E2B Users Forum

I know you have the bad bios detection. But that doesnt mean it would be a slow usb drive. SO I guess our only options would be to test the usb port at boot and you are right at that point it would take too long! Trying to automate too much me thinks..hehe.. oh well. Thank you!!

Exactly!
You can always try holding down the SHIFT key just before E2B boots to load the grub4dos USB 2 driver.

Hello, or put the AHCI files to be taken into account when installing xp on a z170 platform?
As are firadisk.
thank you

Hi
Go to Alternate Download Area - Other Files and download DMZ170_DPMS2.zip. This is 32-bit drivers. Note that E2B does not support 64-bit XP DPMS drivers.
Read ReadMe.txt inside for instructions.

A long time ago, windows 8 days. Someone was able to make a modified wim that was basically just the recovery portion of the win 8 installer. (the special reboot screen you get if you hold shift down on windows 8+) basically from there you could also run commands, .exes, portableapps, with the help of a little loader baked in. I have the wim if you would like to look. But I wonder if there could be a way to do this with windows 10 to use with utilihack so we dont need a full win 10 ISO to use?

Sure, just delete the \sources\Install.wim or .esd from a standard MS ISO and use it with E2B Removable flash drive.

It worked! Downloaded the dual 32/64 bit version for MS media creator. Removed the .esd, file size is now 1gb iso. I am sure I can get it smaller with some more tinkering or gimagex... thank you!!!!

Why do you need a dual version? Just a 32-bit version will work.
Or if you have a WinPE ISO already, you could just boot to that and run the first .cmd file manually.

Good point. I thought there was issues with 64/32bit uefis on some tablets. Some requiring one or the other?

if you boot using UEFI you will need to convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file.
In that case, you will need to name the file \AutoUnattend.xml and put it in the root of the partition (if the USB drive is a Removable drive) or put the file in the boot.wim file (if the USB drive is the Fixed disk type).

Thank you that works!!

Reboot.pro doesn't seem to work so hopefully someone will see this. I'm looking to make a flash drive that I can use for wiping hard drives. I've used DBAN for non-SSDs and Parted Magic for SSDs. Is there an easy way to put both of those on the same flash drive with a menu using E2B? I didn't see a tutorial about that but figured maybe someone had already done it.

Thanks!

Hi - no need for a tutorial?
After you make the E2B USB drive, copy the ISOs to \_ISO\MAINMENU and boot!

Hi, i successfully got to the installation menu of kali linux 2.0 by using loopback.cfg, but when the cd error thing comes up i cant find the iso mount in shell.

I don't think that the loopback.cfg is the correct menu for an install.
Look inside the ISO at \isolinux\install.cfg for the way to invoke the install menu.
You could convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file. Then you should get the install option.

yes i convert it to .imgptn and everything is working fine but i just want to try if grub2 is capable of installing os through .iso in uefi mode.

Look at the kali EFI64 menu in the linux.grub2 file and make a new .grub2 file with just that entry.
Test it.
Then look at the \isolinux\install.cfg file inside the ISO file and use that to modify the new .grub2 menu - adapt the menu to use the install lines
#graphical install
linux /install/gtk/vmlinuz video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 -- quiet
initrd /install/gtk/initrd.gz

However, Kali may not support UEFI installation??

hi sorry for the late reply, i confirmed that kali linux 2.0 weekly 15 supports uefi booting now, i am dual booting windows10 and kali on my uefi laptop. gonna try your suggestion on grub2 thank you very much :)

hello

I got an intenso speedline 256 GB (usb 3.0)

Whenever i boot from my windows 10 VHD, it boots fine, but it is really slow. I open task manager and the disk shows 100% using only 0.1 MB.. What can i do to improve this?

Thank you for this wonderful tool!

Some USB drives have really fast Sequential rd/wr access but terribly slow 4K random access.
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/beware-of-this-fast-usb-30-flash-drive.html
Test with CrystalDiskMark and check 4K times - should be well above 5

Thanks i will read the link.

Would changing from VHD help increase performance a bit?..

The problem is probably the drive itself - you can't fix that - test it with the CrystalDisk benchmark to find out and let us know the result.

Today i tried a new version of e2b (1.91) and new Windows 10 1703. So i formatted my pen drive, put win10 iso to win10 folder, rebooted pc. I was successfully booted to e2b (MBR mode) and i can go to UTILITIES menu to see my utils but when i'm choosing WINDOWS INSTALL Menu it just hangs. No errors, waiting didn't helps, just hang, that's all :(

What happens if you run \QEMU_MENU_TEST.cmd ?

Are you sure the format process when you made a new drive actually worked successfully?

Hi Steve!

I got it working, let me tell you what happened:
Even on old Win 10 Ent LTSB (that was pre 1703 for sure) i had a problems with formattind using v1.91, script said me he can't find "grubinst_new.exe" so i entered "Make_E2B_USB_Drive" dir and found there "grubinst.exe", renamed it to "grubinst_new.exe" and formatted my pen drive successfully.

After this i rebooted and stucked at WINDOWS INSTALL menu and come here to post my first message. Then i tried QEMU and it worked as planned, so i started to search the problem. First i tried another .iso, rebooted and stucked again (QEMU works).

I came to downloads section, found v1.90 on your google drive, unpacked it and just manually copied all contents to pen drive with overwriting, without reformatting (cuz i'm lazy and already copied bunch of .iso there and don't want to format again :)) to see what happens and it worked! Now i have working e2b pen drive with grub from 1.91 and all the stuff from 1.90.

I'm successfully installed new Win 10 Pro 1703 .iso, used Acronis Boot CD 2016 and 2017 .iso's and other stuff like HBCD 15.2 .iso without any problems.

By the way, i have only modified MyE2B.cfg file:
!BAT
if "%LANG%"=="" set LANG=ENG
set KBD=
set MYWBMP=0x000000
set EXTOFF=
set NOHELPER=1

Nothing else changed from original and ofc i'm making the drive contiguous after each new file that i put there.

I hope this will help, with best regards, FourtyTwo :)
P.S. Sorry for bad English :)

If QEMU worked but a real system did not, then the problem is with your system's BIOS.
The usual reason is that you are using a partition of >137GB and the BIOS can only access sectors on a USB drive that are before 137GB.
grubinst_new.exe should never be used by the script because grubinst.exe is present in the directory and will always be used (unless there is a problem with your Windows somewhere).
The code is (where GR=grubinst.exe)
%GR% -h 2> gr.txt
set SILENT=
find "--silent-boot" gr.txt > nul
if not errorlevel 1 set SILENT=--silent-boot
if "%SILENT%"=="" set GR=grubinst_new.exe

so the find command should *always* be successful because the output from grubinst.exe included in the download will have the --silent text in the help output.
Please check you Windows PATH environment variable - maybe it is running the Cygwin version of FIND instead of the Windows version?

Windows 10 X64 Build 15063.11 v1703 (windows 10 creators update) seems to had 2 usb drives. when i try to create new usb e2b drive. anyone can verify ??

http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/windows-10-creator-edition-brings-major.html

I have followed following procedure prescribed in FAQ.
"You MUST run WinContig after preparing the USB drive and making the ext2 file - all files including the ext2 file need to be contiguous.
Check that you have created the ext2 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 ext2 filename but do NOT change the name of the Volume name from the one specified in the .mnu file."
Despite following suggested procedure, no persistence observed.

What instructions did you follow?
What .mnu file are you using?
What is exact name of ISO?

I tried the debian-live-8.7.1-amd64-mate-desktop.iso and debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-mate-desktop_Persistent.mnu
and found the echo command gave a 'permission denied' error after following the instructions in the .mnu file!
You need to use
sudo bash -c "echo '/ union' > /mnt/usb/persistence.conf"
instead

Hi Steve
My E2B drive is working great. I did notice though that the payload detail description lines is limited to 4 even though I see the screen allows for 3 more lines.
How do I increase the number of detail lines? ...I'll continue to look for this in the sample file and the other help pages as well.
Thank you

The maximum number of menu help lines is 4 - it is a limitation of grub4dos.
grub4dos can use the 5th line for its own messages/prompts, so any menu should leave 5 lines free below the menu area to allow for a maximum of 5 lines.

It would be helpful to have another line but I understand. Thanks for your reply Steve.

Why not re-design the menu to make the menu wider. Then you can use longer lines and get more words into each line?

Ah ok. I guess I'll look into that. If that works, it should take care of the extra line of text I'd like to add on some payloads. Thanks.

First, thanks a ton for all the work you have put into E2B. Fantastic.
I have setup a password with MD5 to hide certain payloads in various menus. This is all working great. However, by default many payloads are hidden as I want but when you go into the menu E2B seems to take an inventory of the items for that menu and you can see *ALL* payloads in that list just prior to the menu being shown with the appropriate payloads hidden.
How can I stop E2B from showing all payloads it is discovering prior to displaying the actual menu?
Thanks!

Hi
If you add
set redir=> nul
in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file, then E2B will not show the files that are being enumerated.
It also reduces other messages too, like QRUN autosuggest messages. See https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/reducing-the-e2b-messages/
https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/autosuggest/
Tip: Check the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file for lots of different settings.

Thank you! setting redir= worked perfectly.

Yes I have been referring to the Sample_MyE2B.cfg file a lot and have been reading a lot of the very well written help pages on your site.

The https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/reducing-the-e2b-messages/ page that you referenced was exactly what I needed and I didn't find my way there before when I was reading. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

At this point, I think my e2b tools thumbdrive is done. I learned a lot relating to how e2b works and I know I still have a lot to learn but this is an excellent environment for creating these types of toolkits. Thanks again for all your work on this and also for your quick and helpful reply to my question here. :)

So I extracted the entire Hirens contents onto the root of my flash drive & tried to put Hiren's Extracted.mnu in my Utilities folder of E2B.
Doesn't seem to be working :-(
Tried the contact form once a few weeks ago.. no dice.. figured once I got an address to reply to I'd send some pictures of my directory structures.

There are many different Hirens ISOs - exactly which one do you have?
The Contact Me form seems to work OK for me - can you try it again pls?
There is also an anonymous suggestions link too.

FYI - Andrew had a DLC ISO file but was using the Hirens .mnu file instead of the DLC .mnu file. It works now!

Hi Steve!

I have been at it all day trying to make my usb hdd uefi boot. I have read and watched nearly all you have put up, but I can't find anything about being stuck at the uefi shell in virtualbox. It loads fine non-efi VMs both mbr and csm but when I load a efi enabled VM I just get a UEFI Interactive Shell. It tries to load a start.nsh but just goes to Shell> and then nothing.

I am using a windows 7 32 bit aio which should work on both types of "bios". It is sourced from a localized retail dvd so not downloaded. Could it be that the iso I made from it is the problem? I have multiple machines running the 64 bit version from that source also with no problems but that was bios/mbr machines.

Sincerely Michael

I would just like stop wasting your time. I tried the mediacreationtool for windows 8.1 and that works just fine. So it is my win7 isos that have some kind of efi error. Sorry for bothering you and a big thank you for all your time giving us e2b!

Win7 32-bit does not support UEFI. It does not contain the UEFI boot files, etc. and is not supported by Microsoft.
Win 7 64-bit does support UEFI, but you must modify the files inside the .imgPTN image.
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/win7-uefi/
When you switch to a .imgPTN file, E2B will tell you what UEFI-boot files are present and also it is listed below the CSM menu too.

Installed Acronis 2017 NG and installed the product key This allows me to create a Acronis image file for booting ether from a CD or for easy2boot usb works fine But when converting to a imgPTN file system it say's its a Trial version which it is not ,
is the conversion overwriting the product keys

Any advice would be appreciated

Is it the linux-based version or WinPE-based?
Did you try creating a USB drive using Acronis and then making a .imgPTN file from the USB drive?
Did you try UEFI-booting from .imgPTN file?

Add this to the end of your \menu.lst

#Acronis - must use quiet switch or get busybox error!
iftitle [if exist /Recovery\ Manager/kernel.dat if exist /dat3.dat && if exist /dat2.dat] Acronis 32-bit \n Acronis True Image
kernel /dat2.dat vga=791 force_modules=usbhid quiet
if exist /dat4.dat set d4=/dat4.dat
initrd /dat3.dat %d4%
boot

#Acronis 64 - must use quiet switch or get busybox error!
iftitle [checkrange 2,3 is64bit && if exist /Recovery\ Manager/kernel.dat if exist /dat10.dat && if exist /dat11.dat] Acronis 64-bit\n Acronis True Image
kernel /dat10.dat vga=791 force_modules=usbhid quiet
if exist /dat12.dat set d12=/dat12.dat
initrd /dat11.dat %d12%
boot

http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/boot-acronis-true-image-2017-ng-from.html

will try inserting the instructions in the menu.lst later

Thank You for the quick response

Yes to all parts created iso with Acronis and that works ok with easy2boot but need it to work with a image file imgptn

The ISO will work for MBR booting.
The .imgPTN will work for UEFI booting.
If you add the lines I gave to the end of the \menu.lst file (inside the .imgPTN file - just switch to the .imgPTN file to get CSM menu and then you can edit the \menu.lst file using Notepad) then you will get MBR booting from .imgPTN also working.

I'm a little confused about how I should partition the drive before I use easy2boot... did I miss that in the docs? Or does it not matter?

My goal is to have a USB drive that I can use to store files like any standard USB, from windows, mac, linux, etc.. but also be able to boot linux and still access those same files.

Doesn't that require a separate partition?

Please define 'USB drive'?
What type? Removable or Fixed?
What size?
Plenty of docs available under 'Make a USB drive' pages.
Since the whole idea of E2B is that you just copy on or delete the ISO files from linux or Windows, you can also add any other files\folders you like.

Hi,
My Symantec Antivirus 14 reporting it as a trojan.

Is there an actual forum with proper threads and posts that this this can be discussed on? I have some questions but this is site format is just too much.... I would even offer hosting and set up a forum deicated to it if that would help!

I have already given a link for a proper Forum - reboot.pro - see top of page.

Taking in account that i already have all .imgPTN files that i need Is it necesary to create again .imgPTN files when newer version of MPI Tool Pack is released and go to the process of creating E2B bootable USB again?

No. Old .imgPTN files will still work as long as they worked before!

Hi Steve. Great work.
By default, when I select any ISO payload on Menu, E2B shows as Help text under menu the Directoy location of ISO payload.
When I make a .txt file to display title of each ISO payload, then I cannot see these Directory locations how was by default.
Please. What "variable" must I adding to .txt files to show that location data to each ISO?
Thanks.

P.S.: I suggest adding permanent links over Subjects (Topics) on forum.
This makes it easy to save them as bookmarks or local html offline files.

Please see the page about .txt files
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/change-the-menu-entry-text-using-a-txt-file/
You can use $HOME$ and $NAME$
e.g. title Boot to $NAME$ \n Boot $HOME$/$NAME$.ISO

(but not for Windows Installer ISO .txt files)

This Forum page is pretty primitive and I cannot change it because it is a fixed feature provided by the WebNode host.
All info should be available on the site pages as I always add anything that is relevant if it comes up in the Forum questions if it is not already there. So just use the Search feature and the Site Map.

Never have I seen/heard so much verbiage that appears intent to obfuscate the fact that Easy2Boot itself cannot boot in a UEFI environment; it can only boot under a 'standard' BIOS (whether actual or emulated as CSM).

Tell me I am wrong - nothing could please me more.

Better yet, show me how to create a Easy2Boot USB drive that itself boots under 'standard' UEFI (not CSM), preferably without mention (let alone half the discussion) of any virtual machine. Even better, present an approach that does not involve any Microsoft product other than FAT32

Hi
E2B supports UEFI-booting in two ways.
1. Use .imgPtN files
2. Use the grub2 menu system (MBR or UEFI-boot)
As you correctly point out, grub4dos cannot be booted in UEFI-mode. So with .imgPTN files, you need to switch-in the partition before you can UEFI-boot. It does mean that you can secure boot from a wide variety of UEFI OS's - something that no other multiboot USB solution can do!
There are videos about .imgPTN on YouTube and there is a page about the grub2 menu system (last in side menu tab).
grub2 menu systems are not generic, each menu has to be tailored to each individual payload. This means that those solutions need to be continuously updated/maintained.
If you want to GENERIC UEFI-multiboot for a variety of different payloads and want to prepare it under linux, then look elsewhere (and let me know if you find one)!

If flash-drive in .imgPTN mode - all is good, but in normal mode - "No access to H. Access denied"
http://savepic.ru/12853594.png
Why?
PS. Windows 10 Enterprise 14393. Log in as administrator.

If the drive is in normal E2B mode, how did you manage to copy any ISO files to it?
You need to describe how I can reproduce this issue.
It obviously is not a problem other people have - only you!

Hi Steve.
Long ago I keep my old file MyE2B.cfg.
Now I have compared this Vs. Sample_MyE2B.cfg, and I notice that there are many differences, far more than the custom changes I had applied.
So, Do you suggest updating it manually by copying from Sample_MyE2B.cfg? and to apply custom changes again?
P.S.: Below, nice another topic about "Defrag NTFS USB drive on Linux"...
We should promote E2B on GNU/Linux forums. :-)

Most of the settings in the Sample_MyE2B.cfg are commented out.
You are welcome to change anything you like.
You can also find some settings in the E2B_Editor.exe GUI to help design your own menus or look at the \_ISO\docs\Templates folder for ideas.

im trying to install windows and it always says its going to install on the ez2boot USB, how do i get it to install windows on the internal drive?

You mean the internal hard disk is not listed?
What Windows are you trying to install - XP, Vista, 98, Me, 7, 8, 10, server 2016 or something else?
Are you installing from an official Microsoft ISO?
If you are using XP ISO, are you using the DPMS version of E2B (hint: you should be!)?

its all windows installs, i converted an official windows iso to a imgPTN and i go boot to the EZ2BOOT and select whatever windows im wanting to install and after i select it i get "WARNING: THE E2B DRIVE PARTITION TABLE IS ABOUT TO BE OVERWRITTEN!" with a bunch of other read text and some blue about UEFI booting then it asks "OK to replace E2B partitions ([Y]/ N) :

so from my understanding it is trying to install the windows i selected onto the E2B bootable, therefore overwritting it, is this correct or is it installing to the internal hard disk?

No - that is not correct.
It is replacing the partition containing E2B files with a new partition which contains the files that were inside the ISO so that it can run Windows Setup.
Why don't you just answer Y and you will see!
Or watch the YouTube videos or read the .imgPTN page on this site...

I just updated to Easy2Boot 1.88 this morning and Symantec Endpoint 14 1904 is flagging Switch_E2B.exe as a Heur.Adv.ML.B Heuristic Virus and it is being Quarantined.

Also, what is the maximum size USB drive allowed without the use of a WinHelper USB? I have been using 128Gb without issue. someone I knwo bought a 256 and it is telling him he needs a WinHelper USB.

You will have to whitelist it
The size of drive is not important , it is whether it is a Removable type or Fixed type. Some USB flash drives are fixed type. Most are removable

Sorry, I should have supplied the USB drive model info: Sandisk Ultra 256 USB 3.0. I'm trying different settings in RMPrep to see if I can get it to work. So far I have Used WinPEv2..., NTFS, and unchecked the boot as HDD option.

The type cannot be changed.
RMPrepUSB will tell you what type it is.
If it is Removable type then it is OK.
E2B only WARNS if any drive is over 128GB - it does not say that it will not work - it just says that Fixed disks will not work.
E2B (grub4dos) cannot distinguish between fixed and removable property - so it just looks at size and warns user if over 128GB because it is probably a HDD.
P.S. Many BIOSes have a USb driver bug and cannot access sectors past 137GB. For this reason, I don't recommend using a Removable USB Flash drive that is over 128GiB because if you make a 2nd partition it cannot be seen by Windows and this causes issues.

I am having problems booting Windows installation ISOs via Easy2Boot. I have got it set up fine booting to Acronis, Linux ISOs and various WinPE ISOs, but when I try to install Windows things generally go like this:

A) After choosing an ISO I get a menu of options, most of which I don't understand. I just want the ISO to behave in the normal fashion, so I choose the option that I guess is going to get closest to that.

B) 9 times out of 10, it doesn't work. e.g. I just installed W7 on a PC, that worked fine, but now I am trying to install W10 on the same PC and it's stuck at "Setup is starting". I have tried 2 different options.

Any advice?

Any error messages at all from E2B? What is size of USB drive? What is type of E2B drive?
Delete the ISO. Then copy the ISO again to the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 folder.
Run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd
Now use a Windows utility to get the CRC\MD5\SHA1 hash value of the file on the E2B drive and compare it with the same file that you downloaded onto the system hard disk (or with official published value). This will check the file for corruption. If not same you have bad USB drive.
Otherwise, it may be a hardware issue with Win10. If it was an E2B issue, I would expect some other sort of error. For Win10 you need to choose correct Product Key for the version you are installing - but you should get an error message from Windows Setup if it was wrong.

Thanks, it was a corrupt ISO.

That left me with another problem - booting via Easy2Boot does not behave like booting from a real disc. In this case, all the Easy2Boot options I tried either asked me for a Windows 10 key (which I don't have because the Windows 10 licence on this machine came via an upgrade from Windows 7) or left me with an installation that would not activate.

Booting from a real disc (actually an SD card with the ISO installed on it) installed & activated fine without entering a product key.

Is there any way I can make Easy2Boot Windows installs behave exactly like installs from real discs?

The keys that are provided in E2B are installation keys. If you are installing Win 10 Pro (retail) simply pick the Win 10 Pro installation key.
Once you have booted to Desktop, you can enter the Win7 key and it should activate.
However, if you want it to be able to accept your Win7 key during Setup, use the MPI Tool Kit to convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file.
This will then behave like the DVD.
MPI will ask you about an EI.cfg file - if you have a retail ISO, say R and you will be able to install either Core or Pro (it will ask you to pick).
With .imgPTN (FAT32) you can also boot via UEFI too if you wish. See videos for more info and MPI pages on this site.

I have created a .mnu file for unattended Centos 7 Installation using a Kickstart file.
I have modified the "title" inside the .mnu file but in the boot menu, it is still the same.
I also tried the delete that .mnu file from my usb key and the boot menu still list it !
So is that .mnu files cached somewhere? What to do to be absolutely sure the latest .mnu files is being used?

The Main menu is cached if you use FASTLOAD.
If so, just press F8 in the Main Menu to refresh the cache.
If you are not using FASTLOAD, are you using a VM to test or a real system? If a VM please describe how it is configured.
Where did you place the .mnu file and what does it contain?

I am not sure what you mean by FASTLOAD, how do I verify this?
I tried F8 anyways and it did not work (did not delete the entry from the Linux iso list).
I was testing my usb key like this "sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -machine accel=kvm:tcg -m 512 -hda /dev/sdc"
Here is the content of my .mnu file (that has been deleted from my usb key but keeps showing on the Linux menu)

=========================
[[email protected]:6 16:04:02 Iso]$ cat CentOS7_AutoInstall.mnu
# CDLABEL must match ISO volume label (usually file name)
# NTFS is not supported! use FAT32 or ext2/3/4
# ISO must not have spaces in path or name

title Auto Install CentOS 7 from Kickstart\n Auto Install CentOS 7 from Kickstart

#ISO is full path to ISO (no spaces)
set ISO=$HOME$/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso

#LBL=CD VOLUME LABEL OF THE ISO use \\x20 instead of a space
set LBL=CentOS\\x207\\x20x86_64

map %ISO% (0xff) || echo -e $[0147]%ISO% IS NOT CONTIGUOUS! && map --mem %ISO% (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
echo
echo -e $[1174]WARNING: THIS WILL NOT WORK ON NTFS DRIVES (use FAT32 or ext2/3/4).
echo
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz root=live:CDLABEL=%LBL% iso-scan/filename='%ISO%' rd.live.image vga=791 inst.ks=nfs:it-deploy2.intelerad.com:/srv/exports/ks/wkstn_centos7-dev-ah.ks
initrd /isolinux/initrd.img
boot
==============================

The file was put under _ISO/Linux folder on the usb key, next to the CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso it was refering to. Is that location allowed for .mnu file?

FASTLOAD is not the problem if you have not enabled it and it only caches the MAIN Menu, not the Linux menu.
If you place the .mnu in \_ISO\LINUX and the CentOS ISo file in \_ISO\LINUX, you will see two menu entries - one for the ISO and one for the .mnu file.
Try booting on a real system?

I actually want 2 menus. One to boot the .iso as-is and one that does full unattended install.
Have not tried on a real physical system yet. Need a real machine that I can zap the real harddrive under unattended mode.
Is there another way to test this "virtually"?

The problem is that you cannot see the .mnu entry in the LINUX menu or that you can see it when it should not be there?
So boot on a real system to E2B, go to LINUX menu - What is in the menu?
You do not need to run anything.
Or run QEMU_MENU_TEST.cmd under Windows?

I see it when it should not be there (I deleted the .mnu file).
I'll wait until I can get a real physical system to test again.
Will report my results.

OK. QEMU may be in snapshot mode or something...
You can also go to grub4dos console
SHIFT+P easy2boot
SHIFT+C
ls /_ISO/LINUX/
can you see .mnu file?
P.S. You are quitting QEMU before you edit the drive contents and then re-running QEMU?

Tried on a real physical system, the menu behave as expected (it is there when the .mnu file is there and not there when the file is not there).
Retried in qemu, also good.
I think, in addition to shutdown qemu, I have to also disconnect the usb drive and reconnect again.
So I think this is due to some kind of filesystem caching and not easy2boot caching.
Sorry for the false alarm.

OK.
If you have an NTFS E2B drive, you could try using the partnew technique. You can adapt one of the other sample .mnu files (e.g. ubuntu) to see how it is done. Then the iso-scan/filename= is then not needed and i should work on NTFS or even exFAT.

bootmgr missing, using XP. I downloaded bootmgr from Microsoft.
TroubleShooting Instructions say to copy it to folder "\_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD" on the E2B drive.
But no such folder. The DPMS folder is there but pasting bootmgr to it don't work.

Any ideas?
Thanks

Hi Ed
if you look at the E2B download zip file, you will see that it does contain that NTBOOT.MOD folder. If your E2B drive does not, then please update it.

So I copied the NTBOOT.MOD folder to the DPMS folder on the E2B drive with a WIN7 bootmgr file in it.
Getting the same bootmgr missing message.

I said you need to UPDATE your E2B drive.
Download the latest version.
Unzip it into a new empty folder.
Run Update_E2B_DRIVE.cmd.
Also, you will need a Win8.1 version of bootmgr - not all versions are compatible - e2b will warn you if it is the wrong version.

P.S. What EXACTLY are you trying to boot?

@Ed - is it working now?

when **.iso.auto files in present windows iso folder it give "if exist %folder/%iso%.auto call %folder%/%iso%.auto"
error 13

Am I doing something wrong or missing ? maybe add something mye2b.cfg?

.auto is not a valid file extension (for a normal payload file). ??

wait what? How not valid? unattended install guide and example files in folders already have these files. Then which extension I should use?

So you are following instructions on
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/unattended-installs/

If so, you need to give all details. Exact paths and filenames you are using, contents of files, etc. What .mnu file you are using, etc.

P.S. Is the first line of your xxxxx.iso.auto file

!BAT

???

When an iso isn't contiguous, I get an error and a prompt to hit "ctrl+f2" to make drive contiguous, but when I press this key combination it doesn't do anything. Is it possible to use this function from usb stick?

It says Press Ctrl+F2 in **RMPrepUSB**.
or you can run USB drive \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd.

Thanks for the fast responce.
Yes this is the message, but I still don't understand. Can I make the drive contiguous from stick(without the need to reboot to windows/linux), and if yes which is exactly the procedure? It's not clear to me.

MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOS.cmd and RMPrepUSB.exe are Windows programs - so they must be run under Windows.
If you are a linux user, see https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-using-linux/

Yes, I've used both windows/linux. I just thought that you can do it from usb stick too and "ctrl-f2" was the combination to run the command.
Thanks.

If I could do it from grub4dos then I would not need to ask the user to do it!

if I create a new E2B drive, add ISOs, make contiguous, will I have to make contiguous again if I add non-E2B files to the drive after? non-E2B files would just be random stuff like videos, music, etc - essentially things not related to E2B AFTER the drive was made contiguous.

No, the FILES are made contiguous by WinContig, not the drive. E2B needs contiguous payload files.

Hi,
Webroot antivirus reports this program as a trojan. Is the downloaded files infected, or is it the program? (the function to override windows installation-files and default settings)

What program> Which download?
Use the web based VirusTotal to check it with all virus scanners. https://www.virustotal.com/
E2B is used 1000's of times a day and is downloaded 100's of times a day. If it had a virus, I think it we would know about it!

This file: %Documents% EASY2BOOT V1.86DPMS_MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.EXE
I cannot find the file (maby temorary while installing? or removed by webroot?) It seems to warn when I make bootdisks with the cmd-file.
I have sent the question to Webroots support to see what exactly it warn for.

Got reply from Webroot that it was false alarm. :) (Y)

Hi.
I have sort of hdd testing software in iso format.
thise software doesn't work for me becouse need to write reports after finish work.
Is there any way to use e2b with thise tool ?
Regards Filip

Are you using a Removable USB drive or Fixed Disk drive for E2B?
Did you try converting to .imgPTN file, then you may have better access?
If you tell me what s/w is or can send me a copy, I can help.

Hi.
I'd like to be running OpenELEC or LibreELEC live from E2B. Not interested in the installation, just the live functionality.
I've seen a couple of articles from 2013/2014 here at E2B.com. Are they still up to date?
Could you please make an update on those articles?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers

Yes, the 2014 instructions still work for the latest version 6.0.3

Thanks, SteveSi.

I just bought a brand new Kingston SE9 G2 USB 3.0 64GB.
Formatted it with Easy2Boot.
It booted a first time.
I added more isos, it stopped booting. But I can still read and write to it as a data drive.

I format it again. Still do not boot.
Thinking it's my computer BIOS that is messed up, I tried an older usb drive that also has Easy2Boot and that worked.
Any pointers how to debug this weird problem?

See Troubleshooting page
https://easy2boot.com/faq-/troubleshooting-e2b/

Here's some surprising findings:

The problematic Kingston SE9 G2 USB 3.0 64G key works for:
- qemu
- my work machine Dell Precision T3610, all usb ports
- my older laptop Dell Vostro 3350, all usb ports
- my current laptop (where the problem originally occured) Dell Latitude E6230, only on the USB 2.0 port (USB 3.0 port do not boot). On the USB 2.0 port, it displays "Invalid Partition table!", then I press enter and it continue to boot the usb key.

Note that as previously stated, the USB 3.0 port did work once, then stopped working. Also that same USB 3.0 port was able to boot a smaller and supposely cheaper quality Kingston DataTraveler 101 G3 16 G.

I also destroyed the partition table on the 64G key, recreate from scratch, then format again, same result. This is using latest Easy2Boot_v1.86DPMS.zip, the fmt.sh script (Fat32).

I verified by Latitude e6230 is using Legacy BIOS and not UEFI. My ssd boot drive is using MBR partition anyways so it can not be using UEFI.

I am really stumped. Any other pointers as to why this weird problem happens?

I bought a bigger usb key so I can put my entire collection of Iso on it. I hope it is not the size of the key that is the problem because that will make me really sad.

The fmt.sh script does not add a small second partition. As explained on the website, when you use RMPrepUSB or the MAKE_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd Windows script, it makes a second small hidden partition on the USB drive. This is because some systems will try to boot a USB drive as a floppy disk if they only have one partition.
Can you add a small second PRIMARY partition to the USB drive or use the Windows script to make it?

Added a 2nd primary partition, still the same weird behavior.

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for lvu:
Disk /dev/sdb: 57.8 GiB, 62087233536 bytes, 121264128 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xefda3cf9

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 119566335 119564288 57G b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb2 119566336 121264127 1697792 829M b W95 FAT32

Did you switch off the system and switch on again?
Did you check the BIOS settings. e.g. USB Settings?
Does it say USB HDD in the BIOS boot menu?
Is the first partition marked as Active (boot flag)?
Did you install grub4dos to both PBR and MBR?
Latest BIOS version is A16 25th Oct 2016 with improved USB support. Do you have this?

Did you switch off the system and switch on again?
Yes

Did you check the BIOS settings. e.g. USB Settings?
Yes, boot order is USB first.

Does it say USB HDD in the BIOS boot menu?
This is the interesting part, it doesn't say when the usb key is plugged into the usb 3.0 port. Looks like BIOS do not detect/see a usb hdd on usb 3.0 port ... but only for my new 64G usb key. The older 16G usb key was booting fine from that same usb 3.0 port.

Is the first partition marked as Active (boot flag)?
No.

Did you install grub4dos to both PBR and MBR?
I don't know, I just run the fmt.sh script.

Latest BIOS version is A16 25th Oct 2016 with improved USB support. Do you have this?
I only have A15.

I also tried to format the usb key using Windows instead of linux. This is the latest fdisk output after Windows format:

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for lvu:
Disk /dev/sdb: 57.8 GiB, 62087233536 bytes, 121264128 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xfc5ed0c2

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 63 121242491 121242429 57.8G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2 121242492 121242554 63 31.5K 21 unknown

Still the same behavior (usb 3.0 port do not boot) with formatting using Windows. However at least usb 2.0 port stop staying "invalid partition table!".

I guess a new BIOS might be the fix. At least now the usb 2.0 port boots properly so I have a fall back. I'll reply my findings if I feel brave enough to update the BIOS. I got burned once in the past updating BIOS.

Thanks for all the help. Looks like formatting on Windows does a more complete job than Linux. Is it because Linux is lacking any functionality or you just didn't get around to have feature parity between Windows and Linux?

I am still puzzled as to why my older 16G usb drive was working fine on that same usb 3.0 port although it was formatted on Linux.

The * in
/dev/sdb1 * 63 121242491 121242429 57.8G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
I think means that the partition is active. So one difference is that the first partition was not active until you used Windows to prepare the USB stick.
The fmt.sh script only formats an existing partition it does not create partitions.
Did you enable both options in the BIOS under System Setup - USB Configuration - Enable Boot Support and Enable External USB Port?

P.S. I have improved the linux fmt.sh script in E2B v1.87b so that it makes the partition active and installs grub4dos to the PBR.
The only thing it does not do is make a 2nd small partition on the USB drive. You should do this yourself or it may not boot on some systems.

Dear Stevesi,
first of all thank you for the software package development and that for free!
I've been trying to make a Multiboot USB Stick/HDD usable for both UEFI and Legacy Mode Bioses and I've already read several tutorials on E2B website and have also seen several videos from other resources. But still haven't been able to make such a drive, which would work on both kind of Bios types (MBR/UEFI). The best results have been either working on some MBRs OR on some UEFIs, not both at the same time.
Therefor my first question is that, if you could recommend one main method/tutorial to focus on; because as I mentioned there are several Versions suggesting different methods, like using RMPrepUSB (and that with variety of options like choosing between ntfs or fat32, Boot as HDD as checked or not etc.) or using the scripts like MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE .cmd
My other question is that, if you by any chance know some tool to convert usb "fixed" drives into "removable" disks? Most of my USB drives are detected as "fixed" drives. I assume that, first of all they have to be "removable" drives for being able to make them bootable using E2B.

E2B will work on Removable drives or Fixed Disk type.
The website explains the difference.
Not all payloads (ISOs) support UEFI booting.
Look at the 'List of tested payloads' page to see the best way to add each payload file.

Dear Stevesi
iftitle [find /ntldr] OS * Windows XP Loader..
how to set find only search in hd0.. If not found ntldr in hd0 then message not found ntld in hd0.
How to make menu like that's..??

That is tricky!
When you boot from USB, hd0 will be the USB drive.
hd1 will be the first internal hard disk.
So if you want to boot from the internal disk try
iftitle [ls (hd1,0)/ntlrd] Boot from NTLDR

or maybe

iftitle [ls (hd1,0)/ntldr || ls (hd1,1)/ntldr] Boot from NTLDR

For interest
# Ignore boot device and boot to Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 from the internal hard disk
# This works by mapping the boot device (bd) which may have bootmgr or ntldr on it, to a virtual memory drive so that files on it are not found by the find command
title Boot to Windows from an internal hard disk
map --mem (md)+8 (bd)
map --hook
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr || find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
map (bd) (bd)
map --rehook
chainloader /bootmgr || chainloader /ntldr

Hi,

I got this error on Ubuntu 16.04:

[[email protected]:12 12:47:29 linux_utils]$ sudo ./udefrag -om /dev/sdc1
[sudo] password for lvu:
sudo: unable to execute ./udefrag: No such file or directory
[[email protected]:12 12:53:38 linux_utils]$

USB drive was created using Easy2Boot_v1.86DPMS.zip.

I used 'sudo bash ./fmt_ntfs.sh' to create the drive initially.

Then I copy over some .iso.

Does the file exist?
Did you use chmod on it?

The udefrag binary is a 32-bit program.
If you have Ubuntu 64-bit, you may need to add 32-bit support. See the linux page on this site.

udefrag came from the tools.zip file at
http://jp-andre.pagesperso-orange.fr/advanced-ntfs-3g.html#download
If anyone would like to supply me with a 64-bit version of udefrag (find it or compile it), I will include it in E2B.

Yes udefrag file exist. Yes I chmod a+x it.

I will try to add additional 32-bits libraries to my 64-bits machine to see if I can run udefrag.

Thanks.

Confirmed able to defrag NTFS on Ubuntu 16.04 by following intructions on Linux page:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386
(change to _ISO/docs/linux_utils folder)
sudo chmod 777 *
sudo udefrag -om /dev/sdX1 (where sdX1 is your NTFS USB partition)

Thanks.

Hi!

I just wanted to thank you for the hugely useful software package development and also for providing that for free. I haven't been able to give much back to you. I noticed that I might be able to contribute with some code though. The thing is that its quite annoying to start the RestoreE2B script with administrative rights. Usually on broken computer the right click menu might take ages to pop up in Windows Explorer. Here is how I make batch scripts ask administrative rights, use it however you like:
In the beginning I usually add:

set "_FilePath=%~f0"
set "_FileDir=%~dp0"
setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion

And then in the appropriate location the admin rights prompt trigger:

fltmc >nul 2>&1 || (
echo Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\GetAdmin.vbs"
echo UAC.ShellExecute "!_FilePath!", "", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\GetAdmin.vbs"
"%temp%\GetAdmin.vbs"
del /f /q "%temp%\GetAdmin.vbs" >nul 2>&1
exit
)

I hope that helps. I feel that I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. So thank you again.

Kind regards,
Codeplayer

Thanks for the code. I haven't seen that before.
The thing is that RestoreE2B needs to work in a minimal WinPE environment and not rely on fltmc or vb script runtime components.
Why not use SWITCH_E2B.exe instead?

I have a 1Tb USB3 External HDD
Two primary partitions, the second one has data, the first one is empty.

I would like to install EASY2BOOT in the first one.
When I launch the installer, it says "WARNING: ALL PARTITIONS ON DRIVE 1 WILL BE DESTROYED..."

I don't want to destroy the second partition.

What can I do?
Thanks.

The cmd script is only for making a new drive.
See https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-and-e2b-usb-drive-using-rmprepusb/
Use RMPrepUSB to add the grub4dos boot code using 'Install grub4dos' button and just copy E2B files to the first partition.

Thanks SteveSi for the fast answer

Hello, Sir,

I found a problem while trying to install Windows 7 and 8. Both of them are AIO x84/x64 activated ISO files . When i pick which system type to install, i see Windows logo and then a blue screen with an error: "Unable to launch the setup application". I tried all of the methods to somehow fix it, (renaming iso to isope, rewriting the program, editing autounattend.xml) except converting iso to imgptn. I also tried to find something about this problem on e2b forums and pretty much on the whole e2b site, but unfortunately, it's not even listed in the list of errors. For example, Windows 10 works fine, without any problems at all. I really like this program and i don't really want to change it if it has such malfunctions.

Thank you in advance for the help.

AIO ISOs may not work because they have been changed a lot by the developer. You should convert them to a .imgPTN file if they don't work as an ISO file.

Hi sir,
Sorry for my poor english.
I have latest version of e2b.
Recently i add win7pe.wim but getting winload.exe missing error. Try with almost wim and no luck. I have bootmgr on root of hdd partition. (format as fat32).
Also i want to know if i can add kas.iso to e2b, because my usb hdd has more than 2 partitions so partnew method cannot get to work.
I know that we can extract kas to rescue folder but i do not want to use this method (may not safe to extract since kas is antivirus rescue)
Try iso boot with some code from rmprep site too, but no luck.
Finally tks for your greate project.
God bless u :)

A Windows bootable wim file should contain one image and a \windows\system32\loader.exe file should be present. Please check using 7Zip.
What is 'kas.iso' ? Do you mean Kaspersky AntiVirus Rescue disk iso? If so it can be booted directly using E2B. Only one free partition entry is needed.
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/adding-kaspersky-rescue-iso-to.html

Hello, my apologies if I've missed something obvious, but I've been attempting to create a multiboot windows install / linux E2B USB for a couple of days and am flummoxed by windows ISO issues. I've looked through all the tutorials and topics I can but can't find the solution.

I can boot a linux ISO, and create a imgPTN from it and boot it no bother - tested with Puppy Linus.

However, Windows ISOs downloaded from the 'Windows Iso Downloaded' recommended on the site are another story.
- If the plain ISO is used in the correct folder, I get Error 13 Invalid or unsuppoted executable format.
- If I convert to imgPTN I get 'has no menu.lst file'.
- I created working Winsetupfromusb, Sagefile and Rufus USBs, and converted them to ISO/imgPTN, but get the same error
- For each attempt, I can mount the img using Imdisk as a removable drive and explore the contents, but after I attempt to boot, the image becomes corrupted and can no longer be accessed.
- I've tried different USB pens, same problem.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Can you describe what USB drive you are using and how you made it, size, make, model, etc.
If it is a flash drive, did you test it with H2TESTW or FakeFlashTest to see if it is a fake one?
You say you can mount an .imgPTN file using ImDisk and see the \menu.lst file and other contents - is the file on your internal Windows drive or are you using the .imgPTN file directly on the USB drive?

I have a problem using MPI to create imgPTN. It always says "there is not enough space on the disk" even though I have increase the size.
Please help. thanks a lot!

I include the screenshot here for visual ref. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7VPcKBuhELCMGgzc1k1YUNsYUU

AOI ISOs tend to be heavily compressed. There is a special option when making an ISO that allows an image to contain a single file with multiple entries for duplicate files in the same ISO.
You may have to add a LOT more to the size before it works.

Is there a way for me to choose a version for UEFI install? For regular windows installation, I have the options to choose between pro and home. But for UEFI it would just install the Pro version every single time. Any workaround here? Thank you so much!

When you use the MakePartImage script, it should prompt you to delete or make a EI.CFG file. For a Win8/10 standard Retail\OEM ISO, choose R=Retail.

I have a 6,4GB iso of Windows 10 with both 32 and 64 bit Pro & Home edition. When i choose the version to install and pick 64bit i get a fvevol.sys error. Can someone help? Thanks in advance.

From Googling, it seems that this is something to do with BitLocker. Several people have fixed it by updating the BIOS/firmware to a later version.
Does this error only happen on one type of system?

It happens on every system i try to install the 64 bit version.

Try a different ISO. If that gives the same problem, then it must be a problem with your systems?

Hello, There is a E2B page where linux with persistence, one should use imgPTN for multiboot + persistence. Which leads to http://rmprepusb.blogspot.com.br/2015/08/add-debian-live-iso-with-persistence-to.html but not a word about imgPTN tutorial. What's the proper way of doing it? Or should I look other distro tutorial for equivalence. Have patience and a great time! Capum

Hi,
The Debian-live-8.5.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso does not contain EFI boot files. So I don't think it will be UEFI-bootable. Why don't you use an ISO file + persistence and MBR booting?

UEFI with legacy boot? sure! actually this notebook is BIOS, just checked that. I could manage it if I wasn't kind lost, you have two pages about linux persistence. Could I use the the guide page with more reliable ext3,4 volume instead? thanks it's amazing tool.

If you just want legacy BIOS boot, then you dont need a .imgPTN file.
See \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\linux
debian-live-8.1.0-amd64-mate-desktop_Persistent.mnu
and the blog post on how to make a persistence file.
A persistence file of ext3 or ext4 is more reliable in case of file corruption (which happens a lot with USB drives because you tend to just switch off the system or remove the drive without shutting down properly!).

This way... would it be multiboot ?

Yes, you can have as many Debian ISOs as you like and as many persistence files as you like - just use a different persistence file for each one and edit the .mnu file to use the named ISO and persistence file.

Hello!

Thank you for the best working USB-MUltiboot solution (at least for me). :)

Recently I had to enter the Generíc Windows setup key multiple times for different setups. When choosing to manually enter a key in E2B, the description says something like "25 digits". So I sometimes entered the key unhyphenated (without dashes) because otherwise it wouldn't have been 25 digits, but 29. Of course this was wrong and I had to enter the key a second time, including dashes. So I wanted to suggest that you might add a little hint, that dashes have to be input, too?

:)

Hi
Thanks for the feedback. In the English version of 1.82 it says
'Product keys must be in AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE format (29 characters)'
So are you using an old version or a different language?
Also, what Generic Product Key are you entering? I thought that I had all the generic keys in the list?

I looked through the languages files and the German one says 25 instead of 29. I will fix this in next v1.83 Beta.

Has anyone tried the SDI_CHOCO feature in v1.82 yet? Any questions? Just looking for feedback...

I want to use ghost11
the file name is "ghost.exe"
not .iso and .img
how can I use it in E2B? dos? or other ways
thanks

Ghost.exe is (probably) a Windows executable, so it must be run under Windows.
You could try booting to a Windows 10 ISO to Setup, then press SHIFT+F10 and then run Ghost from the E2B USb drive (e.g. D:\Ghost.exe if D: is the USB drive).

Hi!
I have problem and I want to avoid reinstall.

message error:

Booting from hard disk...
GRUB loading.
error: no such device: 4d074ea1-008f-4cf9-a6c5-1a7fb76c38f2
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>

ty

nada

It sounds like the partition has been changed/deleted/formatted. Try booting from USB and use gparted to look at the partition or try an automatic boot repair utility
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/add-boot-repair-disk-isos-to-e2b-multi.html

sorry, I was not specific.
The error is in the booting from USB and room "QEMU_MENU_TEST"
view the image->
http://prntscr.com/bux02v

TY and sorry for hassle.

E2B uses grub4dos not grub.
It looks like something has installed grub onto the USB drive. Use RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos and run twice, once with Yes and once with No option.

Hi,

1. How to create Slackware Live with persistence (Ext2 / Ext4 persistence file). http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/slackware-live-edition-1-1-0-comes-with-the-latest-plasma5-on-iso/

2. How to make Remix OS / Phoenix OS with persistence.

Thanks.

See blog tutorials
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/p/easy2boot-useful-blogs.html

Hey guys,

1st thanks for your great tools.

I've been trying for almost 3 hours now, i swear you, but i can't build that multiboot usb.

Tried the standard iso way, tried the conversion to .imgPTN also ... with NTFS or FAT32 (the drive and the files).
My BIOS can even handle both UEFI and legacy mode, i switched couple of times ... but i always fail, i must be noob.
I also checked /EFI/BOOT stuff.

Does the problem could be because i have multi os on my drive (seven and 8.1)? The default one is Windows 7 x64.
It's GPT NTFS formating.

It never wants to boot on this USB key.

Am i really that noob ?
Maybe I missed a useful link ???

Booting from GPT USb drives is not supported

Ok that means i have to format my hard drive in MBR ?

Yes - format as two partitions.
First one 137GB NTFS for E2B, 2nd one as rest (up to 2TB).
Instructions are on this site
https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-and-e2b-usb-drive-using-rmprepusb/

Hi sir, I have a lenovo tools that can update and edit machine type model of laptop,it is used and run only on a usb flash disk, i convert this utility into an iso (converting all contents into 1 file) when i copy this iso to my easy drive, the utility run but when i tried to use the functionality it always prompts that eeprom is write protected..is there other way to avoid this error anytime i used this utility.

You should convert the flash drive to a .imgPTN file and boot from that. P.S. Are you sure that when you use the Lenovo USB flash drive it works on the same system?

You can also make a .ima floppy disk image - see http://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2016/06/adding-lenovo-maintenance-utilities-ibm.html

Hi Steve. Please these questions and experience.

1). I tried Install Windows 7, Easy2Boot displays various commands inbox, but, ¿Is it normal that E2B does not display the "Windows 7 Install Now" window?:
http://s6.postimg.org/9ku02l981/windows7_install_5.jpg

2). Is it normal that E2B displays all other available versions of Windows 7? They are not hidden from view.
Does E2B ignore the ei.cfg file inside ISO?
http://s6.postimg.org/fn1mt2xo1/windows_7_iso_ei_file_removed.png

3). I experienced the trouble that E2B takes a long time to display the Main Menu.
I fixed Load Optimized Defaults from BIOS. Still it works.
Mobo: MSI 760GM-P34 (FX), AMI BIOS version 2013-04-28.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/760GM-P34-FX.html#down-bios

Thanks!

Q1 - for win7, it is normal
Q2. yes ei.cfg is ignored because we use an unattend.xml file
Q3. Either slow USB drive or slow USB BIOS driver.
Read FAQ - menu is slow to load.

If you want the more standard install experience, convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file.

Hi.

when I tried to install using a 500GB hard drive appears caption

"install windows froam a sub hard disk you also an E2B HELPER USB flashdrive. if you do not have one you will get a "DVD drive device driver is missing" message"

please help me

https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/installing-windows-with-a-helper-drive/

Just found this site/program and looks very handy. I do wonder if you use UDF format for the usb device? I have use UDF formats to move large files between Windows and Linux computers. (don't have any apples to play with)

Steve,
E2B is the best !
One little suggestion for us beginners about rebuilding an E2B flash drive though . . .
I started out just making an .imgPTN of Gandalf, dropped it into ISO\MAINMENU and the thing booted right off, no problem.

But when I went back to add another .iso, there was no ISO directory to be found because of the repartitioning from booting into an .imgPTN and I was a bit confused.

It took me a while to figure out I would have to run the "RestoreE2B" to get the expected partitions back. Up until then I was starting to think I'd have to rebuild the E2B drive each time I added something new.
Maybe I missed it but you might want to put an alert in there for us beginners.

Nonetheless, thanks a million for all your efforts developing this - it's really cool and I'm looking forward to experimenting and playing around with it.

Hi, yes that catches quite a few people.
When you select the .imgPTN file in the E2B menu, you should see a WARNING in lots of colours which you are supposed to read. if you don't read it then you may get a surprise. The first item on the CSM menu is to restore the E2B menu.
You can also use SWITCH_E2B.exe to switch and restore the partition.
How do you suggest I can improve the warning?

Actually I saw that warning and wrote it down, not really knowing what it was about. I figured it was some expert optional choice as, when you're really excited to see something boot up and run, you're not really in the frame of mind to stop and contemplate something that comes up unexpectedly.
The whole notion that your flash drive is going to have partitions remade and shifted around takes a while for your head to wrap around (but now I get it).
And you don't really absorb it until you run into it. (Very ingenious though.)

So I was thinking, maybe on the "Adding Payload" or "Adding-uefi-images" page(s) something like, "NOTE : once you boot into an .imgPTN . . . . ".
That is, some page where you're in learning mode, so to speak.'
Just an idea.

I have been using e2b for quite a while with no problems, but today I went to install windows server 2012 and it said I needed a helper usb. I looked into this and it said if my device showed as a fixed device in windows explorer I would need one, but mine shows as a removable device.. Am I missing something?

grub4dos/E2B cannot tell if the USB device is a Removable type, so E2B just looks at the size of the device and warns you if the USB device appears to be a large device. The inference being that most large USB devices are USB HDDs or Fixed-type removable USB flash drives. If you are sure that your device is a Removable type (as displayed by RMPrepUSB) then just go ahead and press C and ENTER as prompted.
What USB device are you using?

Hi Steve.

After booting to grub2 in EFI mode, does it allow for a menu entry to boot the E2B drive in legacy mode (grldr)?

I'm currently using rEFInd on my E2B drive for EFI booting, but it doesn't support manual legacy entries, only those scanned at boot. This boot scan for legacy bootloaders usually fails for external USB drive, depending on mobo, requiring enabling deep_scan option. And deep_scan is too agressive, as it rewrites the mobo boot options permanently (reset to defaults required).

You cannot change from UEFI to Legacy mode.
You can go from Legacy to UEFI by using Clover because Clover is a BIOS-in-RAM implementation of a UEFI BIOS, but AFAIK, there is no equivalent Legacy BIOS-in-RAM for a UEFI-BIOS.

Hello again!
Part II: Continuation of the vicissitudes.
I have decided to merge my Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1 with my external USB HDD 500GB
used for my PC's internal HDD files backup so that I have
E2B boot & repair stuff (partition 1) + the PC's internal HDD's files backup (partition 2)
on a single device (the external USB HDD 500GB)
so that I later can get rid of the unnessesary USB Pendrive.
So I begun to install E2B on the external USB HDD 500GB
following instructions from:
https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-and-e2b-usb-drive-using-rmprepusb/
I wanted 20 GB E2B partition,
but because space from 4 GB to 99GB on the external USB HDD 500GB is damaged (bad sectors)
I created 137 000 (137GB) WinPE & NTFS E2B partition (unticked Boot as HDD)
and then in some partition program I shrunk that partition from 137 GB to 20 GB from left to right, (as I did not see in RMPrepUSB a possibility to set start & end of E2B partition, only can set size, thus I had to use so trick) leaving first 99 GB as an unallocated space before E2B partition.
Then behind it, I created a second 346 GB NTFS partition for the PC's internal HDD's files backup.
Then I run "Install grub4dos" thing two times.
Everything completed successfully.

So I got following structure:
0 GB - 99 GB - an unallocated space
99 GB - 119 GB - the first primary 20 GB NTFS partiton with E2B boot & repair stuff
119 GB - 465 GB - the second primary 346 GB NTFS partiton with the PC's internal HDD's files backup

Then I copied all my boot images from Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1 onto the external USB HDD 500GB onto E2B partition.

Then I begun testing phase 1:
1) I Rebooted my PC, and booted successfully to E2B menu.
Then I begun testing phase 2:
2) I Rebooted my PC again to OS, and run SWITCH_E2B.exe, and double-clicked one of imgPTN images to test imgPTN images UEFI booting, and I got an error:
MBR is not an E2B MBR ?
ERROR: MBR on drive 1 does not contain a partition near the start of the drive.
Use 'Safely Remove Drive' System Tray icon and re-insert USB drive.
But I cannot make a 20GB partition near the start of the drive because as I already mentioned before , space from 4GB to 99GB of the drive is unusable and damaged.
So now my question is: does E2B partition must be near the start of the drive?
If not, then how to solve the SWITCH_E2B.exe error issue? (maybe some hack/trick/sector swap?)
If not then maybe for ex. as first 4GB of the drive are undamaged I may create a small 4 GB primary E2B partiton and put E2B stuff there (it takes something like 600+MB) + some of the images and then behind the damaged space, make two logical partitions, and on the first one put rest of the images files, then edit somehow E2B settings to boot the rest of the images from this partition. (I have read somewhere on E2B webpages that this is possible). The second logical partiton will be for the PC's internal HDD's files backup.
This way I will have:
0 GB - 4 GB - the primary 4 GB NTFS partiton with E2B boot & repair stuff (some of the images)
99 GB - 115 GB - the logical 16 GB NTFS partiton with the rest of the images
115 GB - 461 GB - the logical 346 GB NTFS partiton with the PC's internal HDD's files backup
But I would rather prefer to fix the issue in a better way than complicated jugglery of partitions.
Steve, I know you can find the solution,
You are the man !
please help.
Thank You!

That is a safety feature of SWITCH_E2B to prevent someone from accidentally 'restoring' a drive that contains grub4dos but is not an E2B drive.
You should be able to use the E2B menu to switch partitions (e.g. boot it on a real system or under QEMU or VBox to E2B).
I don't recommend using a known faulty drive. It is bound to let you down just at the wrong time!

Astounding,
it really works !

Since it did not work in OS, I was supposing that it won't work also in menu, thus I didn't even checked nor made sure, however, just right after your post I checked and it really works in menu!

Thanks for creating E2B, it make life easier !

And as regards damaged disks, I am aware of risks and danger, however you're right, such damaged disks may fail at any time. I don't know myself why I still keep data on it - I think I have gambler :)

Best Regards :)

Ok Steve I've been reviewing the latest English release by SS and the following procedure is used to boot provided ISO/IMG files from DOS bootmgr. Sadly I haven't yet a XP VHD for a quick test. Would you be so kind to confirm it's able to boot yours?

1. Copy your grldr file of choice (ie the one provided at E2B root) to the folder containing your XP VHD file.
2. Rename grldr to payload.mbr (ie Fullxpvhd.mbr).
3. Run BOOTICE>Utilities>Grub4DOS Menu Editor and open Fullxpvhd.mbr.
4. Replace displayed default embedded menu.lst with the commands on your blog post and save changes.
5. BOOTICE>BCD>Other BCD and select your BCD. I use Professional Mode for editing.
6. Right-click any entry under "Application objects" and select "New RealMode Entry".
7. Select the created entry, then on the main panel, right-click "Aplication path", select "Edit" and point to Fullxpvhd.mbr file. You can also edit the "Description" value.

That should work: bootmgr>Fullxpvhd.mbr>ntldr within XP VHD file.

Hello,

I have a problem !

I used Win32DiskImager and burned successfully two images:

1) UEFI64_Debug.img
2) Rescue.img

downloaded from

https://github.com/Drive-Trust-Alliance/sedutil/wiki/Executable-Distributions

onto my USB Pendrive #2, and they both successfully booted in UEFI mode.

You may read more about the images here:

https://github.com/Drive-Trust-Alliance/sedutil/wiki/Test-the-PBA (UEFI64_Debug.img)
https://github.com/Drive-Trust-Alliance/sedutil/wiki/Test-the-Rescue-system (Rescue.img)

Now what I want is to add the images to my main Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1 as I always have all boot things on a single pendrive.

First try was simply to put the *.img images into Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1\_ISO\LINUX folder (just out of curiosity and for test purposes as I already know they are UEFI images and won't boot this way), thus as I expected, they both didn't boot, I got a black screen with a char indicator flashing in left-top corner of the screen and I had to reset the computer.

Another try was a proper way, to convert the *.img images to *.imgPTN format.
I made it by program "MakePartImage_AutoRun_FAT32.cmd" from the tool "MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_064".
I made all strongly with instructions from ReadMe.txt file (except I didn't convert the *.img to *.iso first, but another time I converted to *.iso, and that made no difference) Result was: successfully!
Then I used "SWITCH_E2B.exe" to enable the UEFI images on my Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1 and rebooted the computer but again they fails to boot, the one image just don't even boot, nothing happens, and just the OS boots as usual, and the another one boot to CSM menu (and when I choose boot from current image as MBR) the same thing happens like in "First try", I got a black screen with a char indicator flashing in left-top corner of the screen and the USB Pendrive flashing to infinity and I had to reset the computer.

Perhaps the images require some special settings to get booting?

Please, help!

Thanks.

I forgot to add that I already have Windows 7 64 SP1 UEFI.imgPNT on my Easy2Boot USB Pendrive #1 and it boot with no problems (as I also used it to install W7 on my computer)

Hi
Something odd is going on when 7zip upacks the images. When you use the rescue.img file with MPI_FAT32 you get a 0.img file inside the .imgPTN file instead of it extracting the files!
However, if you copy this 0.img file and place it on the E2B partition at \_ISO\LINUX (for instance) it boots fine!
Its a similar story with the EFI DEBUG file - for this, just extract the contents to an empty folder and then drag and drop the folder onto the MPI_FAT32 shortcut. Then you can boot the .imgPTN file (but it doesn't seem to like booting with Clover - you must UEFI-boot from a UEFI system).

Hi again,

I confirm, odd things happens when extracting the both images by 7zip., it seems that there is some bug in 7zip or the images are corrupted in some way or there is some conflict between 7zip and the images.

I extracted both images by 7zip but at the end of the both extractions I got:
"Warning: there are some data after the end of the payload data" for Rescue image and
"Unexpected end of data" for EFI Debug image.

However, I followed your workarounds and both image are booting this way.

Thanks.
Best Regs

Hi.
After successfully installing XP to my Win 7 laptop, all is well, except I have some old software that has to be installed to drive C: - but C is a small system partition and XP is in a partition called D.
Is there a way to get the XP to be in C: not D:
Hope that makes sense!

I don't think you can change it (at least not easily and without some risk of it not booting again!).
I would re-order the partitions and then re-install XP.
http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/rename-drive-letter-on-xp-installation/196484.html
OR
hide the first small partition (e.g. set to Type=27hex or 17hex instead of 07hex if NTFS) and then delete the large ptn and reformat it. Then *reboot* to XP Setup and install to the large ptn (which is the only one XP should see).
Also, make sure you boot using the BIOS Boot Selection Pop-Up box, do not set the E2B USB drive as the first hard disk in the BIOS.

Thanks for the reply!
The weird thing is, when I boot into Win7, the 300MB System partition is there, but it has no drive letter allocated, so Win 7 in in C: .... When I boot XP, the Win 7 partition appears as F:, the system partition appears as C instead of no letter.
Previously, the machine dual booted Win7 32 or 64 bit, in both cases the booted partition appeared as C. I wonder if there's something in the MBR that controls this?

What partition type is the 300MB system partition? Is it hidden? If it is set as the Active partition then maybe XP assumes that it is the system partition? If you set the larger boot partition as Active, then installed XP and then changed it back so the 300MB ptn was active (and re-installed your boot manager), it would be happy?

Good thoughts, thank you.. I'll have a poke around. At first I thought it was a quirk of e2b, or rmprepusb, but then Win 7 would likely be the same. Ideally I'd get rid of that partition, but re-installing W7 would be a nightmare, so much installed software....

XP Setup tells you what drive letter it is going to use. So only start the install if it says C:.

Can I assign a drive letter via e2b? As when I create the partition I'm in win7, and that already uses drive C. I actually told it not to assign a drive letter, but I've never been convinced Windows pays attention to that.
Meanwhile, the boot manager entries are:
Entry #1
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {e7ae09f6-96a4-11e0-ae57-d033c0a160e3}
Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Bootloader Path: \NST\ntldr

... does the device: setting come from e2b? If I could alter that to match the Win7 entry it may also work?

Ok, so it seems Win7 creates a small hidden partition for it's boot stuff, and to allow for bitlocker.
Win XP can't boot from an un-lettered partition.
So, I either have to delete the system partition, or try and symlink C: to D: in Xp...
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71363-system-reserved-partition-delete.html

So, I fixed this.. Hope it will help someone else too!
I removed the small system partiton as per this process:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409
Thanks for helping!

Hi Steve.

Very interesting post. I've seen that approach before being used in Sergei Strelec's DOS section of his distros, for booting different ISOs, IMGs, etc, from a bootmgr menu, but didn't know how those .MBR files (which seem to contain grldr + corresponding boot commands) where generated.

According to your blog post, .MBR files act as the the grldr written to the MBR in our E2B drives, but also includes info about the correct ANGx file to load. And the ANGx files would be the equivalent of grldr at E2B root, but including custom boot command for each payload.

On SS distros, only .MBR + payload pairs are used, there aren't multiple ANGx equivalents at distro root or elsewhere. So my question is: are the .MBR files (as created by EasyBCD) actually required as the entry point in BCD? Could the BCD entry simply point to the ANGx file of choice?

If it was possible, then there would be no need for the mbr file!
The mbr file is just the same as the boot mbr+first 20 sectors which searches for grldr. They have modified it so it searches for ang0. Ang0 is just grldr but with an embedded menu which loads the payload.

Hey Starla & Steve. Reboot.Pro isn't allowing me to validate my registration email today so I'll go ahead and post this here instead.

I'm having some difficulty getting the latest Strelec (WinPE8 x86 WinPE10 x64) 06.06.2016 to work with my Easy2Boot as an .imgPTN.

I have a UASP mSATA drive in a USB 3 enclosure that's working great for the Win7 & Win10 .imgPTN I have on it. However, when I attempt to boot the Strelec .imgPTN on either PC I have I just get "an operating system wasn't found." I've attempted it as NTFS & Fat32. No change. Also Easy2Boot prompts as follows near the end of the .imgPTN creation.

INFORMATION: LABEL occurs in .LST files
UUID should use F694-A790
CDLABEL should be LABEL
LABEL should use EASY2BOOT
'media=cdrom' should be 'media=usb'
AUTO-CORRECT these? ([Y]/N) :

Whether I select autocorrect or not, still no luck with booting it.

Strelec's boot disc is in the list of tested payload files (it says to do it as FAT32 .imgPTN) however I'm guessing that was previous version???

I didn't pick up on anything in the FAQ, sample menu files, or forum thread on Easy2Boot.com that may help me to figure this out.

The latest Strelec works great with a USB flash drive...albeit mind numbingly slow compared to my high 4k iops mSata. Any ideas how I might debug this???

I'm pretty sure the ISO file extensions would only work if I was using a USB flash drive...even so I tried .isope01 without any luck. Should I try .isowinvh or .isoask or is that a waste of time like I think it would be???

I drag-and-dropped the SS 06.06.2016 ISO onto the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut and the .imgPTN seems to work OK for me.
If you boot it as an ISO from a fixed disk, you will need to use ImDisk to mount the ISO file as a virtual CD and then click on the blue MInstall icon in the bottom task bar.

Hello to everybody!

My problem is:

Error 13:(http://grub4dos.chenall.net/e/13)
Invalid or unsupported executable format

I have very ancient RedHat of 2002 year (Linux 2.4.10). It works good.
Now I need to make bootable USB-device with this system.

I have made all the instructions from here:
https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/

but I have this error message about error 13.

FAQ sais:
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.


I have tried simple DD-image from my partition /boot
and ISO-image made by "mkisofs" - error 13 both.

Please, help!

Thanks.

Do you mean you have an installed system running Linux (or a Linux 2.4.10 ISO?).
If a live system, what partitions does it have (swap, etc.). You cannot just make an ISO from a live system and expect it to boot! You could maybe try clonezilla to copy the live system to a fresh USB drive. You may have to re-install grub to the USB drive to get it to boot.

Yes, it is installed system running Linux. Partitions: "/boot", "/" and "swap".
I made ISO-image by command "mkisofs" from "/dev/hdb1" (/boot).
I looked in image by command "od -x rh24boot.iso | more" and saw: first 512 bytes are not zeroes.
(But in DD-image they are zeroes.)

I tried make my own MBR:
1). copy first 512 bytes of "/dev/hdb" (not "/dev/hdb1" !)
2). combined MBR: 446 bytes from Linux (loader) and Partiton Tables from Windows where I have
"easy2boot".

I have the same results: error 13.

May be I understand wrong, (please tell me about it), but I think:
old BIOS-es did not have interruption for reading from USB-devices, due of that old kernels
did not have calls to it,
old kernels (at the first stage of booting) call only BIOS-interruption for reading from
hard disk, therefore they can not mount partitions, can not do anything with USB-device.

I think "easy2boot" makes this job instead Linux-kernel. If I am wrong?

Thanks.

AFAIK, you cannot easily make an ISO from a fully installed linux OS. What you are trying to do will not work (maybe you can find instructions on the internet). A full OS expects to be booting from a rd/wr disk of some sort, not a cd.
You may be able to make a .imgPTN file from the installed OS, but not an ISO. Sorry.

Thank you for the hint about ".imgPTN" file.
I made it by program "MakePartImage.cmd" from the tool "MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_064".
I made all strongly with instructions from ReadMe.txt file. Result was: successfully!
Then I have copied it to my USB-drive in the folder "_ISO\MAIN_MENU".
It's name is "rh24b-mkisofs.imgPTN".

When rebooting from my USB-device and selecting my image I have the message:

"(hd0,0) rh24b-mkisofs.imgPTN
WARNING: THIS E2B DRIVE'S PARTITION TABLE IS ABOUT OVERWRITEN!
..............................................................
..............................................................

INFORMATION: *** NO UEFI BOOT FILES IN FIRST PARTITION ***

To boot using UEFI, reboot and select the UEFI:xxxx boot option from your UEFI boot menu.
To switch back to Easy2Boot, boot in non-UEFI mode (Legacy or CSM Mode)
and select the Easy2Boot menu option.
(OPTIONS: a=Make-Active, LBA=Adjust-LBA)

OK to replace the E2B partitions ([Y]/N): "


I am surprised why "hd0,0"? May be "hd1,0"?
I am very surprised why E2B wants to overwrite my Partition Table !
BIOS of my computer is enough old and has not UEFI mode.
If I answer "N" I return back to E2B menu.
If I answer "Y" I get another message:

"Easy2Boot CSM Menu (v0.63) (UUID=..................)
rh24b-mkisofs
0 EASY2BOOT - switch back to Easy2Boot menu
1 BOOT from this drive (MBR mode)
2 Boot from internal Hard Disk [F7]
3 Rebbot [F9]
4 Shutdown [F10]"

The Line "1 BOOT from this drive (MBR mode)" is highlighted.

If I press "Enter" I get the next message:

"BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

I tried this for FAT32, NTFS and ExFat -the same result.
Please, tell me what I do wrong?
Thanks.

As I said, you need a bootable source. You can't just copy some files from a partition and expect it to boot.
Via what mechanism did the redhat system boot? Syslinux, grub, grub2? Do you have the boot files in the source?

In the source I have partition /boot with all files: vmlinux-2.4.7-10, etc.
I have the directory "grub" with all files: grub.conf, etc.
The version of grub is 0.90.

I think "mkisofs" doesn't make simple copy.
I looked in image by command "od -x rh24b-mkisofs.iso | more" and saw: first 446 bytes are not zeroes.
(But in DD-image they are zeroes. Command "dd" makes just a copy.)

File "rh24b-mkisofs.imgPTN" was made from this source: "rh24b-mkisofs.iso".

Do you mean I should make the .imgPTN from "/dev/hdb1", not from file "rh24b-mkisofs.iso"?

You said: "... you cannot easily make an ISO from a fully installed linux OS."

Now I have found the source of this distro:
http://archive.download.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/7.2/es/iso/i386/

May be it would be more easy way?

But there are two ISO files here... I have burned them to CDs. What should I do with them
to get a bootable USB-device? (If I simply copy them to the subdirectory _ISO\LINUX
I get installation USB-device, but I need not installation USB-device, I need bootable.)

In the other words I wish now to make LiveCD USB-device.

Thanks.

Can you not find a LiveCD version?
If you only have the Install CD, then I suggest you install to a spare USB flash drive, but to a single partition with no swap partition (i.e. \ root and \boot on same partition on USB drive). Use FAT32.
Then you can make an imgptn FAT32 file from the flash drive and put the .imgPTN file on your E2B drive.

got the fix
www.deskdecode.com/how-to-fix-bootmgr-is-missing-error-on-windows-desktop-or-laptop/

I'm afraid I annoy you by too many posts/suggestions...
Your package is best that can be found, that's why I'm here and not on other site.

(I know about 7-8 programs that make bootable USB drives (I tested only the old XBOOT)
I don't like those that can put only one "thing" on the USB (and waste the entire drive for e.g. 100MB)
I don't like those that extract files because: 1) to copy 100s of small files to an old slow USB flash is just ... very slow; 2) extracted ISO usually prevents using several versions of the "same" ISO)
So, if you are still not (very) annoyed:
Suggestion: add Option to clear/empty keyboard buffer before showing the MAIN MENU
(or do we already have that Option?)
Maybe only when the MAIN MENU is first shown?
_____________________

What happened: during an experiment with Animated_BritneyLZMA I "accidentally" hit [Enter] several times and that sequence was executed (one of the ISO started) after showing the MAIN MENU
I start the Animated_BritneyLZMA from my real MyE2B.cfg by:
!BAT
call /_ISO/docs/BritneyLZMA/BritneyLZMA2.cfg
set GMODE=800
........

Since this was running very slow on QEMU I attempted to cancel it (sorry, I didn't read the code in detail) by [Esc] [Space] [Enter]

in QEMU (I still don't find a time to try VirtualBox + VMUB despite I Downloaded them a week ago):
Can the Animate be cancelled/skipped?
Can the picture be centred (it is in top-left for me)?
I see yellow vertical line of 1-2 pixels wide at the right of the small pictures (like big text cursor?), is this supposed to happen?

re. SoakKeys - It is a feature of E2B that whilst it is booting, you can press a key (e.g. Ctrl-I) and it will jump to the next menu. If I add SoakKeys code, then this will not be possible. You can add the code yourself if you wish (I can tell you how).
re. Animation- if you have it set as 'play' rather than 'infinite' then you cannot abort it.
The position can be changed by specifying a different offx/offy position.
Britney is not a very 'clean' animation in transparent mode, you may see some odd pixels around the edges. Try DNA animation.

Here is the contents of a SoakKeys.g4b batch file
!BAT
# soak up any previous key presses
:loopk
# Check for key in BIOS keyboard buffer
call Fn.20
# Call Fn. 19 to get the key character if present
if not %@retval%==-1 call Fn.19 && goto :loopk

I will include \_ISO\e2b\grub\SoakKeys.g4b in the next version of E2B. To use it, add
call /_ISO/e2b/grub/SoakKeys.g4b
anywhere that you want all key presses to be absorbed (e.g. after an animation 'play' command).

in Sample_MyE2B.cfg this line have no #
GMODE is set in the lines above - run graphicsmode before splashimage

Thanks - will fix in next 1.80c

I think this bug was introduced when NOWINXP checks were implemented.
I don't set NOWINXP - while v1.79 is "installed" I searched for string NOWINXP all the files U:\_ISO\e2b\grub\MenuWinInstall.lst
U:\_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg

Reproduce:
1) install Easy2Boot v1.79 (final) (UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD)
2) put one ISO in \_ISO\WINDOWS\XP\ (no other ISOs in any \_ISO\WINDOWS\ subdirectory), e.g.:
Windows_XP_Professional_SP3_Nov_2013_Incl_SATA_Drivers.iso

3) boot from USB (I used QEMU_MENU_TEST (run as admin).cmd)
4) Enable FASTLOAD
5) Rebuild Main Menu [F8]
Observe how "WINDOWS INSTALL Menu [Ctrl+I]" is shown

The Bug:
6) Reboot [F9]
"WINDOWS INSTALL Menu [Ctrl+I]" disappears

Notes:
Easy2Boot_v1.78h do not have the bug

in Easy2Boot_v1.78h\_ISO\e2b\grub\menu.lst is this line which is deleted in menu.lst of v1.79 (I don't know if this is the cause of bug):
# add Windows counts to menu for FASTLOAD
if not exist WINCOUNT if exist /FASTLOAD.YES echo -e iftitle [set CALL=%CALL% \&\& set CXP=%CXP% \&\& set CV=%CV% \&\& set C7=%C7% \&\& set C8=%C8% \&\& set C28=%C28% \&\& set C12=%C12% \&\& set C10=%C10% \&\& if 1=0] dummy\nboot\n >> (md)0x3000+0x50

Yes, somehow those two lines got deleted!
Try putting them back in and see if that fixes the problem.

Don't test using QEMU_TEST because writes don't work very well. Use VBox+VMUB or a real system.

In this case they are OK
I compared the generated FASTLOAD.MNU from v1.78h and v1.79 - they are different:

v1.78h:
..............
password --md5 $1$1$okAQ3AJUdhqf3TVrwKvJP1
debug 0
set MFOLDER=/_ISO/MAINMENU
#SS
default 1
timeout -1
iftitle [set CALL=1 && set CXP=1 && set CV=0 && set C7=0 && set C8=0 && set C28=0 && set C12=0 && set C10=0 && if 1=0] dummy
boot

set MFOLDER=/_ISO/MAINMENU
..............


v1.79:
..............
password --md5 $1$1$okAQ3AJUdhqf3TVrwKvJP1
debug 0
set MFOLDER=/_ISO/MAINMENU
#menu_defaults.txt
default 1
timeout -1
set MFOLDER=/_ISO/MAINMENU
..............

Try v1.80b in Alternate Download Area

Yes, v1.80b is OK
(Was this affecting only XP or all Windows?)

I can only guess what happened for the 2 lines to disappear - maybe you used Ctrl+X to move the lines up/down and then forget about it (no Ctrl+V)
Phone-call? ;)

Don't know how it happened (maybe WinMerge accident??). Yes, it would affect all Windows Install menu entries, not just XP.

in MakePartImage.cmd , line:
for %%a in (U T S R Q P O N M L K I H G F E D) do (

- is there a special reason to omit J and V W X Y Z in search for a free drive letter?

In my case the only free drive letters are V W Z so the above fails with:
"Can't find an spare driveletter to mount RAMDRIVE on."
(3 HDDs (c-i, x, y), DVD j, Alcohol 120% (k-t), USB flash (u) = free are V W Z)

I changed the line and .imgPTN was created OK using V as the first found free:
for %%a in (U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D V W X Y Z) do (

Missing J was an oversight
I omitted VWXYZ just because I thought that no one would have more than 20 drives!
I will fix in next version 0.065

Hi Steve,
What USB 2.0 flash drives have you tested that work with Easy2Boot? I am going to buy a new one but i'm afraid that it could be one of the Windows To Go drives that are recognized as fixed disk by Windows.

I recommend a SanDisk Cruzer Extreme USB 3.0.
It is removable and compatible with USB 2.0. Fast and reasonably priced with retractable connector (so no cap to lose).

(This report is only for info - fix only if/as you wish)

Windows XP
Easy2Boot_v1.77A ... 1.79b
Robocopy 5.1.2600.26 (Robocopy GUI 3.1.2.0 - 2006) (I think the last Robocopy for XP)

Robocopy GUI (UtilitySpotlight2006_11.exe) from:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

Before installing: UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD was working using XCOPY

After installing:
ROBOCOPY.EXE is in D:\WINDOWS\system32\
UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD gives error about Robocopy fail and exits (do not try to use XCOPY)

To remedy: I just edit the .CMD file to remove /MT:1 so the line for me is:
robocopy "%~dp0\" %USB%:\\ /E /NFL /NDL /NJH /r:2 /w:3 /XF %~nx0 "MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE (run as admin).cmd" E2B_ReadMe.txt

Thanks,
The MT:1 is needed for Vista+ because without it we get fragmented files. The Xp version is single-threaded anyway (I think). Most people won't have robocopy in XP and it is MS copyright so I cannot include it in E2B.

From:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145.aspx
"
/MT[:N]
Creates multi-threaded copies with N threads. N must be an integer between 1 and 128.
The default value for N is 8.

Note
The /MT parameter applies to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
"
So:
1) It seems to me "The default value for N is 8" applies Only if you actually use /MT and omit [:N]
i.e. without /MT on cmdline Robocopy will not "Create multi-threaded copies with 8 threads" (= will just use 1 copy thread)?

2) Are you sure Vista version of Robocopy have /MT switch? ("Note: The /MT parameter applies to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7")

No, the default of 8 applies if you do not specify the switch. I found that when I used just Robocopy default switches to copy the files, it produces fragmented files. That is why I had to specify 1.
Maybe also not in Vista (I haven't tested that).

In old unused installation of original Vista 32-bit (no SP1) I found Robocopy.exe in the usual place (\Windows\System32\)

It can't start on Windows XP ("Robocopy.exe is not a valid Win32 application.") to use /? but Unicode strings are visible inside the Robocopy.exe (using Total Commander - F3 View)

It also don't have /MT switch
(I don't know how it is on Vista SP1, SP2)

The Properties of the two files (all is Copy/Paste):

XP file:

ROBOCOPY.EXE 212992 22.11.2005 06:14
1bf6e85078ca54fed534afdb436b2ecc *ROBOCOPY.EXE
File version: 5.1.2600.26
Product Version: XP026
Copyright 1995-2005


Vista file:

Robocopy.exe 87040 02.11.2006 11:45
f7a0790ebc72bd740137fa0c12aaf79f *Robocopy.exe
File version: 5.1.10.1027
Product Version: XP027
Copyright 1995-2004

v1.79 should work with the XP version of robocopy now.

:) Yes, v1.79 works (I didn't expected such kind of detection using /? ;) )

Yes, it's a nice way to check different versions which I thought of, and I have used it several times before (e.g. checking grub4dos versions).

Hi Steve,
You're grub4dos master while i'm new with grub4dos. Please forgive me if my question is a stupid question. Tks

With dd command

dd if=(hd0)30+1 of=(hd0,0)/MBR.BIN
dd if=(hd0)60+1 of=(hd0,0)/MBR.BIN
these command backup grub4dos MBR.
So my question is: grub4dos always locate at (hd0)30 and (hd0)60 ?? Can you explain what (hd0)30 vs 60 mean?

And to backup current PBR, we use

if=()+1 of=()/PBR.BIN

so my question is how can I backup PBR at partition 2?

and some other "special" parameter such as skip= seek= bs= count=

Tks.

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/grub4dos#TOC-Using-dd-to-edit-sectors
so to back up PBR of ptn 2 use
dd if=(hd0,1)0+1 of=(hd0,0)/PBR2.BIN
but file PBR2.BIN must already exist and be 512 bytes or larger in size.

Dear master,
Your tut is very very detail.
I'll read it carefully.
And another question, from your tut, it say that the best way to install grub4dos for USB is use RMPrepUSB.
After download and use RMprepUSB, i foud that grub4dos is not latest ver, and i replace grldr with grldr from E2B.
But after replace, grub4dos stuck with text say that

grub4dos 0.4.6a 2016-03-03, root is (0x80,0)
Processing the preset menu ....
grub4dos 0.4.6a 2016-03-03, root is (0x80,0)
Processing menu file /menu.lst ....

My menu.lst is very very simple.
If replace it with menu.lst from E2B then it work.
Can you tell me why?
Tks, master.

This forum is about E2B, not grub4dos.
If you have any questions about grub4dos or RMPrepUSB, etc. either use Contact Me form or reboot.pro forums.
If you have questions about E2B then post here.

Oh, i'm sorry.
I will create an account then start new topic. tks

Hi Steve,
i'm come from Vietnam and i use DLC/DLCD Boot instead Hiren's.
After some works, I found that if I boot DLC.ISO with map 0xff or map hd32, then MiniXP get BSOD error.
But if I boot to DLC with extract method then boot to MiniXP and it boot fine.
Can you explain what differences between ISO boot with extract Boot? Tks

p/s: I'm sorry for my bad English
p/s2: ISO Boot work fine with E2B (.WH extension), I just want to know why map 0xff not work
Tks :)

http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-boot-iso.html

Hi Steve,
Tks for your reply.
Your link is useful for newbie like me. But this problem only happen for me, not others.
If extract ISO then MiniXP boot OK.

What do you mean 'it only happens for me'?
How does it know who you are?
What if you wear a mask?
Seriously, what do you mean?
Do you mean that it only happens on one particular computer? How many have you tried? Have you tried booting via QEMU or VBox? It should boot OK. So the problem is that your system is different from normal systems?
So maybe look at your system memory size, CPU, etc?

Hi Steve,
I'm sorry if I say something make you not happy.
I just want to say that: with same XP.WIM, i can boot it with extract method, but if i boot with ISO boot then get BSOD.
With the same ISO Boot code, virtualbox or some other machines boot fine (my friend laptop, and some other DLC Boot user). My laptop 5 years old, corei3, 2gb RAM
Here the code in case you need. Tks
title DLC Boot (ISO)
set isoname=/DLC.ISO
map %isoname% (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff) || rootnoverify (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)
boot

I have already communicated with you on reboot.pro, and we discussed using e820cycles parameter and also loading whole ISO into memory using map --mem (which you have not replied to). Except that discussion was about Hirens not DLC.
The BIOS on your system is 'bad'. If there is no new version of BIOS, you just have to try different methods and see what works.

Hi Steve,
May you have a confusing here.
After you hint me try map --mem method, I reported it's still BSOD via inbox.
And it's is MiniXP from LiveXP project with wimboot method not Hiren.
After each advice that you give me, I alway try and report to you.
Please forgive me if I say something wrong via inbox.
Tks

Hi sir,
I want to create USB multi partition with FAT32 for some Linux persistence and NTFS for ISO Windows install.
I do not know why grub4dos can map an ISO put on another partition while you say that
"You can move and run payload files (but not Windows Install ISOs) to other partitions or even on other drives."
ISO was map to (0xff) and chainload from (0xff) so it's not important where to put Windows Install ISO, right?

Tks

Windows and linux boot in two stages:
1. Use BIOS (or UEFI) to boot from media
2. Load own OS drivers and access media direct

Consider Windows ISO. grub4dos can map ISO as a CD and we can start Phase 1 because it uses BIOS calls to access media and load OS drivers. Now in Phase 2, Windows uses Windows drivers. All grub4dos BIOS mapping is lost - Windows drivers do not use BIOS, they access the media direct but all they find is .ISO file, not \sources\install.wim, etc. because it is inside the ISO. Also, if E2B is a Removable USB drive, Windows can only access 1st partition.
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-boot-iso.html
https://easy2boot.com/faq-/how-e2b-works/

For linux persistence, use NTFS E2B drive and create ext2 files.
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/linux-isos/linux-with-persistence/
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/persistence/
or can have full linux OS (not boot from ISO but fully installed)
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/how-to-have-multiple-fully-installed.html

Hi sir,
Tks for your reply.
And i'm sorry but can i ask a question?
I do not think that Linux can work with NTFS USB.
I tried to boot ubuntu ISO file from harddisk with grub4dos, it boot fine if ISO put on FAT32 partition but fail if i put it to NTFS partition.
If you need screenshot, i can give you later.

Many linux distros work OK with NTFS.
It depends on what linux distro you have and how you are booting it.
Please use Contact Me form and I will email back.
I need details.

Hi sir,
Because partnew will not work with my HDD, so I use this code

title ubuntu
find --set-root /ISO/ubuntu.iso
map /ISO/ubuntu.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper persistent iso-scan/filename=/ISO/ubuntu.ISO splash
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
boot

On NTFS partition, I create ISO folder, then rename Ubuntu ISO to Ubuntu.ISO and put it here. Boot and error.
But if I format this partition to Fa32, then it boot fine.
Tks
p/s: I'm not test with many ISO, just Ubuntu, Kubuntu.

older versions of Ubuntu does not like 'persistent' on NTFS.
Remove word persistent and try.
http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/ubuntu
Ubuntu 13 and 15 do work on NTFS+persistent cheat code.
P.S. case-sensitive - .iso .ISO ???
If you need 'persistent' then check casper-rw volume is not corrupt.

Hi sir,
i use lastest ubuntu ISO, download from homepage.
And you say that ubuntu 15 do work on NTFS with cheat code. So you meant "partnew" command.
I cannot use partnew command on HDD.
Tks.

This works OK for me on NTFS
title Ubuntu 15.10\n Boot using .mnu file
set ISO=/_ISO/LINUX/ubuntu-15.10-desktop-amd64.iso
map %ISO% (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
set k=/casper/vmlinuz
if exist /casper/vmlinuz.efi set k=/casper/vmlinuz.efi
kernel %k% file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=%ISO% quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
boot

Tks sir,
I will try it now.
How can i use this code if i need a persistence.

As I said, it does not work using a \casper-rw file because it does not detect it on an NTFS partition.
You could create a separate partition on the hard disk with a volume name of casper-rw and formatted as ext2/3/4.

Greate. Now I clearly understand. Tks, Sir

Hi Steve,
from e2b website, i found a method that we can use NTFS for UEFI.
After following your method5, UEFI boot fine but I get grub2 command instead of loading grub.cfg file
Can you tell me which step i did wrong

- Create 2 partition, one Fat32, one NTFS
- Copy EFI 2 go files to FAT32 partition
- Swap to NTFS by RMPrep
- Copy all contents of E2B to here
- install g4d to MBR and PBR by RMPrep
- Make imgPTN then rename to imgPTNlba23
- Swith to imgPTN by Switch USB.exe
- Boot to UEFI machine
Tks

Once you have switched, check the partitions.
ptn 1 should be NTFS and contain the payload files
ptn2 should be FAT32 and contain the EFI folder and EFIToGo files.

tks for your quick reply.
As you describe, i think you are saying about method 4. I follow method 5 which need rufus or EFI 2 Go files from download area.
That's right?

Sorry, you are right (I got confused with Method 4).
See previous edited post!
What do you mean about grub2?
What are you booting to?

Hi Steve,
I have EFI folder put in NTFS partition and of course this NTFS par has E2B files.
In EFI folder, i have boox64.efi which configfile boot/grub/grub.cfg (this .efi file from Androidx86).
My goal is, if we boot on legacy machine, then E2B will work.
If we boot on UEFI machine, then EFI file from fat32 partition will call bootx64.efi file from NTFS par then this file config file grub.cfg and display menu for booting Androidx86 on UEFI.
Tks

If you can boot to grub2, then it has worked.
The grub.cfg may be wrong for working from the 2nd partition.

The E2B NTFS partition should not have an EFI folder (it does't need it).
You make a .imgPTNLBA23 file from the android iso using MPI_NTFS shortcut.
When you switch to it using Switch_E2B, then it should already have an EFI\boot folder with either bootx64.efi and/or bootia32.efi (from the android ISO). If it does not contain either, then the original source did not support UEFI-booting.
So we should have:
Ptn1: NTFS with all android files + CSM files
Ptn2: FAT32 EFIToGo files
I that what you have?

Why do you need NTFS? Why not just make a FAT32 .imgPTN file and use that?

Hi Steve,
After long time now i come back to e2b uefi ntfs. (my laptop has broken and it take long time to fix).
I follow your method 4 but do not know how efi2go file work.
I create android.imgptn and efi (no extension) and put to \_ISO\LINUX folder.
switch e2b drive by click on .imgptn
but i just got ntfs partition. how about efi file and fat32 partition?
Tks

You need to create two partition images, e.g.
abc.imgPTN
abc

Hi Steve,
Tks for your reply.
I create 2 files: Android.imgptn and android (without extension).
When i run e2b switch, it only detect .imgptn file
I click .imgpnt file to switch USB but USB still NTFS. So i cannot boot to UEFI machine.
Tks

As an experiment, name the android file as android1.imgPTN and use Switch_e2b to load just that file. This will check that it is actually the correct format and works as a partition image.
if not, explain how you made the android file.

Hi Steve,
Here all of steps that I did.
- Run makee2b.cmd to create a "clean" e2b NTFS usb drive.
- Download make part image and create desktop shortcut.
- Download android.iso and drag it to MPI NTFS shortcut.
- ENTER all step to leave setting default.
- Copy android.imgptn to \_ISO\LINUX folder.
- Download EFI2Go folder and drag to MPI_FAT32 to make android (without extension)
- Copy android to LINUX folder
- Run switch e2b.exe and double click android.imgptn
- E2B switched, and its format is NTFS
- Boot from UEFI machine but it failed
Tks

I do not understand why you need to use two partition images? Why don't you just drag-and-drop the androidx86.iso onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut to create a ,imgPTN file and use that file? Why do you need to create two partition images and why does one of them need to be NTFS???

Anyway, assuming you have made the NTFS+FAT32 files, does SWITCH_E2B v1.0.10 show:

android.imgPTN :&: android

i.e. two images? It should.

I followed your method using android-x86-4.4-r4.iso and it at least booted under VBox both on a 32-bit UEFI VM and a 64-bit UEFI VM to a console/shell.

You do not specify the EXACT ISO you are booting and you do not give any details except 'but it failed'. So it is difficult to diagnose the problem any further.

P.S. I see androidx86 has a .img version which it says is for EFI - maybe the ISO does not work for UEFI. Did you try making a FAT32 .imgPTN file from the .img download?

I downloaded a copy of Remix_OS_for_PC_64_B2016020201_Alpha_EFI.img and dropped it onto MPI_FAT32. It seems to boot OK on UEFI if you select Guest Mode (but not resident mode) on VBox. It doesn't MBR boot.

I also download the android 5.1.1rc5.img file and converted that via MPI_FAT32 to a .imgPTN file. This boots on my Z87 via 64-bit UEFI (but I had to type exit twice in the shell before it booted to the 'Desktop'). In fact, I am writing this now from within android!

Hi Steve, tks for your detail reply.
Also i'm sorry for my delay respone.
All of these day, i test many times with some Android base ISO: Androidx86, phoenixos, remixos and consoleos to make sure E2B Boot fine before ask you again.
And of cources all of it work fine if just use one NTFS partition for E2B then use FAT32 imgptn convert.
But It would be greate if we have 2 partition at one: 1 NTFS vs 1 very small FAT32 par with EFI2Go files.
I try to find on your E2B website and found method 4. it is very helpful for me. But i failed when try to test it.
E2B switch only display .imgptn extenstion, so android file (without extension) created from EFI2GO folder cannot be list on E2B switch.
Tks

Well, it works OK for me. Are you using the latest version? If so, use the Contact Me form and then we can try to find out what is going on by email.

Hi Steve,
yesterday i had a busy day.
Now I will take a screenshot for each step then send you via email.
Tks for your support.

Hi sir,
I'm very interested your #96 tut.
But automenulinux.bat just work for .ISO file.
Can you update newer version to show some other extensions, such as: .img, .ima, or can you help me make my own automenulinux.bat.
tks, sir

I found this command in automenulinux.bat

WENV check "#.iso#"=="#%~x1#" || goto :EOF

so i need check some other extensions, can i edit it to something like

for %%x in (.iso .img .ima ...) WENV check "#%%x#"=="#%~x1#" || goto :EOF

tks

The partnew trick only works for linux ISO files. It will not work for other extensions. You have to use different code and methods for other extensions.
Easy2Boot will work for many extensions. Look at the \_ISO\e2b\grub\QRUN.g4b file to see how it works.

Tks steve, i'll try e2b and see how it work.

Try rename to isowinvh but no luck. since we boot DLC/DLCD by iso boot, then we still need to extract some folder to USB??
Can we use firadisk to mount ISO after boot to winpe ?? Tks

DLCD normally works with .isowinvh, but why not try .isoask and then test a few other extensions - e.g. isofira.
The best thing for an Hirens ISO is to convert it to a .imgPTN file.
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/hirens-isos/

P.S. for Win8 you can use .isoPE file extension, but E2B must be running from a Removable drive. Otherwise, when you get to the Dekstop of Mini8, run \_ISO\e2b\firadisk\LOADISOPE.cmd to mount the ISO as drive Y:. Then run the menu.exe file from Y:.
E2B v1.78 has new .isoHW file extension.

tks for detail explain. i try DLCD 2015 ver1.0 with isowinvh but no luck. after boot to desktop, ISO was not mount.
I will try with isoask then report.

DLCD 2015 has two WinPEs - XP and Win8.
XP will work OK
Win8 will not work unless you have a Removable USB flash drive and name the file .isoPE.
If you use E2B v1.78h, then name the file as .isoHW and it should work for both WinPEs if you have a Removable USB E2B drive.
If your E2B USB drive is a fixed disk, then either extract the DLCD folder onto the E2B USB drive or make a .imgPTN file. This is all explained in the Hirens page in the link I already gave you.

Oh, i'm using Removable USB, not HDD Box
But not ver1.78,
I will update it now then test and report.
tks sir.

Try isowinvh for DLCD on some laptop, MiniXP cannot boot to desktop
winvblock bug??
And where can I download ver1.78h
Tks

Check Alternate Download Area on Download page for Beta versions.
What is model of system that does not work with .isowinvh ? Dell? What model? In what way does it 'not work'?

Try .isowinvh from laptop Toshiba.
Not BSOD, just not logon to desktop

After Logo Windows XP show and disappear, MiniXP hang, screen goto blank.

P/s: Now i try with ver1.78 then report

ver 1.78h work very well.
but still same error with MiniXP, i don't know why but if i add # before line using winvblock then it work.
so i sure that this problem came from winvblock.
tks.

Hi steve,
I found that i can map firadisk with fd0 then use f6 to load firadisk then use code in menu.lst to tell where .ISO located to mount it after boot to minixp.
can you tell me how to do it?
where can i download firadisk.img
and what grub4dos menu.lst to do?
tks

Does .isofira work?

Use .isoask and try alternatives - e.g. .isowinvhe0 or other e0 alternatives.

Tks steve, rename to .ISOask then type HW then it works.
i.e. use .isoHW file extension.

Hi there,

I'm trying to find instructions to remove E2B from a USB and restore it to it's original size.
I've tried formatting but it only shows 4GB of the original 16GB.

Thank you

Just formatting a drive under Windows will not change the partition size.
It sounds like you have used a .imgPTN image.
Under Windows you can run \e2b\SWITCH_E2B.exe and Restore E2B partitions - or just use RMPrepUSB to re-partition and re-format the drive.

Thanks Steve :)

I use AUTOLINUXMENU for multibooting internal HDD.
Is possible to change the created automenu in order by date?

No. Grub4dos is not able to get the date of a file.

Hi Steve
I recently bought a 16 GB Kingston DataTraveler DT 101G2 pen drive and installed Easy2Boot on it, but when i boot from the pen drive and select an ISO file from the Easy2Boot menu i get this error message:
if not exist CD dd if=(bd)%XML% of=()/AutoUnattend.xml > nul
Error 29(http://grub4dos.chennal.net/e/29)
Disk write error
Press any key to continue...
I have updated to the 1.78c beta but the problem persists.
I don't get this error when i boot from a 8 GB Sony Microvault pen drive, which is what i've been using before for Easy2Boot.

It is probably a fake!
Test it using RMPrepUSB - Quick Size Test or FakeFlashTest.
P.S. DT10x are too slow. Alway buy USB 3.0 and preferably fast one like SanDisk Extreme.

The Quick Size Test didn't report any errors, what else can i do to fix this problem?
Also, i know there are faster pen drives but i can't afford them, they are expensive where i live.

Try using QEMU (RMPrepUSB - F11) and see if you get the same error.
What XML file did you pick? What ISO are you running and where is it located? Does it happen with any ISO and any XML file?

With QEMU i get error 21 with a Windows 7 x86 ISO. I always choose the Easy2Boot XML file, the ISO is located at _ISO/WINDOWS/WIN7 and i get the error with any of the XML files. The error also occurs with a Xubuntu 15.10 i386 ISO with persistence but with "partnew (%E2BDEV%,3) 0x0 %ISO%" command instead of the "if not exist..." command above the error 29 text, but after pressing a key to continue and reselecting Xubuntu 2 times, it boots.

Something seems wrong with that drive!
It is failing on writes to the drive.
If a different drive works under the same set of conditions, then it points to a faulty drive.

Well, i guess i'll have to buy a new one. Thanks for the help :).

Hi,
Well, i'm not sure about this problem, but if your usb has a button that can switch on/off write protected mode then may it is reason.

Hello,

I am using a large external usb drive with 2 partitions. The first for booting is 137GB, the second partition is used for storing data/manuals/utilities/various files.

Is there a way to boot from a imgPTN file and still access the second partition? It seems to vanish when an imgPTN file is booted from.

Thanks

Sure, just give the file a .imgPTNLBAa23 file extension.
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-file-extensions-recognised-by-e2b/

Hi Steve,
I'm new with grub4dos command.
I try cat --locate command and don't know how it work.

boot grub4dos from qemu
type c to get command line
type:
echo 123a > (md)0x300+1
cat --locate=a (md)0x300+1

result: 3
I don't know why is 3. From string "1233a", so the result must be 4??

Can u explain me why? Tks
p/s: i'm sorry for my poor English!

Cat --locate returns the offset (address of string)
byte at offset 0 = 1
byte at offset 1 = 2
byte at offset 2 = 3
byte at offset 3 = a
use cat --hex --length=16 (md)0x300+1
to see bytes

Oh, tks Steve.
Another question,
Why we must map mem winblock twice

map --mem /winvblock.img.gz (fd0)
map --mem /winvblock.img.gz (fd1)

when install XP from ISO or load Hiren ISO (use from QRUN easy2boot

Tks

You don't have to map twice on many systems. But some systems which have a floppy disk don't work (it has been reported to me), so I map to fd0 and fd1 for best chance of it working.

Hi Steve,
openSUSE-Edu-li-f-e.x86_64-42.1.1.iso fails to boot under easry2boot(partnew)

openSUSE live DVDs are a bit tricky!
See http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/boot-opensuse-isos-from-e2b.html

Thank you Steve, I read it.
This simple way works for me:
1. Format external HDD as NTFS
2. Install Grub4dos
3. Copy openSUSE-Edu-li-f-e.x86_64-42.1.1.iso
4. Create menu.lst:
title openSUSE-Edu-li-f-e.x86_64-42.1.1.iso
root (hd0,0)
set myiso=openSUSE-Edu-li-f-e.x86_64-42.1.1.iso
partnew (hd0,3) 0x00 /%myiso%
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /%myiso% (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

The problem is Partnew/opensuse does not create iso9660 partition but create udf partition instate.

I will email you a screenshot

Glad it works for you - I cant get it to work for me.
Why is the ISO being visible as a udf a problem?

Sorry, I did some testing udf looks like cause a problem, but I think the problem is the opensuse.

I found, Easy2boot will work fine to boot opensuse.iso with partnew methode if no hidden/unknown or unallocated partition exist.

During booting opensuse will find in first place the hidden/unknown partition and convert/format to EXT4 and fail to continue booting.
The same with unallocated partition, opensuse will format it and fail to boot.

The solution is you have to format hidden/unknown/unallocated to NTFS/Vfat/ext* etc. or resize to one whole partition.

I think you are correct. It is making a type 0x83 partition out of any spare space on the drive and then failing to boot. If I use the ISO cheat codes then it doesn't do this. They seem to assume that the OS has been installed on the disk rather than live booting.

I had a HDD with
PTN1 NTFS
PTN2 NTFS
(very little unused space)
This would not boot. I then reduced the 2nd partition to leave 3GB of unused space at the end of the drive. This still would not boot. I then changed the partnew command to use type 0x83 - now it boots and creates PTN3 as type 0x83 read-write partition.

Booting opensuse.iso using type 0x83 on external HDD works fine in any way: One whole disk or One PTN with unused big/small space or 3 primary PTNs with space or no space.

But never try booting opensuse.iso using type 0x83 on internal HDD.

Hi guys,

I'm really interested to know how to remove the keybinds.. or rather how to get the Chars in one line
Example:
0 Utilities [Ctrl+8]
1 Tools [Ctrl+4]
2 Things [Ctrl+2]

Would be nice if anyone could help._.
Thanks !:)

Bad example..Thje lines correct theirselfes here ..
I hope you know what i mean

Not sure what you mean, but the current hotkeys for the menu folders are set in the STRINGS.txt for each language.
e.g. Copy the \_ISO\e2b\grub\ENG\STRINGS.txt to the \_ISO folder and then change the entries
change
$$STRm018=^Ctrl+O DOS Menu [Ctrl+O]\n MS-DOS and FreeDOS utilities
to
$$STRm018=^Ctrl+2 DOS Menu [Ctrl+2]\n MS-DOS and FreeDOS utilities

I meant that the "[Ctrl+O]" and so on ... aren't in one row like it should be. The one is more left then then the other one. They are differently shifted.

What language?

German

They seem OK to me in E2B v.1.76 and 1.77m?
Are you using latest version? It is easy to update.

Yep. I updated it yesterday.

Try latest v1.80e and use GERMAN_ALT as language.

How can I make E2B just load a Win8 Core ISO, without asking for a key input or an option with a pre-defined key? We have many machines with keys already embedded on BIOS, so it is not necessary to enter a key before instalation.

If you install exactly the same version, then just pick the correct generic key that is in the E2B key files.
Once the system boots, it should use the BIOS key to activate via the internet.

Thank you.

Hi Steve
Can u tell me what does grldr.mbr do? I found that if we install grub4dos menu entry on windows vista and later, we need to copy grldr.mbr to C:\
So grldr.mbr is need to copy to usb if we install grub4dos to usb??
Same question with g2ldr.mbr.

Tks.

It depends on how grub/grub4dos is launched. The .mbr files contain the MBR sector data boot code and can be run from the XP boot.ini or Vista+ BCD.
See http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/install_windows.htm for details.
So, if the boot sector of the disk does not contain grub4dos (or the PBR of the active partition), but we boot using Windows NTLDR or bootmgr, then we use a .mbr file to load grub\grub4dos.

Tks for your reply, Steve
grldr and grldr.mbr can be download from grub4dos pack. But I can't find where I can download g2ldr and g2ldr.mbr. Can you send me a link?

I need g2ldr because with g2ldr file I can chainload from grub4dos to grub2

title grub2
kernel /g2ldr

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/chainload-syslinux#TOC-Load-grub4dos-from-grub2
http://www.filewatcher.com/m/g2ldr.mbr.8192-0.html

that's great, steve. but how about g2ldr. where can i download it? I mean, latest version (grub2.02 beta)

I'm very interest tut #27. But in latest RMPrepUSB version, I cannot found File >> USB to load .bin file.
Can u show me how?

File -> Drive button in RMPrepUSB utility.

Ahh, tks Steve. I see

hi Steve, there is a way to install E2B in a encrypted disk (any kind of encryption)?
because, some times (against of my desire) I need to borrow my HDD and the other plug it on inffected systems and everytime I need to make it again and again, and again.
there is a way to avoid it by using an encrypted file system?
can u answer me by email too?´
Luciano Branco
A.K.A llbranco

I have replied by email, but basically read
https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/protection-and-security/

Hi Steve,
First, I'm sorry for my poor English!
From this link http://windowsitpro.com/windows-8/q-what-tips-will-help-me-install-windows-uefi-machine-i-built-myself,
I read a line which wrote: A UEFI system can boot only from a GPT disk
From easy2boot website - UEFI things to know, you wrote:
"Do I have to use GPT if I want to boot via UEFI?
This is a common misconception!"
I don't clearly understand why we have diffrences between 2 sites. Can you explain why? Tks

Since I can boot via UEFI from a FAT32+NTFS Removable USB drive by using a VHD, which do you think is more accurate!
Windows Setup will not allow you to install to an MBR partitioned disk if you UEFI-boot to Setup, but that doesn't mean it is not possible to UEFI-boot from an MBR partitioned drive!

Oh, install vs boot. I confuse two concepts.
Cannot INSTALL windows to MBR disk (in UEFI)
But we can BOOT uefi from MBR disk.
Tks Steve!

Hi Steve,
From #127 - How to make Dual-boot 32 & 64-bit MBR & UEFI WinPE USB drive
http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/127-make-dual-32-64bit-pe
I just want to ask a question (Sorry because of rmprepusb.com not allow user leave a comment so I must be ask you here)
Why we must use both of 32 and 64bits Windows PE since we can install Windows 64bits from WinPE 32bits. I read this info from this link
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824993.aspx
Quote: X:\windows\system32> D:\setup /InstallFrom:"N:\Windows_64-bit\sources\install.wim"
Tks

If you have a UEFI system and want to install Windows in UEFI-mode, you need to first boot via UEFI.
How can you do this on a 32-bit UEFI system and a 64-bit UEFI system unless you have both EFI boot files present?

But if we can install windows 64bits from 32bits of Win PE sao we just need 32bits version of Win PE, right?

Why not read the article
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824993.aspx
There is a difference between UEFI-booting and BIOS booting.
How can you boot on a 64-bit UEFI system if you only have 32-bit UEFI boot files?

Ah, Ok. Now i do understand. Tks Steve.

Hello. I was wondering if there is any way I could encrypt my entire easy2boot USB drive so that no one could see or use the files on it. I've looked into it but so far I haven't found any useful information on the subject. Thank you.

https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/protection-and-security/

Hi. I can convert iso to imgPTN by MakePartImage.cmd. But can I process back operation?

Short answer -> no!

Hi author.
I'm missing. What happened to the classic Forest with northern lights Background (theme)?, and your other nice backgrounds?
It scares the background with boy closer to a Trash can. x-p .
Moreover, that StripedFlat requesting password. Horrible!
It is "fred"?

Hi
You can easily change the background - just add a \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp file or a \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp.gz file.
You can download the old wallpapers and a new Aurora wallpaper from the Themes folder in the Alternate Download Area - Aurora Backgrounds.7z.

Thanks Steve.

I applied to use a background image of a different name or location (/MyBackgrounds/), copy the configuration file \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file to \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg and changing the MyWBMP entry, (bmp images compressed to gzip).

Also, I could see that E2B recognizes jpeg images; and even, images own bitmap not exactly as you advised, ex: 900x506 pix.

Good work with /_ISO/docs/mythemes, I want to apply any of those "scheme fonts" on wallpapers.

I tried these wallpapers:
[URL=http://www.imagebam.com/image/20a114454462021][IMG]http://thumbnails114.imagebam.com/45447/20a114454462021.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://www.imagebam.com/image/2a331a454462062][IMG]http://thumbnails114.imagebam.com/45447/2a331a454462062.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://www.imagebam.com/image/4f7f46454462086][IMG]http://thumbnails114.imagebam.com/45447/4f7f46454462086.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I read: https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/wallpaper/

You can use E2B_Editor to design the menu and see also Laura's examples
http://www.1910.eu/

Ok, Ok. Tks.

Steve, I deleted accidentally the autorun.inf file inside E2B pendrive USB.
I tried paste this autorun.inf again, but the file manager displays there is an (invisible) autorun.inf file, dated March 02, 2009, size 5B.
I tried from windows, and distro Linux too.

You may have a virus?
Configure Windows Explorer to display system and hidden files to see if the autorun.inf file is there. If it is, delete it (you may have to change it's attributes) also run an antivirus program on the USB drive (in Safe Mode).

Hello Steve.
Scanning in secure mode throught Panda Antivirus and Malwarebytes AM. They got 0 threats.
I think if there is a conflict of autorun.inf Panda usb vaccine which could not be properly saved, I think I deleted the proper autorun.inf of E2B.
Or conflict copy/paste to replace factory (invisible) autorun.inf usb harware.
Currently, Panda vaccine Autorun.inf neither can be saved to this pendrive USB. Nevertheless, Panda displays that USB is vaccinated. :-¿ But its autorun.inf would have to be available as hide, but it's not like that.

E2B works nice, I think.
Pendrive USB: Kingston DTSE9 2.0.

See http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/remove-panda-vaccine-protection-from_28.html

Hi,
by default pressing F7 in E2B will boot from first internal disk. Is it possible to boot from a second internal disk as well without changing boot order in BIOS first?? If yes how can this be enabled optionally within E2B main menu ?
Helmut

Just add a new .mnu text file - e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU\Boot2.mnu
It should contain a title line and then the comand lines - e.g.

title Boot from Disk 2 \n This will boot from disk 2 in the system
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
chainloader (hd2)+1 || chainloader (hd2,0)+1

It is unusual not to remap the USB drive though, so depending on what is on disk 2, this may not work.

If you want the menu to appear only when there is a 2nd disk present use
iftitle [cat --hex --length=1 (hd2)0+1 >nul] Boot from hd2\n Boot from 2nd disk in system

This may work better...

iftitle [cat --hex --length=1 (hd2)0+1 >nul] Boot from Disk 2 \n Boot from second disk
errorcheck off
map (hd0) (hd)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd2) (hd1)
map --hook
# hd0 is now 1st internal disk, hd1 and hd2 is 2nd internal disk, hd3 is USB drive
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader (hd1)+1 || chainloader (hd1,0)+1

That's great!
Exactly what I was searching for. Many thanks.
Helmut

is it possible to have persistence for linux distros?

https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/persistence/

Hello. I have another issue with 1.75e.
On my 1TB USB HDD I can't boot imgPTN's anymore, but my USB key works great. I'm getting Error: "Sector at lba30 appears to contain code."
I updated my HDD to 1.75e (from a very old version) and made sure the MBR and PBR were set to Grub 046c (several times) with Bootice. The 60Gb Grub partition is the first one.
I don't want to reformat of course because I'll have to move all of my partitions and 500Gb of data.
Anything to be done?

You probably have grub boot code in sector 30.
You just need to erase that sector.
One way is to use RMPrepUSB - Drive->File - x.mbr - 0 - 1sec - 0 to save a 512byte MBR
Then write it to LBA30 using
RMPrepUSB - File->Drive - x.mbr - 0 - 30 - 0 to write it to sector 30.
Then switching .imgPTN files should work.

Worked!
I assume by x you meant any .mbr so i used grldr.mbr.
Thank you! Honestly don't know what I'd do without you.

Good!
E2B needs to see an unused sector at LBA30 (full of FF, 00, or E5 bytes) or it should contain a valid MBR.

Hi,
After updating to E2B v1.74 I cannot boot my HBCD_16.imgPTNLBA23 formatted as Fat32.
My error: Cannot find the batch label specified: HBCD_16.imgPTNLBA23
Never had this problem before so I updated to v1.75b and no luck. Tried Qemu and same thing. Also tried recreating the imgPTN as imgPTNLBAa and imgPTNLBA23.
I am booting a UEFI system in Legacy CSM mode.

hmm. Not quite sure how it happened, but there are several typos in the labels in QRUN.g4b!!
Please try v1.75BetaD

Oops just saw your message about 1.75D. Will try now. Thanks

Now nothing will start -- not imgPTN's nor .iso's. They just kick me back into the E2B menu. I used the Update cmd to install 1.75D

Seems to be a bug in grub4dos!
I added an extra label and now it doesn't work as a batch file. I will report the bug to chenall.
The label
:.imgPTN23aLBA
seems to cause grub4dos to think it is not a batch file!

1.75BetaE available. Should work now!

I've gone back to v1.68 for now. Should I just wait for stable 1.75 or 1.76 then?

Never mind. I keep posting before I've seen your latest post. :-)
I'll try 1.75e

That did the trick. Thank you!
Thanks also for adding Switch_E2B and the imgPTN format. Life just keeps getting easier with E2B. You're the best!

Update: I tried rebuilding the drive with E2B 1.74 from scratch. Same result.

Working great for me. Thank you so much Steve. Keep on the good work.

E2B menu 1: http://i68.tinypic.com/2r2swh3.png
E2B menu 2: http://i65.tinypic.com/24yy58i.png
PI menu: http://i67.tinypic.com/ic3cqh.png

Cool menus! very 'steam punk'! Did you use .bmp or .jpg?

BMP-saved resources from extracted FOT:BoS raw assets. And using uncompressed BMP in E2B. Can't notice any boot delay (USB3.0 booting).

Hi Steve and everyone else;)

I got a question: Is there any way to change the font size in all E2b menu's?? I try edit string in grub folder (polish language) buy i didn't find any of that option....


Sorry for my Pidgin English - I'm not a champion;)

No not unless you use a GFXboot menu

I'm used menu wich looks like that:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-osqd4BhlrB8/UZEXSLPRSnI/AAAAAAAAAS8/ECWAxhSXHiQ/s1600/TEST_MyMenu.lst.jgp.jpg

It is gfx menu??

No, GFXMenu is an example of a GFXBoot menu
\_ISO\docs\Templates\GFXMenu
Read
https://easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/gfx-menu-support/

P.S. E2B now supports large 24-pixel high fonts!

Hello Steve.
How to change the font size in my menu?

hi face a problem with easy2boot usb during process make multiboot usb plz u tell me how we can send a large file up to 4 gb in our easy2boot usb fat32 file system from our ntfs windows 7 os without split files i,m waiting sir.....?

https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/adding-windows-install-isos-without-needing-a-helper-flash-drive/
If that doesn't help, please give exact details (payload, large files, what you are trying to do, etc.)

The way I read the instructions, I should be able to create .imgPTN files and place them in the directory, then E2B more or less does the rest. However, for Windows installs, the E2B menu does not show the .imgPTN files. Rather, I always have to do Switch_E2B to boot into them via UEFI. Am I just reading the instructions wrong?

Yes - you are probably reading the instructions incorrectly. Try reading them again!
https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/

OK, I think I finally get it. ISO files go into the WINDOWS subdirectories while imgPTN files go into the WIN (or some other) directory. I don't understand why, but at least I think I understand the what.

Starting with E2B v1.75BetaB you can now add .imgPTN files to the \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxx folders (except XP folder).

Hi, thank you for all the stuff you made here :)

I was trying to create an imgPTN of Openelec :
1. Use of RMPrepUSB to create USB Stick Openelec from Openelec.img. Ok, drive L:
2. Drag icon of L: on MPI_FAT32 shortcut. Ok.
After typing size and pathname of imgPTN, some errors appears :
SOURCE = "L:\"
RAMDRIVE = U:
NEW IMAGE = "c:\temp\essai.imgptn"
FORMAT = FAT32
VOLUME NAME = EASY2BOOT
IMAGE SIZE = 185MB (Source=166MB)

CREATING AND MOUNTING RAMDRIVE U: as "c:\temp\essai.imgptn"

Running: imdisk -a -s 185m -m U: -f "c:\temp\essai.imgptn" -x 63 -y 255 -p "/FS:FAT32 /Q /Y"
Error defining drive letter: Descripteur non valide
Creating device...
Created device 0: U: -> c:\temp\essai.imgptn
ImDisk operation failed to mount "c:\temp\essai.imgptn"

After this message, i press enter and then 2 more messages but too fast to copy "Il manque une opérande" then the window close and ImDisk opens, with the file in the list. No drive created, no files copied i guess, fileSystem indicates N/A.

I have no clue of what happens :/
Im' using imdisk 2.0.6, and MPI_Tool_Pack_Plus_CloverLite_055 on Windows 10 Biuld 10565.

If you have some ideas :D

Hi
When you create the USB stick containing Openelec, what files can you see on the USB stick? Are they accessible to Windows?
If you want to have Openelec, why not follow my blog posts on how to create an Openelec and OpenElec-Live image?

Hello, thanks for your answer.

I'm following this tutorial (maybe old) :
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.fr/2013/10/how-to-add-openelec-installer-to.html

If I create USB Stick from Openelec image with Win32DiskImager or REMPrepUSB, i see the 2xxMB partition with all files needed to boot and begin Openelec installation (what i did last night).

To be totally clear, this is not Openelec wich cause metrouble, because as you can see, there is alternate option to add it to easy2Boot.

But if imdisk is not working on my PC, i could not be able to add Windows 7, 8 and 10 install as i need imgPTN to do this (if I fully understood what I read on easy2boot website).

I forgot to list files on USB Stick, sorry. Result of list l:\ /s /b
l:\syslinux.cfg
l:\KERNEL
l:\SYSTEM
l:\EFI
l:\EFI\BOOT
l:\EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi
l:\EFI\BOOT\ldlinux.e64
l:\EFI\BOOT\syslinux.cfg
l:\System Volume Information\IndexerVolumeGuid

Is U: a free unused drive letter?
Try rebooting Windows.
Try copying the files from the USB flash drive to an empty folder and then drag-and-drop that folder onto the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut.

Hello,

Reboot done, same problem.
u: unused, "subst u: c:\temp" creates u: drive.
"subst u: /delete" frees hit.

I copy files in folder then drag-drop and error message changed only one time :
"Accès refusé" (access denied)
after that, all trys show precedent error message : "Descripteur invalide"

I'm able to create c:\temp\essai.imgPTN with imdisk GUI in control panel : 28MB, drive U:. Windows says after that i have to format drive u: before use it...what i did with success.

I will try to disable antivirus when i come back. thanks for your time.

It may be your AV - what AV do you have?

I cannot free U: with imdisk control panel because imdisk cannot create U:.

My AV is Comodo : i disabled all comodo parts, and even exclude imdisk files, exe, cpl and sys, in system32 and syswow64. No change.

When i try to create imgPTN file and imdisk failed to create U:, i cannot delete imgPTN file created, because it always mounted in imdisk : if i remove it, imdisk warns me "can not lock file...." i can click ok and remove it.

I opened cmd as Admin and type :
"imdisk -a -s 280m -m U: -f "c:\temp\essai.imgptn" -x 63 -y 255 -p "/FS:FAT32 /Q /Y"
same error : "Descripteur invalide"

When I said i can create file in control panel, yes I can, but if i put files in it, they are not saved when I re-mount the file, and i cannot use "Save image File..." because "acess denied"...

:/

I have had ImDisk problems with 10565 build - I think it is Win10 10565 problem?
What Edition are you using? I had problems on 10565 Enterprise with ImDisk.

You right i guess, I'm using Windows 10 insider 10565.

I tried to stop insider program, but this is not working, maybe because stable 10565 not in live.

The problem is persistent with b10576...
My hope is an update of ImDisk now.

10576 is not released - you should report issue to MSoft.

Of course b10576 is released in the insider fast ring, the day I posted :D

imdisk dev Olof already had knowledge of my problem, caused by -p switch.

I modified the batch MakePartImage.cmd to format drive AFTER imdisk created letter, with format command and by passing parameters from -p switch. It is a little more dangerous for sure.
here the modifications of MakePartImage.cmd :

REM Modification for suppress Windows 10 build 10565&10576 error
REM Following 3 lines had been commented, then following 5 lines had been added

REM --------------------Commented------------------------
REM echo Running: imdisk -a -s %MYSIZE%m -m %SPAREVOL% -f !MYIMG! -x 63 -y 255 -p "/FS:%MYFMT% /Q /Y"
REM imdisk -a -s %MYSIZE%m -m %SPAREVOL% -f !MYIMG! -x 63 -y 255 -p "/FS:%MYFMT% /Q /Y" > imdisk.log
REM if errorlevel 1 type imdisk.log & echo ImDisk operation failed to mount !MYIMG!! & pause & goto :unmount
REM ----------------End of commented---------------------

REM ----------------------Added--------------------------
echo Running: imdisk -a -s %MYSIZE%m -m %SPAREVOL% -f !MYIMG! -x 63 -y 255 then only if no error FORMAT %SPAREVOL% /FS:%MYFMT% /Q /Y
imdisk -a -s %MYSIZE%m -m %SPAREVOL% -f !MYIMG! -x 63 -y 255 >imdisk.log
if errorlevel 1 type imdisk.log & echo ImDisk operation failed to mount !MYIMG!! & pause & goto :unmount
format %SPAREVOL% /FS:%MYFMT% /Q /Y >>imdisk.log
if errorlevel 1 type imdisk.log & echo ImDisk operation failed to mount !MYIMG!! & pause & goto :unmount
REM ------------------End of added-----------------------

This is not for modification of easy2boot (bug or undocumented modification, Olof have no idea as MS did not respond to him), but could be added in the faq ?

I tested a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro insider preview 10565 32-bit under VBox and the MPI Tool Kit 0.055 seems to work OK without needing your additions??

I don't know why you experienced this, Olof did not be surprised, and show me immediatly where was the problem I encoutered :/
Maybe something on some PC.
But finally, the problem is fixed on my PC, and i'm happy with that :D

Hi!

I am trying to boot an imgPTN (image of an USB-Key)- file direct into the memory, like under isolinux with the keyword memdisk. Is something similar like this possible with Easy2Boot?

I am trying around with zip but that's not working for me. The key itself is about maximum 200MB large.
Thanks and Greetings!

No. What image is it and why do you want it in memory?

I dont understand your question... It's an image of an Service-USB-Key provided by an manufacture. It's supposed to scan system. To detach the usb-key after the scan has started I need to run it from memory. Under isolinux / syslinux it's working like I said. Now i am looking for an possible way by Easy2Boot as well.

I got it working finally, and want to let you know what i did:

I made an Compressed Image File of the USB-Key (img.gz), done by the tool "USB Image Tool". Just place this file where you want, such as in _ISO/UTILITIES.

Easy2Boot is doing all by itself.
Source: https://easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-file-extensions-recognised-by-e2b/
" .. E2B\grub4dos automatically detects if a file has been compressed to gzip or LZMA format. The file extension is not used by E2B to determine if a file is compressed or not. For instance, a LZMA-compressed DOS floppy image can be named .ima or .imagz."

Greetings

Glad you found a solution. It is possible to run images from memory using various file extensions, but not .imgPTN files, which is what you asked about.
P.S. What form is the original source file(s) provided in? Why not just use that?

I just followed the tutorial given some posts ago, source is Openelec Installer as .img file.

KEEP IT COMING XD

Hi Steve,

USB harddisk works fine in qemu test.

I'm not sure What is wrong in real boot:
"Booting Easy2Boot vl.72 - please wait...
Using settings in /ISO/MyE2B.CFG
Using strings from /ISO/e2b/grub/ENG/STRINGS.txt
BIOS 11/24/11
Last Sector of last partition of (hd0) is 58605052 (27Gb)
Checking last sector is accessible... "
and no go!

Did you format the drive using the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script? If not, try it.

Yes I did run it as admin under win7.
It created 2 partitions: ntfs=27.94Gb and hidden/unknown=31.5Kb,
but it didnt create any cdfs-partition to boot my.iso

strange, it should be OK. The cdfs partition is only created when you run an ISO. It is cleared on the next boot to E2B.
Try grub4dos 0.4.5c

Copy the \_ISO\e2b\grub\grub_045 file to \grldr and overwrite the \grldr file.

Now it works fine just by changing to regular menu.lst.
I dont know how to fix your menu.lst, any help?

I think If you have a lot of partitions on your HDD, still you need to create a space(primary) for cdfs partition.

It is nothing to do with the cdfs partition.
The check is a simple disk read of some sectors near the end of the USB disk. This tests some BIOSes which have a bug and cannot access sectors past 137GB. You can disable the test using
set CHECKBIOS=
in your \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file, but you may find that some payloads will not work if they are beyond 137GB on some systems due to a bad BIOS.

Thank you for remind me about 137GB BIOS-limit, but my HDD is only 30 GB.
I am curious why E2B created 2 partitions: ntfs=27.94Gb and hidden/unknown=31.5Kb. Is unknown partition necessary or what is the purpose? or may something wrong with rmpartusb?
I hope you have explanation of my questions.

Finally Easy2boot works fine after shrinking the partition, just the problem I have do it manually.

Thanks Steve

The small partition is to try to fix a BIOS bug which is found on some systems, see FAQ page
After partitioning and formatting a USB drive using the Make_E2B_USB_Drive.cmd script or RMPrepUSB, there is a small hidden partition at the end of the USB drive - what is this used for?
Read more: https://easy2boot.com/faq-/

Do you have any more details on what system you are using and what size partitions work and do not work? It would help to make future versions more 'bootable'. How much did you reduce the partition sizes by and which parititions did you change, etc.?

Fujitsu MHS2030AT 30GB.
E2B (NTFS or FAT32) is not working on some computers:
Dell 4600/intel, Acer 5810TS/intel, Lenovo K100/intel, Toshiba A600/intel and working fine on: HP dm4/intel, Toshiba A215/AMD.

E2B works fine on all computers after shrinking the partition to any size or resize to one whole full partition.

I tested also using 80GB and 20GB HDD and everything work fine without to resize the partition.

So in the case of the MHS2030AT 30GB HDD and one of the 'bad' systems -e.g. Dell 4600 - are you saying that if you prepare the 30GB drive using MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd as either NTFS or FAT32 then it does not boot, but if you reduce the size of a partition (which partition? there should be two, and using what tool?) then it works?
If so, could you prepare the 30GB drive using MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd as NTFS and check it fails, then send me a 'Drive Info - 0' email of the LBA0. Then 'fix' the problem by reducing the partition size and send me another 'Drive Info - 0' printout please? You can use the 'Contact Me' form or directly email me.

how to use hiren or any MBR related tools to boot from cd or usb on system with only uefi support no csm /mbr support using easyboot or any other method. Thanks

See https://easy2boot.com/useful-things-to-know/
last item.

Thanks 4 ur quick reply :)

I put a Windows 10 ISO on my E2B USB key. But when I tried to boot it, it appears to have booted into BIOS mode. As a result, Windows refused to install to a GPT drive.

Is that the correct diagnosis? If so, can I force UEFI?

You need to boot in UEFI mode.
Convert the .ISO file to a FAT32 .imgPTN file using MakePartImage (MPI Tool Kit) and copy the .imgPTN file to the E2B USB drive \_ISO\WIN folder or \_ISO\MAINMENU folder.
Then you boot to E2B and select the Win10.imgPTN file and switch to the CSM Menu.
You can now either boot using the Clover menu or UEFI-boot using your UEFI BIOS selection menu. Watch the videos for more help.

Hi there,

I have a WD Passport Enterprise, a 500 GB USB Disk Drive with support for BitLocker drive encryption. I have installed Windows To Go (Windows 10 Enterprise) on it; with BitLocker encryption enabled.

I want to be able to use disk for all kinds of situations, so besides Windows To Go (WTG), I also want to install Linux LiveCDs.

Is it possible to install E2B on a USB Disk Drive with WTG on it, and to boot into either Windows or E2B?

I am not sure, I have not tried that. I would
1. Make a 2nd primary partition
#1 - E2B NTFS (first 137GB or less)
#2 - WinToGo (rest of disk)
Check WinToGo still boots OK or use EasyBCD or BootIce to fix BCD.
2. backup the first 2048 sectors of the disk to a file using RMPrepUSB - Disk>File for safe keeping.
3. Install grub4dos to MBR and PBR of first (E2B) partition using RMPrepUSB - Install grub4dos
4. Add E2B files to #1 partition
5. Add a bootmgr .mnu file to \_ISO\MAINMENU for partition #2

Try it! If it doesn't work you can restore MBR+first sectors saved in step 2.

Hi Steve, this is the first .ISO I'm having trouble with to boot. I copy the .ISO as downloaded(dl.acronis.com/s/AcronisTrueImage2016.iso) to \_ISO\BACKUP. It then boots to lang+arch selection menu. After selecting x64 option (english default is ok for me), linux seems to start booting, but then my display blanks, no further activity. Since 2013 and 2014 versions were tested working, maybe the booting method in the new version has something to offer to improve E2B.
Thanks in advance.

I tested the Acronis ISO under VBox with no problems. Usually a blank screen issue is due to the version of linux that is used does not support your graphics adapter.
Try converting the .ISO file to a .imgPTN file and then using the 2nd Acronis Recovery option. This will prompt you to choose a VGA mode - try different modes and see if that works.
I would also check the Acronis forums as probably others have found the same issue if they have the same graphics adapter.

You are right Steve. While I can not be sure about my physical graphics card being the problem (GTX 770, nothing new as of today for a "2016" product), exactly same E2B drive tested on VBox 5.04, and the x64 TI boots just fine. Definitely some hw incompatibility. Well, everything elese boots just fine, so no TI for me then (I'm not interested in the WinPE-based option).

Hi,

I've created the USB key and am testing booting with Virtual Box 5.0.4 (nothing added as yet). Boots OK but when it gets to "Adding menu entries from files in /_ISO/MAINMENU..." it just stops there, can't tell if it has hung completely or is trying to do something. Anyone else come across this before ?

Thanks.

Not seen that before.
How did you make VBox boot from USB?
Did you use VMUB?
What happens if you boot using QEMU?
https://easy2boot.com/testing-e2b/using-qemu-or-virtual-box/

Increase the memory size of the emulated system, it gets stuck with 64MB. Increased to 512MB and booted successfully.

Hello. How integrate DPMS for Vista/7 x86 and x64 into easy2boot?

Here is this driverpacks:
http://driverpacks.net/driverpacks/windows/7/x64/mass-storage/12.12.1
http://driverpacks.net/driverpacks/windows/7/x86/mass-storage/12.12.1-0

but this driverpacks without ini files. Any solution? Thank you so much

I used a thing called 'Google Search' and found this
http://www.win-raid.com/t750f25-Guide-Integration-of-drivers-into-a-Win-image.html

I know about that perfect thing 'Google Search', but i need full driver pack on my E2B usb-flash, instead of instructions about how to embed a particular driver in a particular system image

Why not just copy the driver pack files onto the USB drive? Once you have booted to PE, you could try loading the INF file using drvinst or drvload maybe?
What driver did you need to add?

That's right, it can be used as one of methods, but on different hardware need different driver. It is mainly server hardware. Each time a different driver needs. So I'm looking for a way to integrate these drivers to E2B's DPMS

Can I create on some way bootable dvd with this app? Thanks!

https://easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-and-burn-an-e2b-dvd/

hi,
i have been using e2b from longtime. the only thing i want to know, why usb harddisk cant be used as winhelper usb drive or what that usb flash drive does at the point of mounting iso that usb hard disk can not do??
can u explain me the trigger function of menu.lst present on usb flash drive that leads to work installing windows iso??

https://easy2boot.com/faq-/how-e2b-works/

so thats the Microsoft's way of installing an iso,
solution for this problem is either connect winhelper USB or modify iso to use firadisk
i will go for Winhelper USB
thanks for ur support!!

Best solution is to convert the ISO to an image partition (.imgPTN) file. Then you can UEFI and MBR boot.
Conversion does not add firadisk or any other driver.

so i have to keep both file,
an iso and an imgptn file??
right??

No, only the .imgPTN file is required.
Watch the YouTube videos for more info.

always there's something wrong in newer versions of e2b like win7.imgptn it list AGAIN usb dribe as drive0. Can we not have a bugfree e2b

srx, nm installs just fine, only sometimes in expanding windows files it misreads some files,
made a new vm with default settings. OK now

Sorry, don't understand, "srx nm"??
Do you mean that E2B is OK and something was wrong with your .imgPTN file?
P.S. I release Beta versions for feedback from users. If no one reports a problem, I can only assume it is OK. I cannot test every conceivable function of E2B - there are thousands of configurations and hundreds of payloads to test!

Dear sir, I convert Win 7 AIO imagePTN and booted
it ask me win7 activation key to in put manually so please help me

Win7 normally requires activation.
Buy a licence!

Anyone else having issues having Kali Linux 2.0 boot up, or is it just me?

Kali is in the list of tested ISOs.
It works fine for me.
If you have problems please give details.
First thing to do is check the MD5/CRC32 hash value of the ISO file on the USB drive to check for file corruption.

Same, when I choose Install or Graphical Install it doesn't boot. Live works fine.

Kali2 *boots* fine for me.
The only problem is that it cannot find the 'Install CD' - but this is easily solved by specifying \dev\sdb4 as the CD-ROM drive (or use \dev\sdc4 or \dev\sdd4, etc. depending on what the USB drive letter is).
This is detailed in the 'List of tested ISOs' page which you should ALWAYS look at if you have problems (or even before you have problems!)
P.S. See "\_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\Linux\kali-linux-1.0.5-amd64.txt" for a .txt file which will remind you what to do.

Hi,

I have Windows 7 AIO, 8 and 10 and am trying to get them automated. Just trying to work on the Windows 7 first as I imagine once I get that it will be simple for the others. I have the latest version 1.71. My Windows 7 AIO is about 5GB. I converted it to a imgPTN (NTFS) and deleted that file it prompts you when following the bouncing ball. I forget exactly what it is called. I am doing method three "http://m.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/automating-windows-install-from-imgptn-files/" and have done everything however it boots up, runs that mysetup.cmd (looks like it does anyway) then the computer just reboots. Is there anything I have missed or need do something? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

There are no official Windows AIO ISOs - different people make different AIOs in different ways.
You need to look inside the boot.wim at the \windows\system32 files winpeshl.ini, startnet.cmd, mysetup.cmd and other files of a similar date to see how it has been modified.
Since you are using a USB drive and not a DVD, you have plenty of room, so why use a AIO ISO - why not just use the official MS ISOs?

I copied the files in there and I followed this thread http://m.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/automating-windows-install-from-imgptn-files/. I haven't touched the startnet.cmd. Do I need to look at that? My reason for using AIO is they are smaller then having all the individual ISO's. My USB is only 64GB and I have a fair bit of stuff on there already. Not really sure why it wouldn't be working. They didn't mention that startnet.cmd on that link.

You have not told me anything about your AIO ISOs, as I said they are all different - what are they, where did you get them from, how were they made, how do they work? I don't have super-powers - do you expect me to guess!
The Easy2Boot instructions are for standard MS ISOs, not heavily modified AIO ISOs by some unknown author and modified in some unknown way!
It is also important to know if your E2B drive is a Removable type or fixed disk type.

Sorry mate. I got the Windows AIO from iptorrents.com. Here is another link http://torrent-release.com/software/14632-windows-7-sp1-5in1-x86-x64-en-us-aug2015.html. It has 5 different versions in there. As you can see nothing has been modified or changed from that link. What I have done is converted that ISO x64 into a imgPTN. Then I have followed those steps in that link provided before method three. I am assuming method three is referring to AIO as it talks about selecting different windows installation images. There is also another thread on rmprep that suggests the same thing how to suppress the OS Image http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/easy2boot-and-automating-windows-78.html. So I thought both those links are referring to AIO. But basically after i converted the image into imgptn I mounted the image picking image 2 from the boot.wim and copied those two files in \windows\system32 committed the changes and copied that other .cmd to the root of the imgptn. It boots up fine from CSM loads the files get the little windows 7 install thing and then it is as if its running the cmd but then the computer just restarts. Sorry for providing less information before. I hope that helps more. my E2B drive is removable as well.

Hi
I used Win7SP1_5in1-x86-Aug2015-en-US.iso.
I followed Method 3 (boot.wim image #2) and used the modified Auto.cmd with the menu.
I added a AutoUnattend7.xml file which was the same as \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN7\Sample.xml but had a Win7 Pro product key







true

HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487






true

HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487







This worked as expected just fine.
Either you corrupted the boot.wim or your xml file is causing the problem.
P.S. I used the MPI_FAT32 shortcut.

Got it working mate. I noticed before when I copied in winpeshl.ini it already existed. On those steps on method three it just tells you to copy it in. What I did was edit the winpeshl.ini to look like this

[LaunchApps]
%windir%\system32\wpeinit.exe
%windir%\system32\netstart.exe
%windir%\system32\mysetup.cmd

After I did this I was able to get the custom menu to select what Image I want. Did you have to do something similar. Is it worth updating that page? Incase similar users run into the same problem.

That was for the x64 AIO did NTFS as well for the .imgPTN

I just followed the Method 3 and copied the two files to windows\system32 and it worked.
wpeinit and netstart should not be needed unless you want the network and PnP devices initialised.
If you just wanted to see all OS choices, there is no need to modify the boot.wim.

After trying all possible methods offered by amazing E2B for Windows OSes installation my recommendations are:

1. Get a light PE image with ImDisk installed or allowing you to install it. Even a spartan boot.wim from one of those AIOs from m78 will work, though youll need to install ImDisk .inf manually. I use a .cmd for that. Boot to that .wim using E2B and install ImDisk.
2. Setup your target drive using diskpart (manually or by script of choice).
3. Use WinNTSetup to deploy your OS. You can mount your untouched AIO ISOs (though I convert them to imgPTN because I previously tweak them, and you can mount a imgPTN with ImDisk like you do with an ISO).
Optional: select the autounattend.xml file to use ( no need to modify the ISO)
Optional: Choose a folder containing your drivers (INFs, can be arranged in subfolders).
4. Deploy. Shutdown. Remove your USB. Boot to your target drive and let the install finish.

This message is caused by specifying the wrong product key (e.g. a Retail product key for Enterprise Win8 or 10).
Even if an ISO does not require a Product Key to be entered, when using E2B with a XML file, you need to specify a key (or modify the ISO).
An alternative is to convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file so that an XML file is not used.

Hi, i get a really weird issue when i try to boot from windows iso. when i choose a windows installation folder i get Usage:/_iso/e2b/grub/pickafile.g4b returns : %chosen% Aborting...

i try to replace a lot of file with original file from the download selection but it always do that

Need more details. What ISOs? What menu entry are you using? How can I reproduce? What version of E2B? Did you try fresh install of E2B? etc.

I tried with a lot of iso. all windows iso. it was withe e2b 1.7 my iso is in _isos/WINDOWS/XXXXX I try to replace all the e2b file i try to update e2b but i didn't try to format. Also I notice that after i tried to boot on windows iso my /Unattended.xml was modified. The file is juste anymore

Check the version of \grldr. It may be old version? Use same version that is in the download 7zip file.
XML files go in \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxxx folders. \AutoUnattend.xml and \Unattend.xml are updated by E2B.

I try to get an .imgPTN - image of an USB-Stick.
This stick is made by a tool of the manufacture I repair computers for. Lets call this USB-Key just 'A'.
As I understand now, the usb-key('A') is based on FreeDos and I want to migrate it into my Tools-HDD / Stick based on E2B ( I tried yumi before, worked well, but then changed to use ISO's instead and E2B works like charm, love it! ).
Before, i just used another tool to get an img-Image of 'A' but since never version of the manufacture-tools it doesn't work any more this way. Don't know why.
My Idea so was to get an imgPTN - file of 'A', but whenever I use the tool "MakePartImage" (no matter if iso or anything else), I get later in process the Message:
"ERROR: T:\menu.lst does not contain any code to restore the E2B partitions"
As I saw in tutorials it looked easy, but I don't get any Idea what and when I shall give more information to the command.
Maybe someone can help me how to get to next step to get the Tool-Stick finally again inside my beloved E2B!
Thanks and Greetings!

Can you describe exactly how you are converting the ISO or USB drive to a .imgPTN file?
i.e. Are you dragging-and-dropping onto MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut? Are you prompted with any questions and how do you answer?
Actually, for DOS, you should just make a .img or .imghd file or for a DOS iso just use .isodos or .isodos01. Did you try other file extensions?

I use only the MakePartImage.bat with administrative permission rights.
1. Source ISO or Folder
e:\ (my usb-drive)
2. Use Fat32 for new image?
Y
3. Size for Image file
*just enter*
4. OUtput Filename for new Image
c:\tmp\key.imgPTN
5. Volume Name for partition image
DIFS
6. Enter a name for the title of the CSM menu:
DIFS
Then i could have a look into drive T and continue with enter
(don't need to have a look into it)
Then comes the mentioned error message.
I also tried your mentioned file extensions, but the error-message still exists and is the same.
Before I tried the simpliest way by RMPrepUSB to get an Image of the USB-Key, or otherwise with the tool called "USB Image Tool", also tried several as well. But the result with these is finally it won't boot entirely any more. So I am looking for new and other solutions. So my hope is now on tips and hints from here :)

It sounds like something is wrong with the MPI download.
Can you redownload it and try again?
If still no joy, use the Contact Me form.

You are correct, there really was something wrong.

So i redownload and tried again the same steps,
and it works fine now!
Thanks a lot! :)

how to run Easy2Boot in grub2 as grub2 can not load file *.lis. He loading only *.cfg files? Is there any sw2 file to indicate the program and boot from it?

I apologize instead I wrote "*.CFG" "sw2".

Easy2Boot is written in grub4dos batch language, not grub2.

I tried to make a Easy2Boot on a 16Gb USB of all the above since I ue both UBCD4Win and F4UBCD regularly to sort out issues and also make disk images. I followed the instructions and added the ISO's. For Win7, the ISO was recognized easily by Easy2Boot. For XP I had an iso with OEM folder which was already on a USB for installing. So I made an imgPTN of that drive with the tools. But I had to put this in the MAINMENU to get recognized, not the XP folder. Also both XP and Win7 installs seemed very very slow and I aborted after few minutes. The normal individual USB's are not so slow, I install from USB only. Am I making some mistake or is Easy2Boot slow for installation of OS?

Installation is fast for me.
As explained everywhere(!), the _ISO\WINDOWS folder is for Windows Install ISOs ONLY (not .imgPTN files or other types of payloads).
How many different USB drives and systems did you try?
Did you try loading the Fast USB driver (UTILITIES menu)? Also try the Speed Test menu.
Did you read the FAQ pages?
How did you prepare the USB drive?

The USB was prepared by Easy2Boot as per instructions. Then I copied the Win7 ISO in the correct folder. It went upto a point where I had to choose some xml file and then just sort of frooze. For XP, you had written that if the ISO has OEM folder (mine did) then we had to make USB and then take imgPTN of that. I already had USB which I was using for installs so I made the imgPTN and put in MAINMENU folder. This worked and I started Part 1 but it was too slow. Then I tried with a 2Gb USB which I was using for installs and it was very quick. Maybe will try again later.

I made a UBCD4Win+F4UBCD+UBCD+Linux+SystemRescueCD+PartImage and some other ISO's. It boots fine and does not take much time on a Core2Duo system but I tried on an old P4 2.8GHz system with 256Mb RAM and it took about 10 minutes to get to the menu, 10 minutes to get to F4UBCD menu and further 10 minutes to boot F4UBCD. Is something wrong in the way I made my USB? Otherwise very happy and can use it on newer computers.

Something must be wrong with your BIOS/settings?
Check BIOS settings - especially USB 1.0 or 2.0 speed in BIOS Setup menu.
Also, install the Fast USb 2.0 grub4dos driver first from Utilities Menu and then load ISO, etc, from Main menu.