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Easy2boot and grub4dos for EFI/UEFI


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#1 Rootman

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Posted 27 January 2022 - 06:23 PM

steve6375, I finally got around to trying your experimental e2b with the grub4dos EFI.  I am glad to see it boots all the stuff I have just fine.  It's nice to see the old familiar e2b interface working in an efi boot. Good work!  It's nice to see the old familiar e2b interface in a efi boot.  

 

One question, I see your note about how to make the AGFM boot menu show the e2b menu by default in the startup_menu.txt with a timeout by using the 7 line entry adding the grub4dosefi entry and adding the set timeout= line.  This works but I can't get to back to the AGFM menu. When I select AGFM in e2b I get a blinking cursor.

 

Is there a way to show the automatic menu that AGFM shows of the e2b ISO folders structure by default AND add a timeout delay to boot the first line?  That way I can use AGFM for any files for a few picky items and still use e2b by default.  I can replicate the menu fully in the startup_menu.txt but then I have to change it with every change I make to the e2b structure. 

 

I tried just using the set timeout statement by itself and that doesn't work. 



#2 steve6375

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Posted 27 January 2022 - 07:19 PM

There is a mistake in the menu at \_ISO\MAINMENU\alivegrub2filemanager.mnu

iftitle [if exist (hd0,1)/e2b/grubfm.iso] $$STRagfm
splashimage --animated=0
map --unmap=0:03 > nul
map --unhook
root (hd0,1)
if not exist @uefi map /e2b/grubfm.iso (0xff) || map --mem /e2b/grubfm.iso (0xff)
if not exist @uefi map --hook
if not exist @uefi chainloader (0xff)
if "%@uefi%"=="64" chainloader /grubfmx64.efi
if "%@uefi%"=="32" chainloader /EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi
boot

change line 6 to

iftitle [if exist (hd0,1)/e2b/grubfm.iso] $$STRagfm
splashimage --animated=0
map --unmap=0:03 > nul
map --unhook
root (hd0,1)
if not exist @uefi map /e2b/grubfm.iso (0xff) || if not exist @uefi map --mem /e2b/grubfm.iso (0xff)
if not exist @uefi map --hook
if not exist @uefi chainloader (0xff)
if "%@uefi%"=="64" chainloader /grubfmx64.efi
if "%@uefi%"=="32" chainloader /EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi
boot

It was a late change which I obviously didnt test after changing it!

 

 

As for your other query.

The E2B menu is the same (whether legacy or uefi) so  i dont quite understand what you mean?



#3 Rootman

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Posted 27 January 2022 - 09:00 PM

What I was wanting was to display the full stock agfm menu like it does right out of the box listing the e2b _ISO folders and use a timeout to select the first choice (e2bEFI)  after a few seconds.  If I add a startup_menu.txt I have to manually recreate the menu in it to see all the e2b _ISO folders that are naturally the stock agfm menu.  I simply want to add a timeout to the regular menu. That way I can select a load through agfm or let it timeout to select e2befi to use. 

 

I changed the line you suggest above which works, of course since I added the timeout option to the agfm startup_menu.txt when I select to go back to agfm it loops around back to the e2bEFI menu because of the timeout entry



#4 steve6375

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Posted 27 January 2022 - 09:05 PM

Just press a key to stop the timeout then.

#5 steve6375

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Posted 27 January 2022 - 09:12 PM

If the default startup menu is what you want, then just copy the file and rename it and add a timeout number of say 2 seconds.

#6 Rootman

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 11:45 AM

I copied the default menu and added the timeout, Works perfectly!  Shows the standard AGFM menu, pauses 2 seconds and flips to the e2bEFI menu, takes the default from it and boots to it automatically.  

 

May I ask, what are the plans for the development of this grub4dos for EFI variant of e2b?  It's great to be able to boot to both MBR and EFI and get the same e2b menu for both.  I'd like to switch to it if it is going  to someday be the normal. I have a guy I work with that uses my drives once in a while, I get tired of telling him how to navigate to the load in agFM and select it.  

 

As always, thanks for the great work. 

 

BTW, on your E2B page, you have the latest agFM listed as having a date of FEBRUARY 22nd, I think it should be JANUARY. 

  • agFM v1.77 2022-02-22

Also the new Easy2Boot_v2.10kBeta with grub4efi EXPERIMENTAL beta is listed as 2.10, it identifies as 2.11 internally when using the update script. 

 

EDIT: I see that you added the timeout option to the default menu in the K beta.  Thanks!



#7 Rootman

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 02:48 PM

steve6375 , one other issue.   I initially tried the experimental e2b EFI version on a USB thumbdrive and it works fine.   I then tried to switch one of my USB Passport HDDs over to it and when it boot the agFM comes up, I can select he e2b EFI and I get a black screen.  Secure boot is OFF BTW.

 

I even blew the entire thing away by using the MAKE_E2B_USB_DRIVE to wipe it out and configure form scratch.  Same thing.  This was a 500 GB MBR USB HDD.  agFM stil works, it's just the chain link to e2b EFI.

 

Is there something I need to do in order for it to work on USB HDDs? 



#8 steve6375

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 02:57 PM

Can you MBR boot to E2B menu on Passport drive?

 

re. grub4efi E2B plans. Unfortunately grub4efi does not support wimboot. This means that to boot WIndows ISOs and WIM files, I still 'call' agFM and grub2 to do the booting. so basically, grub4efi E2B menu is just a front end for agFM!

 

Until grub4efi supports wimboot I am holding off.

 

Pro point is the menu system is the same a legacy E2B

Con is that you still have to use agFM/wimboot to boot to Windows so you still need all grub2 files, environment, etc. which adds extra complication as you have found!



#9 Rootman

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 03:12 PM

Can you MBR boot to E2B menu on Passport drive?

 

 

Yes, I could on this particular sub 2TB USB drive (MBR not GPT).  If the PC still supported legacy I could use it, and all older legacy only systems worked it to. Same drive would boot to EFI on systems that supported it too.  Well, some goofy Dells wouldn't, it would either show up as a DVD or a floppy on the boot menu, thumbdrives always work right.



#10 steve6375

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 03:18 PM

I only asked because some Passport USB HDDs are native 4K only but if yours legacy boots then it must use 512byte sectors.

 

well, I assume you have updated the \_ISO\MAINMENU\alive grub2 filemanager.mnu file  as you did before.

 

 

maybe you could go to the grub4efi command console and try typing the following lines

splashimage --animated=0
map --unmap=0:03 > nul
map --unhook
root (hd0,1)
chainloader /grubfmx64.efi
boot

and see what happens?

 

 

also try

find

command

 

it may be that  the USB drive is not  hd0  ???

 

Maybe I should use

root (%E2BDEV%,1)


#11 Rootman

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 04:14 PM

I am not sure about the 4K sectors on the Passport, it's only 500GB, but it's very old and USB 1 or 2 so that may be it.  I tried a second 1TB USB Passport and it works OK both agFM and e2b EFI 64. This shows they CAN work.   Somethings odd about the old 500GB drive.  I'll just let it got since it's such an old piece of junk anyway.  

 

I'll get out one of my newer multi TB drives and test one of them to make sure they will work.  

 

Thanks again!  



#12 Rootman

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 06:41 PM

Well, this is interesting. I pulled out my best USB Passport HDD, a 5GB GPT monster.  I ran the UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.CMD and allowed it to update the drive. When I booted to my own personal workstation a Dell Precision 5820 via EFI the agFM menu came up, I selected e2b EFI 64 from the top row and it came up with an ugly error 

BIOS BAD (possible 137gb BIOS limit)
WARNING: THIS BIOS MAY HAVE PROBLEMS ACCESSING SOME FILES ON THIS USB DRIVE!
Press 'U' to load the 'Grub4Dos USB 2.0 Driver' which may fix the problem.
Press ENTER to continue (or 'U' to load USB 2.0 driver) ...

I selected to just press ENTER

 

Then it popped up with this:

WARNING: E2B DRIVE IS WRITE PROTECTED OR USING Plop!  Move WP switch and press F8 (rest was cut off in my picture)

Followed by this with a countdown underneath it:

Sorry, /_ISO/MAINMENU/Win10CPE.ISO is not supported by ISOBOOT!

I let it count down and continue.

Next came 

exiting ISOBOOT...
(hd0)0xe309a8+0x104038
Error /_ISO/MAINMENU/Win10CPE.ISO IS NOT CONTIGUOUS (or is corrupt or missing)!
Please run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd to defragment all files

Then it loaded anyway and worked perfectly.  

 

I ran wincontig to make all the files in the _ISO folder contiguous and it reported none were fragmented.  

 

I moved it to my less than 1 year old Dell Latitude 5430 laptop and it simply froze to a black screen after selecting e2b EFI 64 from the agFM menu.

 

The drive has a 70GB NTFS 1st partition, 32 GB second FAT32 partition and the rest is another NTFS partition. It works perfectly using the original agFM I have installed on it from the normal e2b installation (not the e2b efi64).

 

So, I put it all back the way it was.  It works OK now just booting ISO files from agFM. I d realize drives over 2TB and using GPT cannot boot MBR, I just set them all up using E2B so I could get all the payloads setup the same.  I have about a dozen USB HDDs all setup, the smaller ones I can both MBR or EFI boot, these larger ones I can only EFI boot.  

 

So, that was a fun experiment.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, no joy here.  



#13 steve6375

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Posted 28 January 2022 - 07:10 PM

So all drives are MBR partitioned and so have less than 2tb in total file capacity?

So where is the cutoff point? Does it depend on drive size (over 1tb, over 2tb?) or end position of last partition?

#14 steve6375

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Posted 29 January 2022 - 08:39 AM

The BAD BIOS and Plop/Write protect messages are due to you using a GPT drive and can be ignored.
E2B uses Partnew a lot and it assumes you are using MBR drives.
agFM also uses partnew and I dont think (?) it supports partnew on GPT drives/partitions either (so no E2B/partnew boot options are available).

Do you have a timeout set in E2B menu? Maybe the Win10CPE.iso in MAINMENU was automatically selected or maybe you pressed ENTER during the message prompts and it was selected.

Edited by steve6375, 29 January 2022 - 09:30 AM.


#15 Rootman

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Posted 30 January 2022 - 08:08 PM

There are a few people 

 

So all drives are MBR partitioned and so have less than 2tb in total file capacity?

So where is the cutoff point? Does it depend on drive size (over 1tb, over 2tb?) or end position of last partition?

 

No, the 3rd partition is greater than 2 TB on most of the drives. The drive I used was 5 tb total capacity.  It is my understanding that any drive with a total of 2 TB total capacity must be GPT in order to use any portion of the disk beyond 2TB in ANY combination of partition or partitions. If setup as MBR, the extra capacity is just not available.  At least that's been my experience, it just won't allow you to create a partition over the 2 TB limit.  It's been a while but I've accidently setup a drive as MBR and the third NTFS partition will only be as large as 2 tb minus the first 2 partitions created for E2B even when the total drive capacity is greater than 2tb..  I know a few that post here on this forum insist it can be done for MBR over 2 tb but I've never gotten it to work.  



#16 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 31 January 2022 - 09:51 AM

I know a few that post here on this forum insist it can be done for MBR over 2 tb but I've never gotten it to work.  

To reiterate, it is possible, up to 4 TB (for drives that expose 512 byte sectors), but it has some limitations, it is complicated to make and overall is not a smart idea, if not for (fun) experiments.

 

For drives with 4KB sectors, it can of course be done, but it won't be bootable on most if not all BIOS machines.

 

:duff:

Wonko



#17 alacran

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Posted 31 January 2022 - 09:10 PM

@ Rootman

 

To start I'm fully agree with the previous post from our fellow Wonko.

 

But just in case you want to read more info to MBR partition hard disks up to 4 TB you can read this articles:

 

https://www.aioboot.com/en/mbr4tb/   and   https://www.aioboot....4tb-hard-drive/

 

Be aware that if testing this procedures you have a very high risk to lose all info in your HD, so I strongly suggest to test this procedures on a blank disk with no info.

 

Anyway IMHO it is a little crazy idea to use portable USB devices bigger than 2 TB to be MBR formated, those big size devices should be used for backup pourposes only, especially if 100 to 128 GB USB devices are cheap enought now, and they have enought room for any USB booting tasks.

 

NOTE: Remember you can always boot from a USB device (of a moderate size) to service a PC, and latter if required you can plug another big size USB device, for any task that may require it, as make a full backup/restore of the internal HD.

 

EDIT: The typo mentioned by devdevadev in post No. 18 was corrected.

 

alacran



#18 devdevadev

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Posted 01 February 2022 - 02:47 AM

@ Rootman
 
To start I'm fully agree with the previous post from our fellow Wonko.
 
But just in case you want to read more info to MBR partition hard disks up to 4 GB you can read this articles:
alacran

Maybe you are talking about HDD > 4TB (not 4GB) ??

#19 alacran

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Posted 01 February 2022 - 03:58 AM

Maybe you are talking about HDD > 4TB (not 4GB) ??

 

Yes, of course, my mistake, I'll fix it inmediately, thanks for let me know about my Typo.

 

Done, my previous post was edited and following info was added:

 

NOTE: Remember you can always boot from a USB device (of a moderate size) to service a PC, and latter if required you can plug another big size USB device, for any task that may require it, as make a full backup/restore of the internal HD.

 

EDIT: The typo mentioned by devdevadev in post No. 18 was corrected.

 

alacran






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