226 replies to this topic

[TheHive]

Box 5 says  'Copy OS files after format' if you look the box is not ticked, therefore it won't copy the files from C: - it does not therefore matter what is in the  'Folder/File' box.

You cant tell that they belong together by looking at it. Only know it now because you mention that they go together. Might want to put a container around them like you did for the options on 3 and 4. On 5 I got confused at the time.

 

Seperate the Number 6 and Prepare Drive. I missed that was not part of Prepare Drive and it should be similar to 1,2,3,4,5

[steve6375]

OK, sorry for confusion. 

Tip: if you hover the cursor over the various options, the help text in the white box explains what they do....

[TheHive]

Starting Steps and writing as we go. Will update this post.

 

steps for Easy2Boot

 

*FAt32(for compatabily with DOS,..etc)/NTFS(if file bigger then 4Gb)

• Download RMPrepUSB

• Run RMPrepUSB - set WInpe + FAt32 + Boot as HDD  (leave 5 unticked) and click prepare drive

Explained on Video at Time: 6:00

 

• Then click on Install grub4dos

• Exit RMPrepUSB
• Then Download Easy2Boot files and unzip to Preped USb stick
• 

Explained on Video at Time: 7:30

• Afrer copying Iso files run RMPrepUSB - Drive Menu - and Select "Make all Files on Drive Contigous". This option puts files Next or together in sequence.

• Test Contigous Iso Boot files on USB stick

[steve6375]

The video is for version 0 and is not correct for version 1, see the \docs folder in the version 1 BETA download to see where to copy the ISO files to.

[TheHive]

Booting and testing.

Testing Win7PE_x86.ISO=boots and works

[TheHive]

Will redo. I was using beta1 files.

[TheHive]

steps are 

 

• Run RMPrepUSB - set WInpe + FAt32 + Boot as HDD  (leave 5 unticked) and click prepare drive
• Then click on Install grub4dos
• Then unzip Easy2Boot files to USb stick
• Afrer copying Iso files run RMPrepUSB - Drive Menu - and Select "Make all Files on Drive Contigous". This option puts files Next or together in sequence.
• Test Contigous Iso Boot files on USB stick

[Rootman]

Steve, this latest beta 6 is outstanding.  I like the internal versioning in the menu and the mymenu and mybackground files are just the ticket too.  I was previously keeping a copy of my changed background image and a text file of the color changes I made and having to update the stock files at every install.  Will this be an issue if you ever change the format of the menu.lst?

 

I realize this particular thread has been sort of taken off course of the Windows ISO install testing and would to point out that a more appropriate thread for Easy2Boot development and questions is here: http://reboot.pro/to...ent-discussion/

 

If I get a chance next week I'll throw some Windows install ISOs and try it out.  We have developed ImageX scripted thin installs and some Ghost thick images for almost everything that comes through my office so it is not very often I get to install Windows from scratch.  We pull everything off the network using Win7PE to boot to and map a connection.

 

BTW: For rapid easy testing of E2B I have setup a small VirtualBox VM and installed Grub4DOS and put E2B on it.  I typically boot to a Win7PE ISO from the VMs CDROM and unzip E2B to the C: drive and throw ISOs on it.  I can test and reboot it very quickly this way and not have to reboot my physical machine.  When I get E2B tested and tricked out just the way I want it I boot again to the Win7PE ISO and copy the entire E2B menu system to my USB drives.  It's quick and easy that way.  And YES it works from an NTFS formatted HDD just as well as a USB flash drive.  Most of my flash drives are formatted NTFS as well and work just fine for a majority of stuff - I know this IS an issue on some of the Windows installs from ISO though.  Pretty weird that Microsoft ISOs are the ones that have an issue with it's own preferred filesystem.  Poetic justice I guess

[TheHive]

Test

LiveXP 2012=boots STOP 0x0000007B

LiveXP by al_jo 1-24-2013=boots STOP 0x0000007B

Win98LiveCD=boots STOP 0x0000007B

The above work on virtual machine

 

 

 

WindowsXP  Sp3 pro install=boots,  works when selected to install  but to many things are asked to be remembered in order for install to work. With rufus it works as if installing from cd.

[Rootman]

XP and 98 "live" disks will probably have to be written to RAM prior to booting and I kind of doubt the Win 98 disks ever will work  You will have to move the ISOs out of the AUTOISO folder into either the _ISO or MAINMENU then WINDOWS folder and pair it with an identically name .mnu file.  If the ISO is named WINXPPE.ISO then the .mnu file must be named WINXPPE.mnu.  Windows PE disks, especially older ones based on XP and below are funky and may not work automatically.  EVERY Linux ISO I've thrown at it does work for me - at least booting into the LIVE part of the disk.  I have not tried persistence or installation from them as of yet.

 

Put in it the below text between and not including the ~'s and correct any path / name / description as necessary.  The --mem tells grub to load the entire file into memory and THEN boot it.  You must have enough memory to load the file AND then run the OS.  So if the ISO is 400 megs you'll need say at least 1GB to run it worth a damn.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iftitle [if exist /MAINMENU/WINDOWS/WinXPPE.iso] Win XP PE\nWindows XP based PE disk
map --mem /MAINMENU/WINDOWS/WinXPPE.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[steve6375]

If the ISO is named WINXPPE.ISO then the .mnu file must be named WINXPPE.mnu.  

This is not quite true, the mnu filename has no special significance and can be called fred.mnu or xp.mnu or anything - it is just a 'convention' that you make it resemble the payload file filename so that you know which specific ISO it loads.

[Rootman]

If the ISO is named WINXPPE.ISO then the .mnu file must be named WINXPPE.mnu.  

This is not quite true, the mnu filename has no special significance and can be called fred.mnu or xp.mnu or anything - it is just a 'convention' that you make it resemble the payload file filename so that you know which specific ISO it loads.

 

 

Yes, quite right, please substitute SHOULD for MUST.  If you pile in a whole bunch of ISOs that need MNUs then you're going to have a mess trying to keep it straight with dissimilar MNU and ISO names when it comes to editing / updating stuff.  Just my OCD kicking in.

[Motasem]

sorry im late to see this thread
u still need beta testers ? im ready inform me

[steve6375]

See post #1.

Looking for feedback on the XP/Vista/7/2K8/Win8/2012 install ISO and general usability, etc. 

html help document is in the download (\docs folder).

Thanks!

[Rootman]

Man, TWO DAYS without another BETA?   I'm getting withdrawals!

 

I actually posted this to say that the Linux ISO for Run Time Live Linux also works just fine in the AUTOISO folder.  Cool tool, haven't tried it yet but it looks interesting.

[steve6375]

BETA08 now available. A few changes:

• new grldr and wenv (does not need latest versions)
• does not re-count all Windows iso files every time you go back to the main menu
• You can now use a USB hard disk to install windows direct from windows isos - IF you also connect a USB flash drive with two files on it.
• Black console background used instead of brown
• Help doc changed to html and reduced (main doc now on RMPrepUSB site Easy2Boot V1 page.)
• When asking for name of Windows ISO, you must now type in the full filename (i.e. with the .iso extension)

 

Has anyone tested Windows install ISOs yet?

[Motasem]

i will test and report on this new release ( BET08  ) with XPPROSP3

[Motasem]

xp not working for me steve

first stage is ok with some file missing at the start of copying file like "winvblock,fira" i skip and ok !

next step always asking for the installation files like"asms"

i try the 2 steps for stage 2 same error

[steve6375]

Did you press F6 in stage 1 and add firadisk and winvblock drivers?

[Motasem]

of cource my friend i did and also i read this
(

Files Needed pop-up - then the file 'asms' is needed - this usually occurs when  STEP  1 has been completed and then XP Setup boots from the hard disk instead of re-booting from your USB drive for the second time. Insert the USB drive and boot from it, then choose STEP 2 from the USB boot menu. )  well my bios set to always boot from usb first what ever happen

[steve6375]

That's odd. I get no errors in Stage 1 or Stage 2 (load to RAM).  I am using an Asus EeePC 904 to test (as usual).

Are you using a standard XP ISO or does it have some modifications (e.g. modified winnt.sif)?

 

 

Error copying WinVBlock or Firadisk files during file copy stage - if you have to skip the copy of each of these files during the file copy stage, the problem is usually that you are using an ISO which contains an /i386 folder with a winnt.sif file that has OemPreinstall=Yes in the [Unattended] section. Set this to No to fix it.

[Motasem]

ok i will edit the iso in usb and test again

thanks for that

[Motasem]

REPORT

working smooth and great ( xpsp3)

i used at 2nd stage the step 2 to avoid loading ISO in ram and do it in less time.

 

anything else you want me to test ?

[steve6375]

It's mainly the Win 8/2012 installs

[Motasem]

sorry i cant help you with this i don't have win8 YET