435 replies to this topic

[Rootman]

        * Put the AUTOISO back under the _ISO folder
the reason it is taken out of _ISO is so that the batch file for easy2boot does not have to search that menu - this takes time and is inefficient 

        * Put the MAINMENU under the GRUB folder
why? isn't it more obvious under the root?

        * If possible put the firadisk and winvblock under one folder, like maybe named Util.
Best kept separate as one is for XP and the other for Vista+ - if I update other tutorials I want to keep it easy to update this one too and so keep same structure or could lead to  mistakes and/or much extra editing each time they are updated.

        * Is it possible to put the ISO that we want on the MAINMENU to the TOP above the other stuff?
yes - I can swap them over

        * Add one more entry under the reboot entry on the main menu - HALT

I will add it in - why is it useful to hang the system rather than ctrl-alt-del or switch off?

        * Is there some sort of variable that can be used inside the .MNU files that we create that can return the name of the .MNU file itself?

          That way it can be used instead of keep repeating the .ISO name? Similar ISO's with similar needs in a .MNU file could just be done

          by simply copying one.MNU file and renameing it to the same as the .ISO and viola!  You're done, no need to even edit it.

I don't understand what you mean? The name of the mnu file can be anything (e.g.  fred.mnu) it has no correlation with the payload file.

You don't need mnu files for most ISOs anyway????  Can you explain more what you mean...

 

Off for zzzzzzz.. now so will catch up in 8hrs!

 

Thanks for the explanations.  HALT would just be nice as I occasionally need to actually HALT a machine rather than reboot and if a menu offers it, why not?  I konda figured the other stuff was for speed an efficiency.  I just really liked the forst versions lack f clutter, just an _ISO folder, grub folder and grldr file was all that was on the stick.  No problem was just wondering.

 

The last item:  I was wondering if grub had some sort of replaceable parameter that it could use INSIDE a menu.lst (or *.mnu) file that would reference it's own filename.  I have 3 or 4 ISO's that I put in the MAIN MENU to appear at the start of the menu system, ALL of them (well with the exception of ONE) use an identical FILE.mnu with the only difference being that the NAME  OF THE ISO (and therefore the name of the menu itself) called on the various lines inside the menu file. I thought it would be ingenious if grub had some sort of parameter built in to it that could substitute the name of the menu itself - like a parameter named %MENUNAME%.  So I've got fred.iso, bob.iso and larry.iso, all 3 use identical .mnu files only difference is that the NAMES of the ISO's are in each menu.  If I could simply make a copy of ONE .MNU and name it to match the name of the ISO then that's all that would be required.  I just thought it would be a good idea if such a parameter existed.

 

Maybe like so:

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

iftitle [if exist %MFOLDER%/MAINMENU/%MENUNAME%.ISO] Win 7 PE\nWindows 7 based PE disk
map %MFOLDER%/MAINMENU/%MENUNAME%.ISO (0xff) || map %MFOLDER%/MAINMENU/%MENUNAME%.ISO (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff) 

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

The above could be used by ANY ISO just by naming the menu file to match the ISO.  But a parameter like %MENUNAME% needs to exist, I was asking if it does.

 

You are one of the handful of people in the world that truly understands the vagaries of the grub menu system and I am envious of your knowledge.  I look at your code and my eyes glaze over   It's just one of the things that I can USE but don't have a firm grasp on HOW it works.  Thanks again for your terrific work.

[steve6375]

I still don't understand why you don't just put fred.iso, bob.iso and larry.iso in the \mainmenu folder - they will be listed first (in BETA03) and no mnu is required???

[Rootman]

I still don't understand why you don't just put fred.iso, bob.iso and larry.iso in the \mainmenu folder - they will be listed first (in BETA03) and no mnu is required???

Whoops!  I guess I didn't realize that the MAINMENU folder was like the autoiso folder and enumerated the ISO like it, I thought they needed .mnu files like the other original folders (Linux, Utiliyu etc).  My mistake, this of course makes the need of the parameter moot.

 

Check for a PM too.

[steve6375]

Instructions are in my blog (which I have edited a few times so you may have missed it).

[steve6375]

Just uploading Beta03 now...  Note that you need to delete \menu.lst from your existing flash drive if you are going to overwrite existing pens. Beta03 use \grub\menu.lst - there should be no \menu.lst file!

BETA03 lists the \AUTOMENU iso files first in the main menu (this can be easily changed - read the help html file in the root)

 

Really now looking for feedback on Windows installs if anyone will give them a go and has the ISOs...

[steve6375]

Sorry - forgot to include the html file - please re-download Beta03 !

Please check you have v3 of Beta03  2013-03-13 16:48  (back menu did not work in v2!)

[Rootman]

Whoops!  Just tried the Easy2Boot_V1_BETA03.zip and found that I cannot return to the MAIN MENU from the AUTOISO menu, FILE NOT FOUND ERROR.

[steve6375]

please read previous post!! use beta03  v3 - just download again - sorry.

[Rootman]

please read previous post!! use beta03  v3 - just download again - sorry.

 

Did read the post and used the download link that the last post pointed to and STILL get the wrong file - just tried again and got: Easy2Boot_V1_BETA03.zip.  Don't see a download from your website either.

[steve6375]

is the zip file 2,701,247 bytes? I changed it twice - same filename.

[Rootman]

Just REdownloaded the file using link in post #106 2,701,247 bytes. 

In the Win7 details tab: file created 3/13/13 1:58PM, modified 3/13/13 2:57. 

Deleted all the files off the USB drive, unzipped this to it and copied my ISO's to it again. 

Same result when trying to return to main menu from the autoiso submenu.

 

Booting back to Previous Menu

configfile (bd)/menu.lst

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue

[steve6375]

weird, I downloaded the zip fle (same no of bytes as you)  from the link and searched all files for (bd)/menu.lst and did not find any files containing that string???

[steve6375]

grrrr - I HATE WINDOWS 7 SEARCH!!!!!

It never bl***y works!!

I searched for "(bd)/menu.lst" in all files in the download and it came back with nothing, yet in

\mainmenu\AUTO_MENU.mnu it plainly has

set LBACKMENU=(bd)/menu.lst

please change this to

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

 

Does anyone know how to make Win7 Search actually work properly?

 

Sorry about that, I will change the download in 5 mins!

Steve

[Rootman]

Does anyone know how to make Win7 Search actually work properly?

 

Sorry about that, I will change the download in 5 mins!

Steve

 

It's hopeless and a real step backwards from XP's search.  I just stopped using it and installed Agent Ransack, works great.

 

http://www.mythicsof...nsack&page=home

[Rootman]

OK, last download works fine.  Thanks again, this is really starting to be a terrific little utility. 

 

For the last couple of years I have spent HOURS tearing apart ISO's, searching the internet for the proper cheat codes to put in the grub menu and failing a LOT.  I actually gave up on Knoppix a long time ago because I could not get it to work right with grub/USB and many of our systems don't even HAVE an optical drive to boot off of so a USB thumb drive is the only alternative.  Knoppix and every other ISO I've thrown at it work just fine by just dumping them into the autoiso folder.  This has been one of the BEST finds I've made in a long time!

[steve6375]

Well you obviously don't use the search box on my site much!

http://www.rmprepusb...ub4dos_examples  - search for Knoppix.

 

There are also quite a few examples on my site of booting linux from iso's with persistence too, e.g. Puppy, Clonezilla, WiFiWay, Porteus, pclinux, Mint, StartOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Backtrack 5, ReDo, BackBox and XiaOpan to name a few!  

[Rootman]

Hey I had another "brainstorm".  I have a few ISO's that need .mnu files because they must load into RAM with the --mem grub4dos parameter.  Would it be possible to check for something like, say, a specific string in the ISO name, for instance preface it with like ~mem~ and if it finds that string in the ISo name to also add the --mem parameter?

 

Just a wild idea.

[steve6375]

can you give an example of an iso that must be loaded into memory?

[Rootman]

can you give an example of an iso that must be loaded into memory?

 

I have a few old XP PE ISOs that I made years ago that have drivers for weird RAID and NICs that I must keep around, I did not compile them with the run in ram options and the projects on which they are based are long gone.  One was from the original BartPE compiler and one was made in Reatogo.  I use them monthly to make a Ghost image of a couple of lagacy systems that we can't update and have to keep around for legal reasons.  They BSOD on boot when run from the AUTOISO or Mainmenu.

 

Grub menu for one:

iftitle [if exist %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso] Win XP PE\nWindows XP based PE disk
map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff) || map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

[Wonko the Sane]

Try again :

map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff) || map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff)

IF mapping to memory fails THEN map to memory? 

Wonko

[Rootman]

Try again :

IF mapping to memory fails THEN map to memory? 

Wonko

 

I'm afraid I am quite a novice at grub menus, I simply knwo enough to be dangerous , I was not sure what the double pipe was for so I simply copied an example from another script from SOMEWHERE and added the --mem as I knew it needed it.  I never looked at what it meant.  So I can drop the statement after the || ?

[steve6375]

|| means 'else'     e.g.    cat /fred.txt || cat /doris.txt     means if   the command cat fred (output file to the display) fails  (probably fred.txt is not present), then output doris.txt instead.

 

&& means 'if OK'   e.g.  cat /fred.txt && cat /doris.txt     means if   the command cat fred (output file to the display) worked then also output doris.txt as well

 

most grub4dos menus use

 

 

map /fred.iso (0xff) || map --mem /fred.iso (0xff) 

 

for smallish ISOs in case fred.iso is not contiguous.

 

So if your case needs it to be loaded into memory (even if the file is contiguous) then, yes, just use:

 

map --mem /fred.iso (0xff) 

[Wonko the Sane]

I'm afraid I am quite a novice at grub menus, I simply knwo enough to be dangerous , I was not sure what the double pipe was for so I simply copied an example from another script from SOMEWHERE and added the --mem as I knew it needed it.  I never looked at what it meant.  So I can drop the statement after the || ?

Yes, just like in batch, || means "do the following if what happened before failed", whilst && means "do the following if what happened before succeeded".

 

Do ti simply as:

 

 

 

title   Win XP PE
map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

If you actually want to load it in memory.

The usual setting (intended to avoid issues with non contiguous files) is like:

 

 

map /example.iso (0xff) || map --mem /example.iso (0xff)

so that first mapping directly is tried, then, if it fails (which in 99.99% of cases happens because the file is not contiguous) try mapping in memory (which needs not a contiguous file).

 

Wonko 

 

P.S. Ooops, cross-posting with Steve

[Rootman]

Yes, just like in batch, || means "do the following if what happened before failed", whilst && means "do the following if what happened before succeeded".

 

Do ti simply as:

 

 

 

title   Win XP PE
map --mem %MFOLDER%/WINDOWS/WinXPPE1.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

If you actually want to load it in memory.

The usual setting (intended to avoid issues with non contiguous files) is like:

 

 

map /example.iso (0xff) || map --mem /example.iso (0xff)

so that first mapping directly is tried, then, if it fails (which in 99.99% of cases happens because the file is not contiguous) try mapping in memory (which needs not a contiguous file).

 

Wonko 

 

P.S. Ooops, cross-posting with Steve

 

Thanks, that clears up that mystery.  YES, I have 3 ISO that MUST be mapped to memory, they are old BarPE ISOs with XP sources that have unusual drivers on them, the source files for the projects and even the compilers, are long gone.  When I attempt to map it directly (even being contiguous) they all BSOD.  I alway use contig on them if I write them to a new disk or directory.

[steve6375]

if you use --mem the file does not need to be contiguous.

It is only if you don't use --mem that it needs to be contiguous

(probably cross-posting with Wonko now!!)