How E2B Works

Many multiboot solutions such as YUMI, Multisystem, XBOOT, etc. work by recognising what the payload/ISO file is (or you need to tell it what type it is) and then it will create it's own special menu which is specific to that version of linux ISO. They typically use special 'cheat codes' to boot directly from an ISO, or need to extract files from the ISO or re-make the ISO and patch the files. This means that these types of utilities need to be constantly updated by their authors, because linux distro versions continuously change. This also makes changing and deleting payloads from the menus difficult. E2B avoids this because, for linux ISOs, it uses a special grub4dos feature to map the ISO file as a special partition on the USB drive which linux can access as a 'CD filesystem'. You also get the full original linux boot menu - see below for more details and also 'How E2B was born'.

Payload files (.ISO/.IMA/etc.) and booting using QRUN.g4b

Payload files (e.g. .ISO. .IMA, etc) which are placed in the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder (not sub-folders under \_ISO\MAINMENU) and in other \_ISO\XXXX folders (not sub-folders) are automatically listed in a dynamic menu which is made in memory.  However, .txt, .cmd and . (no extension) files are not listed in the menu. If a .txt file exists that exactly matches the payload filename, the first line from inside the .txt file is used as the menu entry title instead of just the payload filename (so the text in the .txt file should always start with the word 'title' or 'iftitle' followed by the grub4dos menu text that you want displayed).

1. :.iso
2. :.isoxx
3. partnew (hd0,3) 0x0 %1
4. map  %1 (0xff)
5. map --hook
6. root (0xff) || rootnoverify (0xff)
7. chainloader (0xff)
8. exit

# For persistence, create an ext2 file called casper-rw in the root of the boot drive using the RMPrepUSB - Create ext2 FS button

# Then rename the file to BT5-rw  (do NOT create a file called BT5-rw - you MUST create a file called casper-rw and then rename it!)

# Place ISO in \_ISO\Mainmenu\linux or \_ISO\XXXX\Linux (and this .mnu file too)

# Run WinContig after copying all files to the USB drive.

 

iftitle [if exist %MFOLDER%/Linux/BT5R2-GNOME-32.iso] BackTrack 5 (1024x768) Persistent\nType startx to run GUI once booted

#enable parttype output

debug 1

# make empty table entry in 3rd position in ptn table

parttype (hd0,2) | set check=

debug off

set check=%check:~-5,4%

if "%check%"=="0x00" partnew (hd0,2) 0 0 0

if not "%check%"=="0x00" echo WARNING: PTN TABLE 3 IS ALREADY IN USE! && pause

debug 1

#clear ptn 4

partnew (hd0,3) 0x0 0 0 0

if not exist (bd)/BT5-rw echo WARNING: /BT5-rw persistence file not found! && pause

errorcheck off

if "%check%"=="0x00" partnew (hd0,2) 0x0 (bd)/BT5-rw

errorcheck on

 

map %MFOLDER%/Linux/BT5R2-GNOME-32.iso (0xff)

map --hook

partnew (hd0,3) 0x0 (bd)%MFOLDER%/Linux/BT5R2-GNOME-32.iso

root (0xff)

kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper persistent text splash noprompt vga=791-- 

initrd /casper/initrd.gz

.imgPTN files and UEFI booting

All UEFI systems will boot from a FAT partition as long as the correct .EFI boot file is present. UEFI booting does not use the MBR or PBR sectors on a USB drive or run any sector boot code. Easy2Boot can replace the Easy2Boot partition entry (e.g. an NTFS partition) with a partition entry which points to a partition image file (an .imgPTN file).

An .imgPTN file is a sector-by-sector copy of a whole partition. E2B will replace the partition table on the USB drive with a single partition table entry which points to the .imgPTN file. 

E2B USB drive - before switching      (FAT32, exFAT, ext or NTFS E2B USB drive)
The example 2.5GB .imgPTN file is at about the 6GB position on the J: volume
 

 After selecting the .imgPTN file in E2B

Once this is done, the E2B drive appears as a single FAT32 (or NTFS) partitioned drive. If it is a FAT32 partition and contains UEFI boot files then a UEFI BIOS will boot from it in UEFI mode. If you boot from it in MBR\CSM mode, the grub4dos menu will allow you to restore the original E2B partitions and thus return it to it's original state (or you can boot from the image in MBR mode).

Examples:

E2B USB drive in normal E2B MBR mode:

• ptn 1 E2B (any format - FAT32, NTFS, exFAT or ext2/3/4)
• ptn 2 User partition
• ptn 3 empty
• ptn 4 empty

After selecting a .imgPTN file from the E2B menu which has been formatted as FAT32  in E2B menu (CSM mode):

• ptn 1 FAT32 Image (.imgPTN file set as partition 1)
• ptn 2 empty
• ptn 3 empty
• ptn 4 empty

After selecting a .imgPTNLBA23 file from the E2B menu which has been formatted as NTFS (CSM mode):

• ptn 1 NTFS Image (.imgPTNLBA23 file set as partition 1)
• ptn 2 User partition
• ptn 3 empty
• ptn 4 empty

• ptn 1 FAT32 Ubuntuv1.imgPTN
• ptn 2 empty
• ptn 3 Ubuntuv1 image
• ptn 4 empty

In this way, we can boot to any bootable image. If you have a USB Flash drive that is bootable, you can easily make a .imgPTN file from it and add the file to E2B. You can add 100's of bootable images (including FAT32 UEFI-bootable images) to your E2B USB drive!

When you select a .imgPTN file from the Easy2Boot menu, it will replace the current partition table with one for the .imgPTN file. This requires you to boot in MBR\CSM mode first, however you can use the SWITCH_E2B.exe Windows utility to 'switch' partitions under Windows, or boot in MBR\CSM mode using QEMU or VirtualBox.

The MakePartImage.cmd file not only copies the files from the source (e.g. ISO), but if the source contains isolinux or grub configuration files, it looks for any references to 'labels', or 'UUID' or 'CD' references, etc. and changes them to work with a USB drive. Any isolinux files are changed to syslinux files and syslinux boot code is installed. This means that MakePartImage should be able to convert most linux ISOs to boot from a USB partition successfully and it does not need to know what type of linux it is dealing with.

I recommend you watch the YouTube videos to see how this works.

Note: Partition 2 can contain a FAT32 volume with UEFI boot files and WinPE OS files. This allows you to UEFI-boot from the E2B drive to WinPE and use SWITCH_E2B.exe to select any .imgPTN file you want to use - no MBR-boot is required. See here and eBook #3 for details.

Clover

Clover is a 'replacement UEFI BIOS' which can be loaded directly from a grub4dos menu. Clover can boot 32-bit or 64-bit UEFI files.

Clover is included in the MPI Tool Pack, so that when you convert a payload to a .imgPTN file, the resulting image file will also contain the Clover boot files. This means you can boot to Clover directly from the CSM (BIOS) Menu to a 64-bit or 32-bit UEFI boot file.

If the Clover boot option is in the CSM menu on a system containing a 64-bit CPU, there will be a \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file present in the image. For instance, if you convert a 64-bit Windows 8 Install ISO to a .imgPTN FAT32 file, you can boot to Windows 8 Setup in UEFI-mode using the Clover menu entry in the CSM menu and install Windows via UEFI (with GPT partitions,etc.) - no need to directly boot via UEFI from the system's UEFI firmware.

You may see two Clover menu entries in the CSM menu, one for a 32-bit UEFI system and one for a 64-bit UEFI system when you have a 64-bit CPU present. If your system is a 32-bit UEFI system then only the 32-bit UEFI Clover option will work correctly. If your system is a 64-bit UEFI system, then only the Clover 64-bit option will work.

Clover is very hardware-dependant and so may not work on all systems. You can instead boot the system in UEFI-mode and your system's UEFI firmware should automatically boot to the UEFI payload without loading the CSM menu. If you see the CSM menu then it has MBR\Legacy booted!

Using NTBOOT to boot .WIM and .VHD files

The NTBOOT code comes from chenall (one of the major contributors to the grub4dos project) and some parts of it has been modified and added to E2B. It uses bootmgr to boot via a BCD file to a VHD or WIM file.

You may need to add the bootmgr file to the E2B USB drive, if it was not automatically copied when you made the E2B USB drive using MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE.cmd (due to copyright reasons it cannot be included in the E2B download).

NTBOOT contains a basic BCD file and it modifies the BCD file to contain the correct entries and paths for the WIM\VHD file. It then boots to bootmgr which reads the BCD and then boots to the WIM or VHD file.

Only WinPE (NT6) wim files which load the OS to RAM (X: drive) will work. NT6 VHDs can can contain a fully installed OS. The actual WIM and VHD files do not need to be contiguous and can be on another partition of the E2B USB HDD drive.

You can add any number of WIM and VHD files - just copy them all to the E2B drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN or \_ISO\WINPE) and boot!

WIMBOOT (E2B v1.A8+)

E2B will use the iPXE wimbo ot utility to boot Windows ISO files, if possible. 

Wimboot allows E2B to inject a winpeshl.ini file and a batch fie into the WinPE ramdisk without needing to alter the boot.wim file which is inside the ISO file.

The batch file will then execute when WinPE runs and will load the ISO file as a virtual DVD drive (Y:) using ImDisk.

Because wimboot loads the boot.wim image into RAM, it requires twice as much memory for the boot.wim files and so requires at least 2GB of RAM.

Wimboot has the advantage that a Removable USB disk is not required, so a WinHelper USB Flash drive is not needed when WIMBOOT is used.

Grub2 menu system (MBR+UEFI)

For details of the extra grub2 menu system that can be added to E2B - see here.

Forgot your Windows or Mac password? Can't login? Try kon-boot!

Recommended for Easy2Boot (fastest flash drive!)
SanDisk Extreme SDCZ880-128G-G46

130+ Tutorials on USB booting.

Fastest USB 3!
See Blog post