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a1ive's grub2 and File Manager has great UEFI support!


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#51 Rootman

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 08:04 PM

I am confused too!

If you UEFI-boot, it immediately boots to the agFM  File Manager.

 

Yes, and I'm asking is it possible to setup a default choice and timeout in agFM file manager to automate EFI booting?  Like E2B, the default is XYZ.ISO in X seconds unless you navigate to another choice. Is this something that is possible to script? Or does it even support scripts at all? 



#52 steve6375

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 08:23 PM

Oh I see, you mean automatically select a payload...

 

The problem is the order that the files are listed in is 'random' - it depends on how they are enumerated by grub2.

Adding or deleting files would change the order.

agFM is NOT a menu system, it is a filesystem browser.

You would have to specify the exact partition, path and filename + timeout.

I will suggest it to a1ive but he may just reject it as not appropriate.

 

You can place a .cfg file at the root of one (or both) partitions.

 

\Windows 10.cfg

grubfm_open "(hd0,msdos1)/_ISO/WINDOWS/WIN10/Windows10x64UK_Oct_2018.iso"

1. UEFI-boot

2. Select one of the USB partitions

3. Select the Windows 10.cfg file

 

You can have multiple .cfg files as 'shortcuts' to other files or folders.

 

Once agFM has become more stable, I may develop a menu system for it (rather than a File Manager system) but that is a while away yet.



#53 steve6375

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 02:26 PM

@Rootman  agFM v1.11 may do what you want. See https://rmprepusb.bl...-available.html



#54 Rootman

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 03:03 PM

That'll work.  I simply named it !!_Default_Boot.cfg so it appears closest to the top, saves a few clicks.

 

I did the .cfg before I saw your post above about the new menu and timeout.

 

I setup the  startup_menu.txt and that's perfect! This is going to make it a whole lot more convenient. The menu is certainly going to make it easier for my guys to use who are a bit, well, technically challenged. 

 

agFM is an exciting development.  With more and more EFI only devices appearing at my place I can easily boot to anything I need on them.  With a combo of E2B and agFM I can boot damn near anything from CSM or EFI from the same stick using the same files in the same directory for either boot method.  

 

Looking forward to what you have in store for agFM in the future. 



#55 Rootman

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 07:51 PM

Steve6375,

I have a question for you.  So I got agFM all setup. I can MBR and EFI boot off the same ISO file.  Superb!  I deleted most all my .imgPTN files as it now will boot them right off the ISO.  Including my Windows 10 installation .imgPTN file.

 

I had an old XP machine sitting there ready do put in the trash.  I just wanted to see if it would even boot to the USB via MBR. Surprisingly it did. This thing will not boot EFI at all, no BIOS entries for it, it's that old.    Then on a lark I navigated to the \_ISO\WIN folder and selected my WIndows 10 1909 ISO. I knew that before I had to use the .imgPTN because the install could not read the ISO correctly to see the contents of the ISO. 

 

I was surprised when it DID.  I had previously booted to this ISO using agFM as a test and dumped out of the installation.

 

Did the agFM inject something into the ISO file to make it work under MBR boot and perform correctly as well?  I thought all the stuff that flashed by when agFM booted it was being dynamically applied a it booted.  Something somewhere altered this ISO file to allow it to be read and installed correctly when being MBR booted via E2B. I'm at a loss as to what it was.  Got any ideas? 

 

Perhaps it was something I had done and don't remember. 



#56 steve6375

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 07:59 PM

agFM does not alter the ISO.

Secure Boot from a Windows (Microsoft) ISO wont work.

Also, a very recent Windows Update has black-listed the patch used by the agFM EFI boot files, so if your UEFI BIOS has had it's blacklist updated by a Windows Update in the last few days, you won't be able to Secure Boot to agFM and a .imgPTN23 file and then boot to a Window EFI boot file.

If you are not using Secure Boot, then standard Windows Install ISOs should work via  MBR+agFM (but requires 2GB RAM or more for large boot.wim files - as in some WinPE ISOs).


Edited by steve6375, 14 February 2020 - 08:14 PM.


#57 Rootman

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 09:19 PM

Strange, I am not using secure boot. I dread the day that it's forced on me by my company, or is made standard by hardware. 

 

I jut now booting the ISO files via MBR off of Easy2Boot, not agFM. I HAD previously booted the ISO to agFM on a different PC on this drive as a test to make sure it worked, and it did.  That's what made me think agFM injected something into the ISO.   

 

As you know booting the install ISOs directly with Easy2Boot did not work, the install ISO would launch then halt stating it could not find the installation files.  So I had previously use an img.PTN of them and then flipped to it in E2B and then rebooted it to EFI.   At least this is the way I remember it happening. 

 

So I did something, somehow, with something that injected some stuff into the ISO file that now allows it to boot via MBR under Easy2Boot and work properly.  Cool for me, I'd just like to know how I did it.

 

   



#58 steve6375

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 09:24 PM

Sorry, I am confused. What did not work?

 

MBR-boot to E2B menu using USB HDD and selecting a Microsoft Install ISO file?

 

This should work fine.

 

Or is it some other scenario that does/did not work?



#59 Rootman

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 02:49 PM

It's been years since I tried it, I've always installed via EFI which required using an .imgPTN, I just remember they didn't used to work straight from the ISO with Easy2Boot.  

 

This will be a rare occurrence for me, but I'm glad they now work straight from the ISO via MBR via Easy2Boot.  I was just surprised is all.  Upon looking it looks like it does the WIM boot automatically now.

 

I think maybe it's been 4 or 5 years perhaps since I've tried the ISO boot. 



#60 steve6375

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Posted 15 February 2020 - 03:07 PM

ah- OK - yes - ipxe wimboot was added to E2B a while ago. It allows direct boot from an ISO and we can inject batch files and XML files into it as it boots. Very handy!



#61 steve6375

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Posted 27 February 2020 - 06:42 PM

The grub2 used in agFM is now not case-sensitive to filenames on NTFS, exFAT and ISO9660 and UDF volumes.

This is really useful because different ISOs often use different capitalisation (e.g. \Sources or \Sources, or Boot.wim or BOOT.WIM, etc.)

set grub_fs_case_sensitive to 1 to enable case-sensitive, other value or unset to make it case-insensitive.

There have been some great improvements to grub2 which make it 95% comparable with grub4dos but it also supports UEFI32 and UEFI64.

https://www.easy2boo...2-file-manager/



#62 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 27 February 2020 - 08:33 PM

The grub2 used in agFM is now not case-sensitive to filenames on NTFS, exFAT and ISO9660 and UDF volumes.

This is really useful because different ISOs often use different capitalisation (e.g. \Sources or \Sources, or Boot.wim or BOOT.WIM, etc.)

set grub_fs_case_sensitive to 1 to enable case-sensitive, other value or unset to make it case-insensitive.

There have been some great improvements to grub2 which make it 95% comparable with grub4dos but it also supports UEFI32 and UEFI64.

https://www.easy2boo...2-file-manager/

Very good news :)

 

:duff:

Wonko



#63 alacran

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Posted 28 February 2020 - 04:47 AM

@ steve6375

 

JFYI

 

Just downloaded last Easy2Boot_v1.B9j_Beta and I see it is using grub4dos 0.46a 2020-01-28.

 

In acordance with your issue report https://github.com/c...4dos/issues/233

 

 

2019-08-09 OK
2019-09-09 OK (E2B v1.B6)

2019-10-28 FAIL (E2B v1.B7)
2019-12-30 FAIL
2020-01-28 FAIL

 

I didn't have any issues as all my files are contiguous, but as per your report it is a cause of issues on non contiguous files when booting by means of grub4dos.  Just in case I replaced it manualy with v2019-09-09.

 

 

alacran



#64 steve6375

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Posted 28 February 2020 - 07:33 AM

Yes, the Beta is still using the buggy version of grub4dos because the new fixed version has not been released yet.



#65 Rootman

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 12:18 PM

Will agFM ever support the .isoMEM extension?  I've got a couple of ISOs that I prefer boot that way.  I know I could make the .imgPTN but I found it easier just to change the extension and be done with it.  



#66 steve6375

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 12:28 PM

You mean for UEFI booting or Legacy booting?

agFM calls grub4dos for a few of it's Legacy boot functions, so I can easily implement .isomem for legacy.

Can I download and try one or two of these ISOs?



#67 Rootman

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 01:00 PM

The ISOs are for an expensive program that my company has. It's the recovery utility for it I need to boot to occasionally.   It will EFI boot and I have it on DVDs now in order to run it on the PCs themselves.  Goofing with it in E2B I found it would run fine from our USB drives if I used the .isomem extension.  Before I get in dutch with my company for talking about company stuff I'll stop here.  

 

I've fooled around with several OTHER ISOs with .isomem and found it works pretty well on a lot of them.  It keeps me from having to rip parts of the ISO out and create menu files for them. The last one I was farting around with was Knoppix.  it would boot and run fine via E2B as .isomem with no added menus or making it a .ingPTN.  So I guess you could try that to experiment on. I was just messing with it.  it really provided no benefits to me. 

 

If agFM / GRUB2 has no ability to write the ISO to memory and boot from it I understand.  So far the dedicated PCs I have to boot this particular ISO stil boot CSM / MBR.  So it's not an issue now.  I'm supposed to use the DVD but I've cheated and run the USB drive to  run the .isomem version. DVDs get lost and scratched so easily.  As always they are continually adding more machines and PCs with them.  Sooner or later I'm going to be forced to boot only via EFI when the PCs chipset dictates it. 



#68 steve6375

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 05:21 PM

So they are linux based ISOs or WinPE ISOs?

 

AFAIK knoppix runs fine as .iso - why did you need to change the extension to .isomem - what kind of problem did you see with .iso?

 

 

There are usually several different options offered by agFM when you select an ISO,

partnew

map

loopback

xxxxx  (where it has identified the ISO as a specific distro - e.g. Ubuntu or arch, etc.)

 

Did you try all of these in MBR mode and UEFI mode with agFM (with the file  named .iso) - if any work I can add a .isomem type to make it run the same way, but you will have to tell me which options worked.

 

agFM is mainly for UEFI booting files since you can Legacy boot the same file using the E2B menu.



#69 Rootman

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 08:29 PM

Knoppix was the only ISO I could remember doing it for, and it was an older version.  It wouldn't find the stuff and stall if I remember right.  The only ISO I have now I would really like to use via EFI boot is a costly app my company uses.  It is Windows based and I could never get it to work in E2B without using .isomem. I can't share it and really or even talk about it.  

 

Just thought I'd ask, because sooner or later a new PC for a machine will come in and it will boot to EFI only.  I can just keep using the DVDs to do so but thought it would be nice to have it work inagFM.  Hopefully the manufacturer will provide a way to do it.  I would imagine they will have an expensive proprietary USB drive :( 

 

I tried every method agFM offered to boot it and it just stalls and produces a blinking line cursor in the upper left corner.  



#70 steve6375

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 08:57 PM

I am still not clear!

You said 'The only ISO I have now I would really like to use via EFI boot is a costly app my company uses.  It is Windows based and I could never get it to work in E2B without using .isomem.'

 

But E2B is a legacy boot tool - it does not support UEFI ????

 

 

So to get this straight.

ISO X can be both Legacy and UEFI64 booted as a DVD.

You have no problem MBR-booting ISO X - except you have to use isomem.

You would like to directly UEFI-boot ISO X as an ISO file using UEFI, but so far no method you have tried works.

You think that by loading the entire ISO into memory, it should UEFI-boot.

 

Is that about it?

 

Please try agFM v1.26 and use an extension of .isomem. Test both MBR and UEFI64 using agFM and let me know.

Thanks

S



#71 Rootman

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Posted 04 March 2020 - 11:58 PM

Yeah that's it.  I made an ISO of this goofy ass thing and tried a few different things,  all but.isomem failed.  isomem booted and loaded everything, so I stuck with that.  So far ALL the PCs that need it legacy boot, I'm afraid they're going to get one soon that may just EFI boot.  THAT's when I will need to EFI boot the iso. This thing starts in what looks to be WinPE then loads a proprietary shell. The structure looks like WinPE. 

 

I tried the PLAIN ISO extension in agFM and it started to boot then failed.  I was just curious if agFM supported .isomem.  I can keep using the DVDs but would love to have it on the USB stick in my pocket thed having to fetch the DVD every time.



#72 Rootman

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Posted 05 March 2020 - 12:29 AM

OK, downloaded and installed 1.26, renamed a WinPE ISO I use often to.isomem, booted via E2B and ran it - OK..  Rebooted to agFM on the same stick, choose the isomem file and it boots fine.  Works great.  If I remember correctly I tried it last week on an earlier version of agFM and it just sat there or threw an error.  I'll test it on the ISO I want to use at work tomorrow. 

 

Thanks again. 



#73 Rootman

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Posted 05 March 2020 - 11:50 AM

Checked out my ISO as ISOMEM and it works great.  Nice to know I have this option withe the potential for EFI only boot computers on the horizon.  



#74 steve6375

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Posted 05 March 2020 - 11:51 AM

You mean UEFI64 booting and using .isomem works on your ISO X?



#75 Rootman

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Posted 05 March 2020 - 03:59 PM

Yes, both MBR and EFI work. 


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