.VHD and .WIM files

Recent E2B versions can directly MBR-boot from certain types of .WIM, .VHD and .VHDX files.

Dynamic VHDs are not supported.
MBR-booting only (not UEFI)
VHD should have a single partition.
Copy them to a menu folder, e.g. \_ISO\WIN or \_ISO\WINPE.
The files do not need to be contiguous.
NT6-based WinPE/Vista/7/8/10 etc. (non-XP) .WIM, .VHD and .VHDX files are supported.
For XP-based .VHD files (with Firadisk driver), change the extension to .VHDBOOT.
XP-based .WIM files are not supported.

Note: A Windows 8.1 version of bootmgr is required to be in the \_ISO\e2b\grub\DPMS\NTBOOT.MOD folder (the Make_E2B.exe utility will try to add it automatically). E2B will warn you if it is missing or it is not a compatible version. You can obtain the correct version from inside a Microsoft Windows 8.1 installation ISO file. You can instead run "\_ISO\docs\Make_E2B_USB_Drive\Add_Bootmgr_to_E2B_drives.cmd" to add the correct version of bootmgr to your E2B drives (requires internet access).

Tip: Make a .txt file using \_ISO\TXT_Maker.exe for your .VHD or .WIM file - you can tick 'Only display if 64-bit' if it is a 64-bit OS so that it will not be listed in the E2B menu on 32-bit systems.

UEFI

For UEFI-booting of VHD and WIM files, you must make a FAT32 .imgPTN file which contains all the required UEFI boot files and BCD file. A 2nd partition image can contain the large (>4GB) VHD or WIM file (on an NTFS partition).

Must use Fixed Disk (or later Win10 OS VHD/WIM which will work with either type)

1. Drag-and-drop a folder containing the UEFI boot files onto the MPI_FAT32 shortcut - name MyVHD.imgptn.

2. Drag-and-drop a folder containing the VHD file (or WIM file) onto the MPI_NTFS shortcut - name MyVHD.

3. Boot to E2B and select .imgPTN file (or use SWITCH_E2B.exe) - you will now see...
PTN1 - FAT32 containing the EFI folder and other Windows boot files, etc.
PTN3 - NTFS containing large VHD or WIM file.

4. Use BootIce - BCD editor to configure BCD to load VHD\WIM on 2nd partition.