order

Path

Description

/RunSynchronousCommand

/RunSynchronous

/component

(any number of 'component' sections here)

/settings

(any number of setting sections here)

/unattend

You can easily make your own XML files with the special RunSynchronous section added - see here for more details.

First, do not set AUTONUM to 0 in the MyE2B.cfg file to disable auto-numbering. Use this entry to ensure auto-numbering is not disabled...

#enable jump to menu number
set AUTONUM=

Next, check that none of the menu items listed in the menu begin with a number - e.g. 64-bit_Ubuntu.iso.

E2B will jump to this file whenever '6' is pressed.

Do not start any menu entries with a number!

If you have a .mnu file or a .txt file, the 'title' or 'iftitle' menu entry string should not start with a number either.

Usually, the E2B menu system will jump to the menu item that begins with the key that you type - e.g. if you type 'U' then it will jump to a menu item entitled 'Ubuntu'. If you press 6 then it will jump to a menu item beginning with '6' (if one exists) or item #6 if one does not exist. If you type '1' and then '6', the last key will jump to the '64-bit_Ubuntu' menu entry instead of #16.

If you do not want the E2B menu system to jump to the menu item that begins with that initial key, use:

#disable jump to initial letter/number
set AUTOMENU=OFF

First check that a password has been set in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file.

The default E2B password is 'easy2boot' but you can change it to (say) 'fred' using:

set pwd=fred

If you have 'set pwd=' in your MyE2B.cfg file, then no password will be requested unless you have also defined menupwd.

For example:

set pwd=
set menupwd=doris

The user can press shift+c to immediately exit to the grub4dos command console, but to run any payload with a 'pwd' file extension suffix (e.g. .isopwd), the user will be requested to enter a password of 'doris' before it will boot to it.

Note that you must set the correct keyboard type (KBD) in the MyE2B.cfg file if you have a non-USA keyboard.

set KBD=KBD_FRENCH.g4b

E2B works best on contiguous ISO files. You should make all files contiguous on your E2B USB drive, then E2B can make a partition entry for the ISO and it should boot perfectly.

However, if the ISO is not-contiguous, E2B will attempt to copy all the file portions of the non-contiguous ISO file to the \_ISO\CONTIG.ISO file. This file should be contiguous and is usually 500MB in size (but it can be any size). Once copied, E2B will attempt to map the CONTIG.ISO file as a partition and  boot from it.

If this fails, then as a last attempt, E2B will call isoboot.g4b. This is a grub4dos batch file which will look at the file's name and files within the ISO and attempt to load the ISO into memory and boot from it using linux cheat codes. This will only work however if the linux distro supports direct ISO booting and if E2B recognises the distro and uses the correct boot parameters. For these reasons only a small sub-set of linux ISOs will work.

If you find a linux ISO which does not boot using isoboot.g4b, I suggest you write your own grub4dos menu file (.mnu) for it.

Please contact me if you think that a certain linux ISO file supports direct ISO booting and is not supported by isoboot, and I can add it to isoboot.g4b.

If you see this message, then the .cmd script thinks that you are not running with Administrator privileges.

1. Open an Administrator command shell and type:

net session

If this fails to run correctly, then you may have a problem with your Windows system which you need to fix!

2. Open an Administrator command shell (e.g. run 'PowerShell as Administrator' and then type cmd to get to the command prompt) and type:

mkdir  %windir%\test

If you get 'access denied' then there is some sort of access problem with your Windows folder which you need to fix!

There are probably some hidden files and folders on the USB drive which are very large - e.g. a swapfile.

Configure Windows Explorer to show all Hidden and System files so that you can see them. Then delete them (you may need to change the folder properties so that they are not read-only or system).

\pagefile.sys        -  Windows swap file - this can be safely deleted from any USB drive

\swapfile.sys        -  Windows swap file - this can be safely deleted from any USB drive

\hiberfil.sys          - Windows hibernation file - this can be safely deleted from any USB drive

\$REYCLE.BIN   - can be deleted

\RECYCLER       - can be deleted
\System Volume Information - used to store various Windows info - very diffiicult to delete in Win8 - unless this is very large or causes problems, it is best to leave it alone!

To try deleting these, from an Administrator shell command line, use these commands (H: is the USB drive), e.g.

attrib -h -r -s H:\*.*

rmdir "H:\System Volume information" /S /Q

rmdir "H:\$RECYCLER.BIN" /S /Q

del H:\pagefile.sys

(etc. etc.)

You may see this error on modern (Dell) systems after installing Windows to the internal hard disk and then rebooting from the internal hard disk.

Some 2018 and later BIOSes do not support MBR-booting from the internal hard disk. (even though there may be a 'Enable CSM' boot option in the BIOS settings). See this blog article for more details.

The BIOS may allow you to MBR-boot from the E2B USB drive and install an MBR\Legacy version of Windows to the hard drive, but the BIOS will not allow you to MBR\Legacy boot from the internal hard drive afterwards.

You must use a .imgPTN file and UEFI-boot to install Windows on these systems.

Windows 10 WinPE causes  winnt32.exe to display this error when installing XP in the WinPE environment.

Use a Windows 8 WinPE or earlier version (Win8/Win7).

VirtualBox seems to boot from the default OS X boot file at /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi even if you have set the OS to Windows.

It should boot OK on a real Windows PC.

To boot on VBox, rename the \System folder.

MakePartImage has to estimate how big to make the virtual drive and .imgPTN file based on the size of the source file(s). 

Some ISOs or ZIP files can contain duplicate files which when extracted, results in a larger size (e.g. a 2GB ISO file may be extracted by 7Zip to give 2.3GB of files.

An estimated size will be suggested by MPI, but you will need to enter a larger size than the one suggested.

e.g. Gandalf's Win10PE x64 Redstone - 11-10-2016.iso is approx 4794MB, but you need to specify 5100MB.

Tip: You can extract the files from the ISO\ZIP file to a new, empty folder, and then use that as the source (i.e. drag-and-drop the folder onto one of the MPI shortcuts).

Note: If you are using MPI_FAT32 and any of the files inside the ISO are over 4GB, then it will never work because the maximum file size supported by FAT32 is 4GB. Use the MPI_NTFS shortcut instead (but an NTFS .imgPTN file will not support UEFI-booting). See also how to work with a large install.wim/esd file here.

Add

set E820=0

to your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file (v1.B0 or later).

Also try values of 1, 2, 3 and 4 if 0 seems to almost work.

• To boot from the add-in hard disk, it must be visible to the BIOS.
• The add-in card that you use must contain extra firmware held in a BIOS Option ROM.
• Usually you will see a message on the screen when this add-in card Option ROM is called by the BIOS.
• If you enter the BIOS settings menu, you should be able to see the hard disks which are attached to the add-in card.

Here is a simple test:

1. Boot to E2B (no other USB drives connected)
2. Type Ctrl-U to get to the UTILITIES MENU
3. Choose 'List BIOS Disks'

When installing DOS, XP, etc. to the add-in card's attached disks, hd1 should be listed on the screen.

hd1 will be the 'boot device'. Most operating systems, when installed, will write the boot code to this disk.

If you attempt to install Windows using E2B, the boot code will be installed onto hd1.

If hd1 is not the correct boot drive (or it is not listed) then you will need to change the BIOS settings or add-in card firmware until hd1 is the correct boot device.

Creating a JBOD Configuration for SIL3114 add-in card

The BIOS RAID utility does not report non-RAID drives to the system BIOS. If a non-RAID boot drive or data drive is desired, create a JBOD so the BIOS RAID utility will report the drive to the system BIOS. 

1. Select Create RAID set from the Main Menu section of the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 

2. Select JBOD and press Enter. 

3. Select JBOD drive from the Physical Drive list and press Enter. 

4. Select the size of the JBOD drive with the ↑ and ↓ keys and press Enter. 

5. When the Are You Sure? confirmation prompt appears, respond Y to complete the JBOD configuration. 

The disk should now appear as a 'JBOD' hard disk in the BIOS menu.

Note that some add-in card controllers have two types of firmware - BIOS or RAID. If you wish to boot from an un-RAIDed add-in disk, you may want to update the add-in card with the 'BIOS' version of the firmware.

 https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=49471#p734172 

http://www.latticesemi.com/en/Support/AnswerDatabase/4/7/8/4784

Some Dell and other systems have buggy BIOSes. It may be fixable by adding this tweak...

In your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file add this line at the bottom of the file:

set E820=0

Use E2B v1.B0 or later.

See here for more details.

Lenovo UEFI BIOSes may specifically look for a \EFI\BOOT\GRUBx64.EFI file and list a 'Linus lite' boot option.

Sometimes they also list a normal UEFI boot option for the USB drive as well - and sometimes they do not!

• \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI  - normal UEFI boot option
• \EFI\BOOT\GRUBx64.EFI - 'Linpus lite' UEFI boot option

If one boot option does not work, then try the other UEFI boot option.

If only the 'Linpus lite' UEFI boot option is available, try going into the BIOS Settings boot options and disabling Secure Boot.

If the incorrect grub menu still loads, you can edit the menu entry and change the chainloader boot path from \EFI\BOOT\xxxxxx.EFI to \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI by pressing 'e' for Edit and then press F10 to boot.

  set _loader=/efi/boot/strelec64.efi
  chainloader ${_loader}

change it to...

  set _loader=/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
  chainloader ${_loader}

In some cases, you may find that deleting the \EFI\GRUB\GRUBX64.EFI file will fix the issue so that the correct UEFI boot option is made available.

Note: Some Lenovo BIOSes can be configured so that you also need to press the Fn key - e.g. Fn+F2=BIOS Settings and Fn+F12=Boot Selection Menu (BBS), so you may or may not need to press the Fn key. Using BIOS 'Set Defaults' settings can alter this behaviour.

You are probably using an XP Install ISO that includes a $OEM$ folder in the root of the ISO. This type of ISO cannot be installed fully when using the E2B direct ISO method.

However, using WinSetupFromUSB, you can make a USB Flash drive from the XP ISO that will install correctly and you can then add an image of the WinSetupFromUSB USB drive to E2B using MakePartImage - see my blog post here for more details.

E2B is based on grub4dos which does not support UEFI.

E2B uses .imgPTN files for UEFI-booting. These are typically images of a FAT32 partition. E2B will replace the normal E2B partition with the .imgPTN file so that the UEFI BIOS will then 'see' a USB drive containing a simple FAT32 partition. No interim boot loader is used - the system boots directly to the original UEFI boot files (hence Secure UEFI booting is supported). The UEFI specification states that all systems must be capable of booting from such a drive. Therefore this solution should be 'universal' - all UEFI systems should be able to UEFI-boot from such a FAT32 USB drive providing it contains valid boot files.

Some other multiboot solutions such a multisystem, YUMI-UEFI, WinSetupFromUSB and SARDU use a FAT32 partition (file size limit of

The main problem with using these other MBR+UEFI solutions however, is that some PCs\notebooks will not MBR\Legacy boot from such USB drives - they will only UEFI boot because the USB drive contains a UEFI boot file. Even if the BIOS is configured to enable MBR\Legacy booting you still cannot MBR\Legacy boot from a USB drive which contains a UEFI boot file! This means that you cannot boot to any MBR\Legacy payloads that are on the USB drive such as DOS or Linux or Windows in MBR-mode. Many bootable diagnostic programs require to be booted in MBR\Legacy mode.

E2B does not contain any UEFI boot files so you can always MBR\Legacy boot to the E2B menu system on any system which supports MBR\Legacy\CSM booting.

If you switch in a .imgPTN file as a new partition on an E2B USB drive, it may only UEFI-boot on these buggy systems, but you can switch back in the E2B partition if you want to MBR-boot to the E2B menu and run any of the MBR payloads.

If your E2B USB drive only has one partition on the E2B drive, it may have trouble booting on some systems.

The very small type 21 hex partition is not actually used by E2B or anything else!

This partition does however serve an important purpose - some buggy BIOSes will not boot from a USB drive as a 'pseudo-hard disk' unless it has more than one partition. Therefore you are recommended to leave this 2nd partition alone because E2B needs to boot from the USB drive as a 'hard-disk drive' (hd0) rather than a ZIP drive (fd0) or floppy disk drive (fd0)..

If you want to add another partition to the E2B USB drive, then you can first delete the small hidden one.

Some new Windows 10 versions may offer to format this small partition. You can format it if you wish to avoid the Format pop-up dialogue box from appearing next time. Newer version of Make_E2B will format it for you so that Windows will not pester you to format it.

There seems to be a bug in Windows 10 1607 and later versions, involving VBScript which stops the CreateDesktopShortcut.cmd file and the associated .vbs file from working correctly.

This should now be fixed in MPI Tool Kit version 0.073 and later versions.

Windows Setup will want to place the Windows system boot files on the 'boot' disk (even if you have asked for Windows to be installed onto a different disk).

Windows Setup needs to determine which of the disks in your system is set as the boot disk.

If you have set some other disk as the 'first boot disk' in the BIOS boot disk order list (e.g. the USB flash drive), Windows may think that the boot disk is your USB drive. If the USB drive is of the Removable/USB type or is not large enough it will refuse to place the System boot files on it and display this error.

You can examine the X:\Windows\Panther\Setupact.log and X:\Windows\Setupact.log files (see here for more info). Look for a line similar to 'GetSystemDiskNTPath: Found system disk at [\Device\Harddisk0\DR0]'. Windows Setup will try to place the boot files on this disk. If the disk that was identified as the system boot disk is not suitable (e.g. USB flash drive, SD card, etc.) then Windows may give this error.

• Make sure the BIOS boot order is set to boot from the internal HDD0 first.
• Ensure you have connected the disk that you want to be your boot disk to the first hard disk port (e.g. SATA 0).
• Always use the BIOS Boot Selection pop-up menu to select the E2B drive as the drive you want to boot from.
• Disconnect or disable in the BIOS all other drives, USB drives, SD card readers and CD\DVD drives.

The 'blue cmd console' should normally be seen as WinPE starts to run. This normally loads the ISO as a DVD Y: virtual drive.

If it is not seen on 'some' systems, then these systems may not have enough RAM (Total system memory). E2B will not run WIMBOOT if the system has under 1300MB of RAM.

Note: E2B will not run WIMBOOT if a WinHelepr drive is connected or the ISO is not compatible/corrupt.

Also check that your Windows version contains the correct USB drivers and it can 'see' the USB drive. Type SHIFT+F10 (or Fn+SHIFT+F10) to get to the command console in WinPE and use the DIR command or Notepad to find the E2B USB drive - if you cannot find it then WinPE does not contain suitable drivers for that system.

Some anti-virus, anti-malware or anti-ransomware software may be preventing write-access to the drive.

Check the Windows Security - Virus & threat protection - Ransomeware protection settings to allow SWITCH_E2B.exe access.

If a Windows 8\10 UEFI install boots OK, but Windows 7 UEFI 64-bit gives a 0xc000000d BSOD, this usually indicates that the UEFI BIOS does not support Windows 7 UEFI-64. Look on the manufacturers website for a BIOS update.

One known 'bad' BIOSes is in the Dell All-in-One Inspiron 20  BIOS: InsydeH20.

You may be able to boot using Windows 8\10 and install Windows 7 from an ISO using WinNTSetup - see here for details.

Tip: if your BIOS allows you to enable Legacy\CSM\BIOS support (e.g. some Toshiba BIOSes), try enabling Legacy BIOS support and then UEFI-boot.

Also try:

• "RAID On" enabled in BIOS.
• "UEFI Boot with Legacy Option ROM enabled" in BIOS.

VBox 5.2.8 is buggy. Install a different version or update to the latest version of E2B.

When used with VMUB, VBox crashes the Windows Host system just before it is about to display the Main menu!

Some .mnu files and file extension types (e.g. .dmg or .hfsptn) write a partition table entry to the 4th partition table slot on the E2B USB drive. This is necessary in order to boot some types of payloads which require a partition entry.

You can prevent this message from appearing when you boot to E2B by using a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file and addding these lines (the first line in the fie must always be !BAT)

# To prevent E2B refusing to boot if partition 4 (hd0,3) is present, uncomment the  2 lines below - 

# WARNING: THIS WILL ERASE PTN #4 (hd0,3) ON THE E2B DRIVE!

if exist (hd0,0)/_ISO/MyE2B.cfg partnew (hd0,3) 0 0 0 

if exist (hd0,1)/_ISO/MyE2B.cfg partnew (hd0,3) 0 0 0 

If you have added WindowsToGo to your E2B USB drive and followed the instructions correctly, then it should boot OK. However, if you have moved the Windows file(s) to a different drive or changed the partition arrangement, or re-formatted your E2B USB drive and copied back the files, you may now find that you get a 'Blue Screen' - perhaps asking you to Repair the drive or some 0x0000xxxx error message.

The most common cause is that the BCD entries are incorrect. Use BootIce - BCD - Other BCD file - Easy Mode and check the Drive and Partition fields in the BCD file.

If you are using a .imgPTN file, then switch the E2B drive to CSM mode by selecting the .imgPTN file. 

Once in CSM mode and you have access to the BCD file, you can run BootIce and inspect the BCD entries.

• For normal MBR booting, check the \boot\BCD file.
• For UEFI booting, check the \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD file.

Change the Drive & Partition fields and then Save the Global and Current settings and Exit.

The other thing that may be worth trying is to run bcdboot from an Admin command line: e.g. where U: is the USB drive letter that contains Windows and you are using a Windows 8 version of bcdboot...

U:\Windows\System\BCDBOOT.exe   U:\Windows   /s U:   /f ALL   /v

where /s U: specifies the system partition that will contain the boot files and BCD. If you have a two-partition arrangement, this may be a different drive letter. - e.g. if U: contains the \Windows folder (or VHD file) and V: contains the boot partitiion (e.g. a FAT32 partition so you can boot via UEFI), then use:

U:\Windows\System\BCDBOOT.exe   U:\Windows   /s V:   /f ALL   /v

grub4dos is in the \grldr file.

You need to copy ALL the files in the E2B download to your E2B USB drive - this includes the \grldr file in the root of the USB drive (which contains grub4dos). If you run RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos  it may replace the E2B \grldr file with an older version, so copy back the \grldr file from the E2B download zip file.

If this message is seen when returning from a .imgPTN file in the CSM menu back to the E2B menu (menu item 0), then you also need to update the \grldr file inside the .imgPTN file. Each .imgPTN file that produces this error message will need to be updated. You can access the partition directly once it is in the CSM mode, or mount the .imgPTN file (e.g. using ImDisk) as a drive volume and update the \grldr file and then Remove the mounted virtual drive to save the changes (thanks to Elinor for mentioning this!). You will only see this issue if you used on old version of the MPI Tool Kit to create the .imgPTN file - more recent versions will always reboot using the \grldr file in the E2B partition.

Tip If you use RMPrepUSB to prepare your E2B USB drive, you can update the grldr file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\RMPrepUSB folder with the grldr file that is in the E2B download. Then it will always copy across the correct version of grldr.

The example line for 'set XML=' was incorrect in E2B (v1.61-v1.80). Update to the latest version of E2B.

Please see the ammended instructions here.

For Win8/10, only specify the name of the XML file, not the full path.

If you are booting from a .imgPTN file, check that you do not have any Removable Flash drive connected (or SD card or Zalman/IODD with a 'Removable' image loaded which contains a \AutoUnattend.xml or \Unattend.xml file). Setup may be getting the XML from from a different drive!

If you see this error (may occur twice), please disabled your AntiVirus or system protection software before running Make_E2B.exe or Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd.

Look for a BIOS update from the manufacturers website. If this only happens on one type of system\BIOS, then it is probably a BIOS bug.

Check the BIOS settings for USB options (e.g. disable EHCI, Legacy USB, etc.).

Make sure you have not used the 'usb --init' command in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to enable the fast grub4dos USB 2.0 driver.

The default grub4dos menu password is easy2boot (all lower case).

1. Hold down the SHIFT key and press the P key
2. Type easy2boot and [ENTER] key

If the password is not accepted, check that you have set the correct keyboard type in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file.

If no keyboard type is specified a USA English keyboard will be assumed (default).

If you have a QWERTZ keyboard but have not set a KBD type, try a password of easz2boot or use set KBD=KBD_GERMAN.g4b in the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file

 Other options are:

• set KBD=KBD_AZERTY.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_FRENCH.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_GERMAN.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_ITALIANO.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_JAPAN_106.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_QWERTY_UK.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_QWERTZ.g4b
• set KBD=KBD_SPANISH.G4B
• set KBD=KBD_QWERTY_UK.g4b

Ensure all drives in your system (internal and external drives) have a valid drive letter.

All drives should be formatted and initialised.

If Make_E2B.exe is not listing any drives, use the Make_E2B_USB_Drive button.

Re-install grub4dos to the MBR and the PBR using RMPrepUSB.

If it happens when switch to .imgPTN CSM mode and reboot.

If you select a .imgPTN file and switch to the CSM menu, on some systems you may find that you can no longer boot the USB drive.

This happens if you are using a >137GB USB drive and the BIOS USB driver does not support >137GB USB drives (E2B will normally warn you of this when you boot to the E2B menu).

You can restore the E2B partition by connecting the drive to a Windows system and running \e2b\SWITCH_E2B.ex or \e2b\Restore_E2B_Drive.cmd or booting it under a VM to get to the CSM menu.

Workaround:

1. Ensure the E2B USB drive is in the E2B mode (\_ISO folder is visible)

2. Boot from the target system to E2B - hold the SHIFT key down as soon as E2B starts to boot so that the grub4dos USB 2.0 driver is loaded - you should see it register a USB device. Of it does not find a USB device, try another USB port or try connecting a USB 2 extension cable to your E2B drive.

3. Allow E2B to boot to the Main menu and select your .imgPTN file

4. You should now be able to see the CSM Menu of the .imgPTN file and boot (once only) to the payload.

5. Use Switch_E2B.exe or a system with a non-buggy BIOS to restore the E2B partition.

The best solution to avoid this problem in future, is to make your E2B partition the first partition on the USB drive and keep the partition size below 137GB.

You could try removing files from the E2B partition so that the files take up less than 137GB and then defrag (not WinContig but Windows defrag) the whole partition. This will move all the files down to the beginning of the volume. After running defrag, you must run WinContig (make all files contiguous). This can be quite a long process and it is often faster to copy all the files to an empty folder on your system hard disk, re-make the E2B USB drive, and then copy all the files back again.

The 500MB file \_ISO\CONTIG.ISO is only used if an ISO is not contiguous. You can delete this file (but you will lose the CONTIG.ISO feature).

V1.6x replaces all the old \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZxxxxxxxx.mnu files with one single ZZSubMenuAll.mnu file.

The new file includes both GFXMenu and non-GFXMenu entries.

You need to delete all the old ZZ*.mnu files from the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder of your E2B drive (just leave ZGRUB_USB_046.mnu and ZZSubMenuAll.mnu).

See the blog post here for more information about changes in v1.6x and check the version history here.

The E2B USB drive has probably been 'vaccinated' by some AV software such as Panda Vaccine USB.

This hides and/or protects the \AUTORUN.INF file.

It also prevents Explorer from displaying the volume label and icon in Explorer.

You can unprotect the file by copying the $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT_NTFS.mnu menu file to \_ISO\UTILITIES. Then boot to the E2B Utilities menu and run the menu entry. Before running it, rename any \AUTORUN_.INF files to \AUTORUN.INF. If that is not possible due to protection, then delete the \AUTORUN_.INF files (if possible).

See my blog post for more details.

Fix: Please update the E2B USB drive to E2B v1.82 or later to use the new \grldr file (bugfix version of grub4dos).

A 'E2B.cfg is MISSING' error can occur if grub4dos 0.4.6a detects a certain kind of (ext?/swap?/empty?) partition on the system hard disk. This typically occurs immediately after installing a linux OS to the system disk and then rebooting to E2B (or trying to!). If you replace the \grldr file with the \_ISO\e2b\grub\grub_045 file (keep the name as \grldr) then it will fix the issue OR try booting from the system disk and using the swap partition under linux or formatting any unformatted partitions.

If you are still seeing this error on some systems when using v1.82 or later, please Contact Me.

Note: Some BIOSes (e.g. Fujitsu LifeBook) will always boot from an .EFI file rather than grub4dos, if both are present. If you have made a FAT32 E2B USB drive and it always boots to MemTest86, try deleting or renaming the \EFI folder on the E2B USB drive.

Tip: You can always make your own .imgPTN file from the PassMark MemTest ISO using MakePartImage if you need to UEFI-boot to MemTest86.

Set a Supervisor password and enter Firmware Setup using the Supervisor password:

Advanced – Boot Configurations – Fast Boot : [Disabled] 
Advanced – Boot Configurations – CSM : [Enabled] 
Security – Secure Boot Configuration – Secure Boot Option : [Disabled]

The \autorun.inf file used by E2B is not required. It justs makes Windows Explorer display the e2b.ico icon in Explorer rather than the Volume label of the drive.

If you have an antivirus program installed which 'vaccinates' USB drives by writing on a harmless but undeletable \autorun.inf file then it is difficult to remove or update the drive without re-formatting it.

The 'vaccine' also causes the E2B logo not to appear and also suppresses the Volume Name from being displayed in Explorer (it will justsay 'Local Disk' or 'Removable Disk').

Sometimes, even re-formatting the drive does not seem to cure this!

If your E2B USB drive is a FAT32 volume, copy the \_ISO\docs\Sample menu files\E2B Menus\$Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT.mnu file to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder.

There is also a FAT+NTFS $Panda_RestoreAutorun.inf_FAT_NTFS.mnu menu file which will try to fix both FAT and NTFS E2B volumes.

These .mnu files both assume that you have one or two Primary partitions on your E2B USB drive (i.e. they do not work on Logical partitions).

If the drive is an NTFS volume, you can also check my blog for a link on how to fix an NTFS volume by manually editing the filesystem but be careful!).

First, you need to use Virtual Box  AND DavidB's Virtual Machine USB Boot utility (VMUB). The VMUB utility dismounts the USB drive before VBox accesses it - in this way VBox gets full read/write access to all parts of the USB drive. If VMUB is not used, some sector-write functions of E2B will not be able to work correctly. For more details on VMUB, see Tutorial #4.

Secondy, you may need to configure the VM for the type of image that you are trying to boot from VBox. For instance, set the VM Operating System option to match the OS that you want to boot, e.g. Windows 8.1 (64-bit) or Ubuntu (32-bit). You may also need to tweak the Network and Graphics Display settings.

See Tutorial #4 for tips and advice.

One thing to be aware of, is that under a VM, the E2B USB drive will always be 'mapped' as a 'Fixed-Disk' HDD, even if it is a USB Flash drive of the 'Removable' type. This means that some E2B functions (e.g. Windows Install from a Windows Install ISO file) will not work under a VM.

Also, the E2B USB drive will be HDD0 at all times when using VBox+VMUB. However, on a 'real' system, the E2B drive will be HDD0 at the BIOS level, but once it boots to an OS (e.g. Windows or linux), the USB drive will be treated as an additional USB drive - e.g. hd2 or sdc. This means that when booting to an OS using VBox+VMUB, drive numbering and volume letters may be different.

If you have added your own .mnu grub4dos menu file, you may find this problem.

grub4dos only treats a menu entry as a valid 'bootable' selection, if it can recognise a 'bootable' command such as chainloader or initrd at the start of a menu line.

You can find examples of blank separator .mnu files in the \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files folder.

The fix to get a normal 'bootable' menu entry, is simply to add a new line to the end of the .mnu file containing the word 'boot' - e.g.

title xxxxxxx

... your stuff here ...

boot

The product key used was of the wrong type or was invalid. e.g. for Win8.1 Enterprise 90-day Eval use 76FKW-8NR3K-QDH4P-3C87F-JHTTW, for Win10 Enterprise use VTNMT-2FMYP-QCY43-QR9VK-WTVCK. These keys should already be available in the 'list of keys' option provided by E2B.

Even though these ISOs don't normally request a key, you need to provide the correct installation product key when using E2B because it uses an unattend.xml file.

Later evaluation versions may require different keys.

If E2B is using WIMBOOT to boot the ISO, there may not be enough system memory (RAM) available. When you are prompted by E2B to press a key if you do NOT want to run WIMBOOT, then press ENTER to skip WIMBOOT (if using a USB HDD, a WinHelper flash drive will also be needed).

To fix this problem, delete the following two files

• "\_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\D\M\N\NVRAID4IN.inf"
• "\_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\D\M\N\NVATA4IN.inf"

SWITCH_E2B.exe is in E2B v1.73+ in the \_ISO folder.

If you have made your .imgPTN file using the MPI Tool Pack v0.055+ it will also be present in the \e2b folder.

If you made the .imgPTN file using an older version of the MPI Tool Pack, you will need to copy SWITCH_E2B.exe into the partition image or re-make the .imgPTN file using the most recent version of the MPI Tool Pack.

Note: Windows Defender or your AV software may be removing it - if so, add it to the Exceptions list.

Cause: ImDisk is incompatible with Windows 10 Threshold 2!

If you have the latest Win10 Threshold 2 update installed, MakePartImage.cmd will no longer work due to Microsoft making it incompatible with all previous versions of Windows and ImDisk! Please download MPI v0.056 or later and run .\ImDisk\imdiskinst.exe to re-install a new version of ImDisk. Then run the CreateDesktopShortcuts.cmd file again to update the three Desktop shortcuts.

http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/makepartimage-problems-with-windows-10.html

Booting from a .VHD file requires a copy of the bootmgr file placed in the folder  \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD

Please replace the file with a different version.

Use a Windows 8.1 version of bootmgr. 

Some tested versions are:

1. bootmgr 10-07-2015 395268 CRC32=45B6D6D7   - WINDOWS 10 version  BAD

2. bootmgr 22-08-2013 427680 CRC32=87783488 - OK

3. bootmgr 25-07-2012 398156 CRC32=4B1A74EF - OK

4. bootmgr 14-06-2014 404250 CRC32=CB810D1B - OK

Run "\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd" to add bootmgr to your E2B drive.

If you are running E2B in a VM or under QEMU, it may not have full write access to the USB drive.

Use RMPrepUSB+QEMU (F11) or VirtualBox+VMUB or a real system.

Windows 8\8.1\10 has USB 3.0 drivers included and can access the E2B USB drive if it is connected to a USB 3.0 port.

Standard Windows XP\Vista\7 does not have USB 3.0 drivers.

Make sure you are using a USB 2.0 port to boot from and check the USB port is configured in the BIOS\UEFI Setup menu to be USB 2.0 and not USB 3.0.

Note that if the chipset drivers are not included in Windows 7, even a USB 2.0 port may not be recognised!

Also see here.

See here for details. The 'button-dance' is depicted here (option 2).

Remove any SD card before you boot from the USB drive or it will try to boot from the SD card!

Check you have the latest firmware.

You will need to use a FAT32 .imgPTN file and use a source payload that is 64-bit x86 UEFI-bootable. First switch to the .imgPTN file on the E2B USB drive (e.g. using SWITCH_E2B.exe) and then insert it into the Surface Pro USB port.

If you have a 'Boot from side USB' option in the UEFI Setup menu, enable it.

Note: Some people have suggested that the Surface Pro 3 will only boot from a GPT-formatted FAT32 partition on a USB drive - if this is true then you cannot boot from an Easy2Boot USB drive (even from a FAT32 .imgPTN file)! It also means that Microsoft have not followed the specification for UEFI! It is also rumoured that the FAT32 volume label must be 'BOOTME' in order for it to boot. Others say that you need to go to advanced security settings and enable the surface docking station option in the UEFI settings. Maybe you also need to wave a chicken bone in the air too..? As I don't own a Surface Pro, I cannot test these rumours!

There was a bug in Switch_e2B.exe v1.04 and earlier versions. Please use the latest version.

When you use E2B to select a .imgPTN file, the disk signature is set to the LBA start address of the .imgPTN file to create a unique disk signature. The Switch_E2B.exe application did not do this, and so the disk signature was not changed. The disk signature in the BCD did thus not match. This bug is now fixed.

If you have moved the .imgPTN file or re-copied it, you may need to 'fix' the BCD inside the .imgPTN file.

Switch to the .imgPTN file and use BootIce - BCD - Other BCD to edit the BCD file on the USB drive.

Note that there may be two BCD files: \boot\BCD and \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD (used for UEFI booting).

When E2B switches to a .imgPTN file, it changes the partition values and also the Disk Signature.

The Disk Signature (LBA 0 - bytes 1b8-1ba) is set to the start position of the .imgPTN file. Thus if you move the .imgPTN file (even to a different position on the same disk), then the Disk Signature will change and the BCD will no longer be valid.

To fix this, switch to the .imgPTN file (using Switch_e2B or from the E2B menu) and then run BootIce or BCDboot to fix the BCD.

When installing Windows 7/8/10 from an ISO, Setup will not allow you to install Windows to the internal hard disk. Typically you get an error message 'We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing partition'. This issue may be fixed by E2B v1.82. You may only see this problem if your BIOS assigns a different drive (e.g. WINHELPER USB drive or other USB drive or SD card) as drive 1. Normally, a BIOS should assign the E2B drive as drive 0 and the internal drive as drive 1 - E2B then swaps drive 0 with drive 1 so that Windows Setup thinks that the internal hard disk was the boot drive. However, some BIOSes assign other drives as drive 1 (e.g. drive 0 = E2B, drive 1 = WINHELPER flash drive or SD card, drive 2 = internal hard disk. If you still have this issue using E2B v1.82 or later, remove all drives, SD cards, USB drives, etc. so that only the E2B drive and the target internal hard disk are present - then press F8 or F12 to get the pop-up boot menu - then connect the WINHELPER USB flash drive if you are using an E2B HDD drive - and continue to boot from the E2B drive.

Another issue may be that the disk contains GPT or MBR partitions. You may need to wipe the internal hard disk under WinPE first:

If you are installing Windows in MBR mode, use DISKPART - SELECT DISK 0 - CLEAN - CONVERT MBR - EXIT

If you are installing Windows in UEFI\GPT mode, use DISKPART - SELECT DISK 0 - CLEAN - CONVERT GPT - EXIT

Your USB drive may be write-protected. E2B needs full read/write access to the USB drive.

The other alternative is that the .imgPTN file has not been correctly made and does not contain a menu.lst file or is corrupt.

Use somename_.isodefault.iso to keep the extension as .iso (E2B v1.B0+).

If using E2B v1.93+, just ensure the filename ends in the letter q or Q (e.g. Ubuntu_x64q.iso or Gandalf_WinPE_Q.iso)

Note that WinBuilder-based ISOs MUST have a .iso file extension or they won't load applications on the Desktop, so use a filename ending with q instead.

(E2B v1.78+) Create a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file (e.g. copy the Sample_MyE2B.cfg file), and add this line to suppress the suggestion prompt for all payloads:

set NOSUG=1

You could use the redir variable (set redir=>nul - see Sample_MyE2B.cfg file) but this will also suppress other useful E2B messages which may help you to solve future issues.

You can instead create a .mnu file for each ISO, e.g.

title Boot ISO silently\n Example test
set redir=> nul
/%grub%/QRUN.g4b $HOME$/MyISO.iso
boot

Usually, this is because the persistence file (e.g. \ubunu-rw) has become corrupted. Delete it and make a new one.

ext2 files can become corrupted quite easily (e.g. improper shutdown). I recommend formatting the persistence file as ext3. See this page for instructions,

• Check what format the E2B volume has - FAT32 or NTFS or exFAT? Some OS's cannot access exFAT or NTFS.
• Some OS's may only like 'Removable' drives, not Fixed Disks.
• Are you using a USB 3 port? - try a USB 2 port instead.
• Is your USB drive a UASP drive? Some linux distros (antiX 14/15) may be missing the UASP driver, so use a different non-UASP USB HDD (or a different drive caddy).

E2B needs to boot as a USB HDD (with a partition table in the first sector on the USB disk).

Switch off system - switch on with USB drive inserted - choose USB HDD boot option (not USB KEY or USB FDD or USB ZIP).

Make sure E2B drive is prepared using Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script or Make_E2B.exe (or has two partitions).

Update BIOS to latest version.

If it insists on booting E2B as a floppy disk, try re-formatting the E2B drive using Flashboot.

Is your USB HDD a fast UAS (aka UASP or USB Attached SCSI Protocol) device?

These require a different driver for many versions of linux/android, etc.

If the system will boot OK from a non-UASP USB drive, or the UASP drive will boot under VirtualBox+VMUB or QEMU, then this indicates that the OS you are trying to boot to, is missing a UAS/UASP driver and so cannot fully boot.

Try some linux commands such as df or sudo fdisk -l to check if the USB device is listed. Also try unplugging the USB device and reconnecting it, to see if linux re-detects and and gives it a device name (such as \dev\sdd). Try plugging in a different USB device (e.g. USB Flash drive) to see if that is detected as a device.

If the device is not a UAS device, try using a USB 2.0 port instead of a USB 3.0 port, in case the OS does not have USB 3.0 drivers.

If booting a .VHD, .VHDX or .WIM, make sure the filename has no spaces in it.

e.g. "Windows Home x64.VHD" will give a 0xc000000f error - use "Windows_Home_x64.VHD" instead.

Linpus Lite: is the equivalent of 'UEFI:' and means that it will UEFI-boot from the selected drive.

It may be displayed if a \EFI\BOOT\grubx64.efi file is present on a FAT partition.

If you are sure you have correctly named the iso files (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU\avg.iso) and they are on the 2nd partition, make sure that only one USB drive is connected and no other media is present (e.g. no other SD card, CD/DVD, or Zalman\IODD payload file loaded with a virtual drive).

At the grub2 Main menu, press the c key to get to the command prompt and then type

ls (hd0,msdos1)/    

ls (hd0,msdos2)/    

ls (hd0,msdos2)/_ISO/MAINMENU/    

If you get an error the 2nd and 3rd commands, it usually means you have another FAT/FAT16/FAT32 volume connected to the system.

Try UEFI-booting from a different system or use VirtualBox+VMUB and set up a UEFI VM and test boot using VMUB.

Note: There was a bug in some of the E2B .mnu files (some ISOs in some menu folders may not be listed) - please use the latest version of the grub2 menu system download and update the .mnu files on the E2B partition.

Check that the USB drive has a valid MBR (LBA0) sector and that the partition table contains two primary partition entries.

• You can inspect the MBR (LBA0) using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - 0.
• You can inspect the PBR using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - P1.

Here is an example of a partition table with two primary partitions. The 2nd partition is very small and unused.
It is just there to ensure that some bad BIOSes boot the USB drive as a 'hard disk' and not as a floppy disk or ZIP\super-floppy drive.

_____________________________________________________________________

Disk Signature bytes (1B8h-1BBh) = 0F 14 1C 2C

Partition 1   SIZE=30560.122MiB   Type: 0C FAT32LBA (2047GB max)  *ACTIVE*

START POS   = CYL:0 HD:1 SEC:1       END POS = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63

START (LBA) = 2,048 (00000800) SIZE (LBA) = 62,587,129 (03BB00F9) [End=62,589,176]

Partition 2   SIZE=0.031MiB   Type: 21 Hidden(rsvd)       

START POS   = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63       END POS = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63

START (LBA) = 62,589,177 (03BB08F9) SIZE (LBA) = 63 (0000003F) [End=62,589,239]

Partition 3   SIZE=0MiB   Type: 00        

START POS   = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0       END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0

START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

Partition 4   SIZE=0MiB   Type: 00        

START POS   = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0       END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0

START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

P1   Start=2,048 (1,048,576 bytes) End=62,589,176 (32,045,658,112 bytes)

P2   Start=62,589,177 (32,045,658,624 bytes) End=62,589,239 (32,045,690,368 bytes)

Drive 4  Corsair Voyager GT 3.0  F/W Rev.=1.00  Serial No.= [ bytes = 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ]

Reported size 32,054,968,320 bytes (29.8535GiB)  Last LBA 62,607,359

RMPrepUSB Max 32,045,690,880 bytes (29.8448GiB)  Last LBA 62,589,239

Check that the E2B and WinHelper Flash drive (if used) contain the 100K \AutoUnattend.xml file and \Unattend.xml file.

Check that the selected XML file is valid and contains the correct 'pass' and 'component' sections.

If 'Use the ^ and v keys to highlight an entry. Press ENTER' etc. appears at the extreme left of the screen, this is the default message output by grub4dos. It is only displayed when you have not specified any help text after the title entry in your .txt file or .mnu file. use \n at the end of the title xxxxx line. See here.

This issue was fixed in later versions of grub4dos (\grldr file). Update your E2B drive to the latest version of E2B.

Starting with E2B v1.90:

1. In Windows Explorer - right-click on the \menu.lst file and choose Properties. Now tick the Hidden checkbox to set the Hidden file attribute.

2. Now run UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd which can be found in the E2B download or as a button in the Make_E2B.exe GUI in the download.

This will 'hide' most of the files in the root of the E2B drive (and update your version of E2B if needed).

3. Now you can move the remaining .cmd files in the root folder to the \_ISO folder if you wish.

If you have a \SOURCES folder on your E2B USB drive and you boot from a Windows Install ISO file, you may see this message.

You can try simply ignoring the message and press ENTER to continue, but Windows Setup may display an error message or may find the wrong Install.wim/esd file and thus install the wrong version of Windows!

E2B will load the ISO as drive Y: by default. Windows Setup will search all drives to find a \Sources folder and a Install.wim/esd/swm file.

Note: Windows Setup may also not be able to find the correct Install.wim/esd file if you have other drives in the system which contain a \Sources folder.

You can temporarily rename the \Sources folder on your E2B drive to avoid this message/problem.

I would advise that you do not have a \Sources folder on your E2B USB drive at all (or a \EFI folder). If you need to have a 'flat-file' Windows installer, then use a .imgPTN file to hold the Windows files.

You can specify a different drive letter from Y: (e.g. B:) by setting the ISOLETTER variable in a .cmd file. See the bottom of this page for details (vanilla PE ISOs).

If you see this error message, it usually indicates that there is a problem with one or more hard disks in the system (perhaps non-compatible partition table entry or very large >2TB disks?).

You may be able to 'fix' the issue by telling grub4dos to access disks one sector at a time.

At the top of the \menu.lst file, put the command

geometry --lba1sector

Note that this will considerably slow down all grub4dos disk access!

This was due to a bug and was fixed in E2B v1.84.

It was caused by having an animated icon in the menu (e.g. set ANIMFD3=/_ISO/docs/Templates/Animate/E2B_GIF.ima in \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg).

You should not see this problem if using E2B v1.84 or later.

This error message is due to a bug in E2B (\_ISO\e2b\grub\QRUN.g4b batch file). Please use version 1.81 or later.

If you have a USB Flash drive that won't format as NTFS, first try formatting it as FAT32 and then re-format as NTFS.

If it formats as FAT32 OK, but fails when formatting as NTFS, then you probably have a 'fake' USB Flash drive.

For Windows 10 Creator update, E2B v1.92+ is required.

Ensure Windows assigns a drive letter to the USB drive. Use Windows Disk Management to assign a drive letter.

No!

It is hard-coded into E2B and occurs in 100's of places in many files.

\_ISO is used because it is the same folder name used by Zalman and IODD emulating hard disk enclosures.

You can create other folders for other E2B sub-menus and payload files (e.g. \ISO) but you must also keep the \_ISO folder.

If you see this error at the start of XP Setup you may be able to fix it as follows:

1. Boot to E2B and select the ISO and choose DPMS option 2

2. At the point when XP Setup prompts you to press F6 to install drivers at the bottom of the screen, press the F7 key repeatedly.

"Windows NT has found only 0K of low memory. 512k of low memory is required to run Windows NT. You may need to upgrade your computer or run a configuration program provided by the manufacturer."

If you see this error message when using XP Install Step 2:

1. Boot to E2B

2. Utilities Menu

3. Grub4dos v0.4.5a

4. Main Menu

5. Windows Install Menu - XP Step 2, etc.

Alternatively, replace \grldr with the \_ISO\e2b\grub\grldr_046 file which is an earlier version of grub4dos.

This issue will be fixed in E2B 1.95.

This issue should now be fixed, but...

If you see this issue, before running the XP Install menu, first go to the UTILITIES Menu and select the Grub4dos 0.4.5c menu entry.

1. Boot to E2B

2. Utilities Menu

3. Grub4dos v0.4.5a

4. Main Menu

5. Windows Install Menu - etc.

If you see this error, please Contact Me with details of what system you were using.

Your BIOS may have mis-detected the number of internal disks in your system.

Update to E2B v1.95b or later which includes a workaround for this issue.

When MBR-booting on some systems to WinPE (e.g. Gandalf PE) you may see this error message.

This can occur using .ISO files or .imgPTN files.

It is believed that this is a BIOS bug and occurs when the BIOS does not make enough memory available for large boot.wim files to be loaded (e.g. 800MB \sources\boot.wim) + the defined 'scratch space' amount of RAM that is required for that particular WinPE (max=512MB).

A normal USB drive made using Rufus will give the same error.

However, UEFI-booting of the same boot.wim usually works OK.

Look for a BIOS/firmware update for the system.

There is also the possibility that your system actually has bad/faulty memory...

Clear the bad memory list

It is possible that the BCD system store contains a 'bad memory' list (possibly due to a previous problem when booting with bad memory modules?).

Boot from a Microsoft Windows 8/10 Install ISO to the command console and to clear the bad memory list,  type:

bcdedit /store  /deletevalue {badmemory} badmemorylist

e.g.

bcdedit /store U:\boot\BCD /deletevalue {badmemory} badmemorylist

Where U:\boot\BCD is the BCD file on the USB drive (e.g. after switching to a .imgPTN image).

Check to see if your bad memory list is clear:

If you really do have bad memory, it may still fail to boot however.

You may have added too many payload files or .mnu files (e.g. over 70)  to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder or to the sub-folders under \_ISO\MAINMENU so that the menu that is held in memory by E2B has been exhausted. 

Workaround

Remove some payload and\or .mnu files from these folders to reduce the memory usage.

Solution

Update to E2B v1.95 or later version.

If you have copied any .mnu files to \_ISO\MAINMENU or any sub-folder under \_ISO\MAINMENU, you may have to edit them otherwise they may not display the full menu on exit.

Search the .mnu files for 0xa000+0x50  and 0x3000+0x50  and replace 0x50 with 0xA0 in all places.

e.g.

configfile (md)0xa000+0x50     becomes  configfile (md)0xa000+0xA0

configfile (md)0x3000+0x50     becomes  configfile (md)0x3000+0xA0

A useful utility is 'FindandReplace' which will help you do this quickly.

Try using an extension of .isolinux

(E2B v1.95+).

If you can boot to the E2B menu but the E2B drive letter does not show in Windows Explorer, you may have 'hidden' the partition when using E2B.

For instance the 'True Hide' menu entry (added by 'Pimp my drive.cmd)' may have been accidentally run by you.

Solution

Boot to the E2B menu and choose True Unhide for the partition that is missing - e.g. TRUE UNHIDE HD0,0

You can check the partition table using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - 0

The partition Type should be 07 for NTFS (not 17 or 27 = hidden)

.imgPTN files

If E2B works on most PCs but not on one particular build of PC, it may be a graphics adaptor+BIOS+CPU incompatibility.

e.g. GeForce GTX 980 Ti with old BIOS version and new CPU (?)

First ensure your BIOS version is the latest one!

If it looks like it is booting from the USB drive, but you cannot see the E2B menu, it may be a graphics adaptor issue (it may not support the graphics mode used by E2B). In this case, copy the "\_ISO\docs\Templates\TextMinimal\MyE2B.cfg" file to \_ISO so that a non-graphics mode is used.

Check the graphics adaptor manufacturers website and the Mainboard manufacturers website for a firmware update - 99.9% of graphics adaptors should support 800x600x24.

.imgPTN files

There is also a MyCSM.cfg file which you can add for a text-mode CSM menu (as used in .imgPTN files) - see here (end of page).

E2B requires a system with at least 128MB of memory.

If it the computer has 128MB+ of memory, check that the file E2B_GRUB.txt exists and that the filesystem is not corrupt.

Most of the E2B Main Menu entries are due to the \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZSubMenuAll.mnu file. This is a standard .mnu file for E2B.

You have probably renamed this file at some point in the past, so that it changed the order of the items in the Main Menu list.

For instance, if you renamed the file as $$ZZSubMenuAll.mnu, then the DOS, UTILITIES, etc. menu entries would appear first in the Main Menu.

When you updated E2B, it would have added ZZSubMenuAll.mnu again.

To fix the problem, delete your old renamed .mnu file (e.g. delete $$ZZSubMenuAll.mnu) and then (if you want to) rename the new ZZSubMenuAll.mnu to $$ZZSubMenuAll.mnu.

The E2B USB drive requires that 4th (last) partition table entry of the MBR on the E2B USB drive is unused\free\empty - otherwise E2B will refuse to run and ask you to delete it.

However, some .mnu files and some dual .imgPTN configurations also requires the 3rd Primary partition entry to be unused (partition 3).

You cannot rely on Windows Disk Manager to display these partitions correctly because it lies!

I suggest using RMPrepUSB - Drive Info - 0  to list the true partition table and examine the four entries.

Then use EaseUS Free Home Partition Master to fix the issue by ensuring that exactly two Primary partitions are present on the E2B drive.

Note: You should have two Primary partitions even if the 2nd one is very small. This is because some systems may not boot to E2B unless there is more than one partition present.

If you have 3 partitions and one of them is a very small Type 21h Hidden partition - you can safely delete the small Type 21h partition. It was created by E2B or RMPrepUSB as a dummy 2nd partition to assist booting from some systems with buggy BIOSes.

The main reason is that some new UEFI BIOSes have a large bug! If a UEFI boot file (e.g. \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI) is present on a FAT32 USB drive, the BIOS will not offer you the option to MBR\Legacy boot from the USB drive (even if CSM is enabled in the BIOS settings). This means that you are not be able to MBR-boot to grub4dos\grub2 and so the E2B menu will not run on these systems!

The main objective of E2B is that it should boot from as many different systems as possible.

Other complications of using grub2 or rEFInd are:

• grub2 requires a bespoke menu entry for each different payload. When a new version of a Linux distro is released, it may require an updated menu.
• A FAT32 partition is required (so there will be a
• Some ISOs must be extracted because they don't support ISO-booting - you cannot extract multiple ISOs because the files will overwrite each other.
• It is very difficult to automatically configure a grub2 menu that will boot many different types of UEFI boot files.
• You will not see the ISO's internal boot menu

E2B does have the ability to 'capture' an image of a multiboot USB as a .imgPTN file. If you make a USB drive using WinSetupFromUSB or a grub2-based system, you can always make a .imgPTN file from it. However, you may hit the above mentioned BIOS bug on some systems.

E2B also has a grub2 menu system which you can use to UEFI-multiboot over 60+ different ISOs (mostly Linux ISOs).

The ISO that you are using has multiple images inside it (typically in the \Sources\install.wim or install.esd file).

Older Windows 8/10 ISOs contained just two images:

1 Pro
2 Core/Home

Later versions of Win10 contain more images, e.g.

Tip: For automatic activation after installation, you should use the correct type of generic Product Key - e.g. if installing Windows 10 Pro Retail\OEM you should use a generic Win10 Pro Retail Product Key and not a generic Win10 Pro Volume licence MAK\KLM key.

The file is too large to be loaded into memory.

If the file is not contiguous, E2B will attempt to load the whole file into memory.

The solution is to make the file contiguous by running \Make_This_Drive_Contiguous.cmd.

Try running the MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd file by just double-clicking on it - you should see the a message to run it as Administrator. Then press ENTER and it should quit.

Now right-click on the same file and choose 'Run as Administrator' and answer the UAC prompt - if the script now seems to run very quickly but then abort with no message displayed, you may have a problem with Administrator access on your system. Did you make any changes to UAC control or any Administrator account permissions?

To debug the issue, find ".\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\DebugAll_MakeE2B_Admin.cmd" in the download folder and right-click on it and choose 'Run as Administrator' - the batch file commands will now be echo'd to the console - answer any questions if prompted until the console disappears. Now open the e2b.log file that should have been created in the same folder and examine the last lines to establish the cause of the problem or send the e2b.log file to me at steve (at) easy2boot dot com.

If you have created a .mnu file to load a Windows Install menu (e.g. \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10) from a menu entry in the Main or other menu file, you are now required to set the HDG variable to whatever menu heading you want:

e.g.

set HDG=My Menu Heading

Known issue with these boards/chipsets/BIOSes.

See https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2188370&p=13620494#post13620494

To boot from the ISO, press ESC when you see the splash screen - at the ISO boot menu, select the desired menu option and press F6 and ESC.

You should now see a list of boot parameters near the bottom of the screen.

add amd_iommu=on iommu=pt before the --- dashes

then press ENTER to boot. You can delete the quiet splash words for debugging purposes if you wish.

This was a bug that was fixed in E2B v1.64. XP will have changed the Disk Signature on the internal hard disk for you!

To fix your system:

1. Boot to the correct version of Window Installer DVD - for instance, Windows 7 x86 SP1 if that was what was on your system hard disk.

2. When you get to the first (or second) Windows Setup screen, type SHIFT+F10 to open up a Windows console

3. Determine the location of the system partition (will contain \boot folder and \bootmgr file) and the Windows partition  (will contain \Windows folder) - e.g. use dir C:\  and dir D:\ .

4. Let us assume that C: is the system volume and D: is the Windows volume, type
    bcdboot D:\Windows /s C:

    This will add a new entry to the BCD on C: and allow you to boot to Windows again. Once in Windows, use a tool such as Easy2BCD or BootIce to remove the BCD boot entry that no longer works (usually the second entry that does not specify any disk or partition to boot from).

Use the DPMS version of E2B. Use a standard Microsoft XP SP3 ISO.

There should be a \Windows\OemDir folder which contains firadisk.cmd plus other files. The firadisk.cmd file should be automatically run to prompt you to remove the firadisk driver if required. A C:\XPSetup.log file should be present after firadisk.cmd has run.

If there is still no automatic prompt to remove the driver, use the Computer Management console to remove the driver or run firadisk.cmd.

This may be xaused by the state of the existing Windows OS that is already installed on the PC. Try rebooting the PC to Windows and then choosing 'Restart' and then boot to the E2B USB drive. Alternatively, connect the E2B drive - boot to Windows 'Advanced Startup - Boot to USB drive' and then boot to the E2B drive.

If this does not work or is not possible, try erasing the system's hard disk first, this can be done by booting to Parted Magic or Dban from E2B.

Check also for an 'erase' Sample Mnu File which you can add to the \_ISO\UTILITIES folder.