Add a new Sub-Menu folder

The Main Menu contains various sub-menus, e.g. LINUX, ANTIVIRUS,etc. The sub-menu entry will only appear in the Main Menu if there are files inside the sub-menu folder. We can add our more sub-menu folders (e.g. MSDART) into the Main Menu.

An easy way to add a new Main Menu entry for a new folder, is to use the \_ISO\E2B SUBMENU Maker.cmd file - just run this or drag-and-drop your new \_ISO\MSDART folder onto it, to make a Main menu entry for it. 

You can edit the new file using NotePad afterwards (save as UTF-8 to preserve any special characters if using a non-English language).

Watch the YouTube video above or read the Blog for more details.

Note: If the new menu folder is completely empty, then there will be no menu entry for it in the Main menu - you must copy an ISO or .mnu file, etc. into the new sub-folder before the menu entry will be displayed.

ADMIN Menus (secret and password protected menu folders)

You can edit the .mnu file so that the sub-menu entry is only displayed under certain conditions.

For instance, if the SCROLL LOCK LED is on, then an ADMIN Menu entry will be displayed in the Main Menu.

1. Use the E2B SUBMENU Maker to make a \_ISO\ADMIN folder and a ZZSubMenu$ADMIN.mnu file as detailed above.

2. Edit the iftitle line in the new \_ISO\MAINMENU\xxxx .mnu file as shown below (the extra text to add is shown in red):

#Check 0x40 for CAPS LOCK  on - use 0x20 for NUM-LOCK or 0x10 for SCROLL-LOCK, 0x08 for ALT, 0x04 for CTRL
iftitle [calc *0x417 & 0x10 > nul && ls (bd)/_ISO/ADMIN/ > (md)0x9F00+1 && checkrange 1:-1 read 0x13E0000 > nul] ^Alt+A ADMIN Menu             [Alt+A]\nThis menu is only visible in Admin mode.
set MFOLDER=/_ISO/ADMIN
set HDG=Admin Menu
(bd)/%grub%/SubMenu.g4b
boot

This example will only display the Admin menu entry in the Main Menu when SCROLL-LOCK is on.

Whenever the Main Menu is loaded, the status of the keyboard will be checked. 

You can change the 0x10 number to test for CAPS LOCK or NUM LOCK or the ALT or CTRL keys being held down. Note that some systems will turn on NUM LOCK when they boot.

0x02 for L-SHIFT, 0x01 for R-SHIFT can also be used, but you must not hold down the SHIFT key until just before the Main Menu starts to load, otherwise the grub4dos USB 2 driver will be loaded because E2B checks for the SHIFT keys at an early stage.

If using CTRL or ALT or SHIFT, you must press F8 first and then hold down the special key just before the Main Menu is loaded.

You can create more sub-menus in the same way if you wish, so that many extra menus will be visible in the MAIN MENU when the secret key is activated.

You can request a password before a sub-menu will be loaded by adding the line:

password fred || configfile (md)0xA000+0xA0

just below the iftitle line.

Change 'fred' to your own password or use %pwd% to use the E2B menu password.

 

Let us suppose we want a new menu folder called 'MSDaRT' for our MSDart ISOs (this could hold XP-based, Vista/7/8 based or UEFI .imgPTN files - see blog). We want this new menu to be listed in the Main menu as a SubMenu.

 

 

2. Create a new text file \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZSubMenu$MSDART.mnu from the WINPE example menu below (actually the name of your new .mnu file is not important, but it's name will determine the order it appears in the Main menu - so to have it appear before the other menu entries call it $$SubMenuMSDART.mnu - to have it appear last, call it ZZZZSubMenuMSDART.mnu).

 

3. Edit the new .mnu file and change  'WINPE' to 'MSDART' and all the other text shown below in bold text. Choose a new hotkey letter (or delete the ^Ctrl+W text) and a new heading for the menu.

 

 

This is for non-GFXBoot Menu E2B configurations as it uses a menu hotkey (CTRL+W) - hotkeys do not work in GFXBoot Menus.

 

Look at \_ISO\MAINMENU\ZZSubMenuAll.mnu for other examples (but DO NOT edit it!).

 

The \_ISO\AUTO folder can be used to hold many folders containg many payloads files. All the payload files in all the sub-folders will be collected into one 'DIRECT BOOT' menu.

 

If you want to add more menu folders that work like the \_ISO\AUTO folder, then create a .mnu text file in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder and use this format:

iftitle [if "%GFX%"=="" && ls (bd)/_ISO/LinuxISO/Ubuntu > (md)0x9F00+1 && checkrange 1:-1 read 0x13E0000 > nul] Ubuntu Menu\n Go to Ubuntu Menu

set LBACKMENU=(bd)/%grub%/menu.lst

set HDG=\x20 Ubuntu Menu

(bd)/%grub%/QAUTO.g4b .automenu /_ISO/LinuxISO/Ubuntu

debug 0

configfile (md)0x3000+0xA0

 

iftitle [if "%GFX%"=="" && ls (bd)/_ISO/LinuxISO/Fedora > (md)0x9F00+1 && checkrange 1:-1 read 0x13E0000 > nul] Fedora Menu\n Go to Fedora Menu

set LBACKMENU=(bd)/%grub%/menu.lst

set HDG=\x20 Fedora Menu

(bd)/%grub%/QAUTO.g4b .automenu /_ISO/LinuxISO/Fedora

debug 0

configfile (md)0x3000+0xA0

 

 

Note that QAUTO.g4b will enumerate ALL payload files in all folders below the specified folder, so you cannot have nested folders.

 

 

If you only want the menu to list payload files that are in one folder and not search below that folder, then set the LEVEL1 parameter - e.g.

 

Example folder structure:

/_ISO/Ubuntu                                       - use for main ISOs   

/_ISO/Ubuntu/Version13                       - for released v13 ISOs  

/_ISO/Ubuntu/Version13/TESTONLY       - used for test builds of Ubuntu v13

 

 

New in v1.62: 
An easy way to add a new Main Menu entry for a folder is to use the \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\Make SubMenu.cmd file - just run this or drag-and-drop your new \_ISO\MSDART folder onto it, to make a Main menu entry for it. See the Blog for more details.

Otherwise, do it the hard way and follow the steps below.

You can make a series of new 'nested' menus using the same technique as detailed above. Note that all the new menu folders must be directly under the \_ISO folder - you must not place one folder inside another folder (do not nest menu folders).

 

For more details see here.