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


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#176 steve6375

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Posted 28 May 2020 - 07:46 AM

grubfm_multiarch.iso + Ventoy on real  Intel system?



#177 ms1304

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Posted 28 May 2020 - 08:03 AM

grubfm_multiarch.iso + Ventoy on real  Intel system?

No, I don't have a UEFI Intel system

grubfm_multiarch.iso + Ventoy on real AMD system.



#178 alacran

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Posted 02 June 2020 - 02:32 AM

I don't know if all of you are aware that agFM is capable to Ramboot  your Wimboot VHDs, (see attached picture), unfortunately so far this is possible only if the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on a internal HD.

In my CSM/MBR PC having grubfm.iso on the root of the boot partition where all booting files and folders are, I can call grub4dos from Windows boot manager and from grub4dos load/boot on Ram grubfm.iso, with following entrie:

iftitle [if exist (hd0,0)/grubfm.iso] Grub2 File Manager of a1ive - (hd0,0)/grubfm.iso
map --mem (hd0,0)/grubfm.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

You can do this manualy or by means of UEFI_MULTI from wimb.

Then from grubfm.iso loaded on Ram it is possible to select from our internal or external HD all the same kind of files we use to boot from our USB device.

But it is also possible to Ramboot our Wimboot VHD files located on the internal HD.  

NOTES:

1 .- If booting from internal HD and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on a internal HD, it boots fine.

 2.- If booting from internal HD and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on a USB device it do not work this way.

3.- If booting from a USB device and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on same USB device, some times the VHD boots (fine) directly and immediately as filedisk without giving us the booting options like on the attached picture, in some other cases it is allowed to select load the VHD to Ram but it fails during boot. Then for all practical effects Rambooting a VHD do not work this way.

 

4.- If booting from a USB device and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on a internal HD, it boots fine. See: http://reboot.pro/to...e-8#entry214948

 

I know we can live without a fix to this feature on agFM, and even Ramboot our Wimboot VHDs directly from grub4dos (wich is more direct and faster), but it will be good if Rambooting the Wimboot VHDs could be implemented on agFM also when booting from and having files on the USB device (as on No. 3).

In order to Ramboot a VHD using grub4dos we have two different sets of commands:

- When the VHD + the source WIM file are located on a internal HD and booting from internal HD:

title 10x64-WB.vhd - SVBus  RAMDISK  - 1536 MB - map for WIMBOOT as next to last hd KARYONIX
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /10x64-WB.vhd
map --top --mem /10x64-WB.vhd (hd)
map --hook
root (hd-1,0)
chainloader /bootmgr

Which has been already implemented and is working fine.

 

- When the VHD + the source WIM file are located on a external (USB)device and booting from that external (USB) device:

iftitle [if exist (hd0,0)/10x64-WB.vhd] (hd0,0)/10x64-WB.vhd - SVBus  RAMDISK  - 2048 MB - map for WIMBOOT
map --top --mem (hd0,0)/10x64-WB.vhd (hd-1)
map --hook
root (hd-1,0)
chainloader /bootmgr

Which is not implemented and not working.

The key difference is on the map --top --mem line where we are forced to use (hd) when VHD is on internal HD or (hd-1) when VHD is on external USB device. 

 

If not done as said on previous sentence there is no way to make it work in both cases when dealing with Wimboot VHDs, as the VHD is coupled to a WIM file it is the only way to let the VHD after loaded on RAM, to find its coupled WIM's location on the physical device during booting.

alacran

Attached Thumbnails

  • VHD.jpg

Edited by alacran, 03 June 2020 - 11:16 AM.

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#179 alacran

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Posted 02 June 2020 - 03:10 PM

JFYI

 

Booting again grubfm.iso from the USB device, tried booting other VHDs (+ the source WIM) located into internal HD, and they booted fine, strange thing is the first tested VHD that did not boot this way, booted fine when loading grubfm.iso from internal HD.

Previous post section Notes No. 4 was edited with new info, (to avoid confusion to future readers).

 

 

4.- If booting from a USB device and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on a internal HD it boots fine.

 

So with this new info we can say only when the VHD + his couple WIM file are on an external device the VHD can't boot from RAM.

 

alacran



#180 steve6375

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Posted 02 June 2020 - 03:21 PM

map --top --mem /10x64-WB.vhd (hd) - creates a new BIOS hd device and increments the number BIOS hard disks by one

map --top --mem (hd0,0)/10x64-WB.vhd (hd-1) - maps the last hard disk in the list as the vhd file - the number of hard disks stays the same.



#181 alacran

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Posted 02 June 2020 - 05:12 PM

After testing with other VHDs I can confirm:

 

If booting from a USB device and the coupled Wimboot VHD + the source WIM file are located on same USB device, some times the VHD boots (fine) directly and immediately as filedisk without giving us the booting options like on the attached picture, in some other cases it is allowed to select load the VHD to Ram but it fails during boot. Then for all practical effects Rambooting a VHD do not work this way.

 

Then previous Post No. 178 on Notes section 3 was edited in acordance with this, (to avoid confusion to future readers).


 

alacran



#182 alacran

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Posted 03 June 2020 - 11:05 AM

For all those that may not care about agFM capability to boot "standard" or Wimboot VHDs:

  • We all know best, easy and faster way to Fileboot a VHD is just by means of Windows bootmanager, (on CSM/MBR and UEFI/GPT).
  • Also we all know best, easy and faster way to Ramboot a VHD is just by means of grub4dos, (on CSM/MBR only).

And of course if we have some VHDs on our machine it is reasonable to think we allready made the respective entries on our BCDs and/or menu.lst files, to have them ready when booting from the PC.

But when booting from a USB device, agFM capability to boot "standard" or Wimboot VHDs from a internal HD, is very useful, since thanks to its graphycal interface we do not need to know in advance the VHDs files names and locations and also previously have the respective entries on our BCDs or menu.lst files.  It is only a matter of browse into our internal HD to find a VHD and select it to boot.

alacran


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#183 Rootman

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Posted 29 April 2021 - 12:15 PM

It's me again, your least favorite pest.  Last year due to a regular business decline and then the pandemic it was hard on me and my company.  I was off over a month and we had NO computers come in.  Many layoffs and surprisingly few PC issues.  Things are looking OK now and I got 70 new PCs in.  

 

I am using various USB media with E2B 2.08 and AGFM 1.70.  I've booted via EFi to WinPE and a few other utilities.  Of course the recent chips no longer will CSM boot.  I've EFI booted to my WinPE and a bunch of utilities via AGFM with no problem.  

 

I needed to boot to my Windows install ISOs via EFI so I booted to my USB drive, choose EFI and choose the device.  AGFM booted up just as it should.   

 

I navigated to the \_ISO\WINDOWS\WIN10 directory where I have 3 Win 10 install ISOS, Ent 1909, ENT 20H2 AND PRO 20H2.  I do the first choice on the list, install with no autoattend.xml.   When choosing any of them under AGFM I get this error:

error: xz file corrupted or unsupported block options.
Add: (wimboot)/bootmggw.efi -> boot.mgfw.efi
Add: (envblk)/null.cfg -? null.cfg

I seem to recall booting to the same ISOs last year and they worked fine.  The SAME ISO files boot and work via CSM on another machine.  I can also boot to them via VENTOY from AGFM by pressing the F5 key and choosing the file off the list.  I assume this is still EFI????

 

Not sure what I am doing wrong, I THOUGHT it used to work.  That's been a few versions of AGFM ago though.  

 

Any ideas?



#184 steve6375

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Posted 29 April 2021 - 12:38 PM

Works for me and no one else has complained.

So first try checking the file system on both partition 1 and partition 2 using Explorer - right-click - Properties - check

Next overwrite the files on partition 2 with a fresh download of the agFM files.

https://easy2boot.we...nload_files.zip

 

or just run Update E2B button from the E2B download folder.

 

Did you test using a different system or VBox+VMUB?



#185 wimb

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Posted 29 April 2021 - 12:43 PM

Any ideas?

 

After booting with Win10XPE WIM then use WinNTSetup for Install of Win10x64



#186 Rootman

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Posted 29 April 2021 - 06:24 PM

Works for me and no one else has complained.

So first try checking the file system on both partition 1 and partition 2 using Explorer - right-click - Properties - check

Next overwrite the files on partition 2 with a fresh download of the agFM files.

https://easy2boot.we...nload_files.zip

 

or just run Update E2B button from the E2B download folder.

 

Did you test using a different system or VBox+VMUB?

 

OK, I figured out what was happening.  The Windows install ISOs work for my smaller drives (<2TB MBR). The drives I was using that would NOT boot right are 4TB GPT USB WD Passport drives.  Even though I can't boot to it via MBR - because it's a GPT disk - I still have the Easy2Boot first partition and the AGFM second partition setup on it just like the rest of my drives.  I did it that way just to make it easier to maintain as I updated payload files and E2B / AGFM I could simply copy the new files to each drive from a central repository. All my other types of ISO files boot from it fine, Linux distros, utilities, WinPE.  

 

The 4TB drives never offer to boot the Windows install ISO as ISOWIN, Just ISODEF and ISOMEM, neither of which work. Is this perhaps because Grub4DOS is not actually installed on the drives itself?  It won't install because it's GPT.  I even tried to rename one ISO with an ISOWIN extension, it does not even see it in the AGFM file manager.  

 

It just so happens I had grabbed 2 of the 4TB drives because I was backing up a lot of PCs to replace them.   I had tried it on several PCs and with either of these drives.  

 

Is there a fix or do I simply need to go to Ventoy for these should I use the large drives?  And is Ventoy still in EFI mode and will install Windows in a EFI configuration if I use it? 



#187 steve6375

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Posted 30 April 2021 - 08:10 AM

Yes - try Ventoy for Easy2Boot  (F5 from agFM).

Not sure why agFM is failing - could you try removing the  \boot\grubfm\config file   and see if that helps.

The file name will need to use .iso.



#188 paraglider

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Posted 30 April 2021 - 11:27 AM

Recent versions of Grub4dos do work on a GPT disk. You just have to work hard to install the boot loader into the boot sector. See this topic: http://reboot.pro/to...nd-gpt-support/ I used the dd approach. It worked for me on a Sabrent 4TB external ssd drive.



#189 Rootman

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Posted 30 April 2021 - 11:37 AM

Yes - try Ventoy for Easy2Boot (F5 from agFM).
Not sure why agFM is failing - could you try removing the \boot\grubfm\config file and see if that helps.
The file name will need to use .iso.


Ok, removed the file, now the choices are different and it now says 'Boot Windows from ISO' and it now works via EFI from AGFM. This only affected my large GPT drives, everything other smaller MBR drive worked perfectly via CSM or EFI.  I put the file back because it does goof up the menus, if I happen to grab a GPT disk to instlal Windows with I'll have to remember to use Ventoy. 

The extension is back to .iso after experimenting with .isowin.

Thanks once again!



#190 paraglider

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Posted 30 April 2021 - 12:29 PM

I prefer to boot wims directly from the drive so I use a1ive grub2 directly which can give a nice graphical menu. Also use it on my desktop pc to switch between the 2 windows installs so I can get a nice graphical menu instead of the horrible text mode windows boot menu.



#191 steve6375

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Posted 01 July 2021 - 07:54 AM

Easy2Boot's latest Beta of agFM (grubfm) now allows you to add Ventoy partition images to your Easy2Boot USB drive.

A .cmd file is provided which automatically downloads the latest version of Ventoy (whatever it is) and makes the new partition image files.

Three different Ventoy images are made, the first two are the same as the two options you get when using the Ventoy maker tool - Secure with MokManager or non-secure. The third Ventoy image includes the Kaspersky shim so that you can Secure UEFI64-Boot to Ventoy without needing to use Mok Manager (as long as the Kaspersky shim is not blocked in the UEFI BIOS DBx blacklist).

https://easy2boot.xy...l-ventoy-image/






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