E2B Users Forum

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 the EI.CFG file. if you delete this file, then you should be prompted for all versions. If you have already made the .imgPTN file, switch to it and delete \sources\ei.cfg.

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.