435 replies to this topic

[dianedebuda]

 

Place both .mnu and .iso in \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU as in the instructions inside the .mnu file.

Both are there & mnu works, but iso shows up too.  That's what I don't understand.

 

Is there a "safe" place to put the unused main menu submenu stubs (in case I want to use them later?)

[steve6375]

If the .iso file is in \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU then it will not appear in the menu.

Are you sure it is in the MNU subfolder???

 

Unused .mnu files can be placed anywhere outside of the menu folders (i.e. not  under MAINMENU\ANTIVIRUS\DOS\BACKUP, etc.) - e.g. \_ISO\docs folder or just make a folder yourself in \_ISO.

[dianedebuda]

Of course it wasn't.  But I might suggest that the "Place .mnu files here or below to appear in Main Menu" in MAINMENU is confusing, at least to this newbie.  Now that the iso & mnu are in MNU, I get the iso listed in the Main Menu.  The alternate Title doesn't work.  Not sure what $HOME$ is pointing to.  I have "iftitle [if exist $HOME$/Puppy_precise-5.7.1.iso] Puppy Precise 5.7.1\n Puppy with persistence (save on reboot/subdown)" where Puppy_precise-5.7.1.iso is the name of my iso.  Have no idea what \n... does.  If there's documentation on this, I've sure missed it.

 

And I'm having a problem with txt files for alternate titles.  I see no sample in docs.  I've tried 2 in MAINMENU.  For both, the iso & txt file names match, except for the extention, of course.  No spaces in names.  The files contain "title My menu name", where My menu name is per iso.  The Puppy_Fatdog64 one does not show up, but the Puppy_slacko one does, with the alt name.  huh?

 

I truly could live with these "as is", but asking about them here in hope that this is constructive feedback.  If just I've missed existing documentation about these, I apologize.

 

Edit: Went back to new website & now see documentation on .txt files.  Reading...

Edit2: Ok, now understand /n.  Still don't know what $HOME$ points to.  And still don't know why

Puppy_Fatdog64-630rc2.txt   title Puppy Linux FatDog x64        doesn't show up at all on menu, including iso, but

Puppy_slacko-5.6-PAE.txt       title Puppy Linux slacko 5.6 PAE    works fine with alt title on menu

Edited by dianedebuda, 09 March 2014 - 11:55 PM.

[dianedebuda]

Ok, Stupid User Trick #97: forgot I had Auto Cache Menu on.  Sorry.

 

On to XP SP1, finally.

[steve6375]

Hi

.mnu files work in the menu folder and all folders below. ISO files are only detected if they are in the menu folder.

$HOME$ is the path of the .mnu file. So as long as you place the ISO in the same folder as the MNU file, it will work.

For .txt files - on the Add Payload File page it has links on that page:

A matching .txt file can be added (same filename as the payload file) to change the menu entry text.

 

and

A .mnu file is simply a grub4dos menu that is specific to a particular payload file.

 

 

which explain about .txt and .mnu files and \n

If you don't get a .txt working, then you must have done something wrong.

 

.txt files go with .iso files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU - .txt files are not detected or used in folders below the menu folder.

.mnu files usually go with .iso files in the \_ISO\MAINMENU\MNU folder

 

i.e.  If no mnu file, put the .iso and .txt in the primary folder

       If using a .mnu file with an .iso - put them in a MNU folder (or any folder) UNDER the primary folder.

[steve6375]

Ok, Stupid User Trick #97: forgot I had Auto Cache Menu on.  Sorry.

 

On to XP SP1, finally.

yeah - FASTLOAD cache can get you like that! I have been caught out by it too!

I will make the 'hint' files in E2B clearer in the next version. There are instructions inside the .txt files if you click on them too.

[dianedebuda]

Did you just add links for documentation on the text files to the AddPayLoad page?  I looked at my orig page load and the "matching .txt file" was not a hyperlink, but it is on my recent page load.  Maybe I'm nuts.  Whatever.  It's there now.

 

Guess the XP install on the new web site is still incomplete?  Went back to Tutorial 72b and it worked like a champ for XP SP1.  Only problem I had with the document there was knowing for sure when Step 1 ended - at the "normal" first reboot.  Going to have to do another XP SP1 install soon, so if you need a guinea pig for reading web site XP install instructions...

 

Many thanks.

[dianedebuda]

Was going to donate a token amount, but donation is to generic RMPrepUSB.  Can't afford much, but want to make sure it goes to supporting E2B.

[steve6375]

Yes, it goes to E2B website. I had to upgrade my account on www.easy2boot.com - I had 10GB per month bandwidth allowance - it's now reached over 60GB and it's not even 1/3 of the way through the month! I had to pay £200 for the upgrade!

 

P.S. Did you see the YouTube videos? XP installs are well covered in them.

 

I did change the e2b site and add links etc. over last 2 days.

 

XP installs are here  - did you miss them?

 

Any feedback is welcome.

 

cheers

Steve

[dianedebuda]

I did not watch the videos this time, but had quite awhile ago, so I was pretty sure I'd be able to do it.  But the beginning of the new web site XP page starts

1. Install XP from an XP Install ISO using two boot steps

If you have an unmodified, original Microsoft ISO, then you will only be able to install to an IDE target system using this method.

 

 

I have an orig XP SP1 and that makes it sound like I can't install unless I'm using IDE with the 2 step.  So I bailed and went to the old tutorial.

 

I did post over at the Puppy newbie site that I could boot FatDog on the newer mb USING E2B.

[dianedebuda]

Situation: Want to test restored hdd.  Restore a system to a usb3 hdd, but mb can not boot to usb3.  Is there a way I could boot with E2B (usb2) and then select the usb3 device?  It would be handy to have this on my E2B Swiss-army-knife. :-)

Edited by dianedebuda, 25 March 2014 - 02:40 PM.

[steve6375]

Why not connect the hdd to a USB 2.0 port?

[dianedebuda]

'cause USB 3.0 is faster loading and I'm impatient :-)?  Yes, booting as USB 2.0 device should work to test that a backup image is valid, but is quite slow if I need to do something with the restored image or it goes through it's driver loading stuff because the hdd has changed.  I seem to recall that one could build a boot cd to start a non-booting os or for multiboot.  Really just asking in case there was some existing  mechanism within E2B that I was overlooking.  E2B is so automagical that I kind of expect it to slice bread.

[steve6375]

Well, you could try the latest version and...

 

1. Boot E2B from a USB 2.0 port

2. Select and run the  Load grub4dos 0.4.6 menu entry

3. Once in menu, unplug USB drive and connect to a USB 3.0 port

4. Run the Load USB 3 drivers menu option

 

 

If you are very lucky, it will detect the USB drive in the USB 3 port.

[Edit: but USB 3 controllers are not supported so it probably won't work!]

 

 

P.S. how are you doing this backup/restore - via linux or WinPE or what? You could just quickly unplug the USB drive from the USB 2 port and plug it into the USB 3 port whilst the kernel is booting (before the OS enumerates USB ports)?

[dianedebuda]

Backup/Restore is Acronis WD Edition iso using E2B.

[steve6375]

Well if it has USB 3 drivers, you could try quickly swapping over the USB drive to a USB 3 port once PE has finished loading from the E2B ISO (watch the USB LED)...

[dianedebuda]

You've lost me.  "it" has usb 3.0 drivers?  what's "it".  PE?  If you're talking about Acronis, it has USB 3.0 drivers 'cause I can backup/restore to usb 3.0 devices.  But there's no exit in the iso version - just shut down.

[steve6375]

Why can't you boot to Acronis and then plug the USB HDD into a USB 3 port? Won't it detect the USB HDD automatically?

[dianedebuda]

There's no boot/exit option within Acronis WD; only shutdown, so same as power off booting.

[dianedebuda]

Really looks like there's nothing "native" then in E2B for what I'm trying to do.  Need to research o/s booting options & maybe then I can find a way.  Thanks for thoughts.

[steve6375]

I just downloaded a Trial version of Acronis 2014 which is linux based. This is what I did:

 

1. Insert E2B drive in USB 2 port and boot to E2B menu

2. Select Acronis ISO and boot to first menu

3. Select Acronis 2014 and press ENTER

4. Low-Res blue-ish full-screen bitmap is displayed

5. Black screen with Acronis red logo at top right appears with 'Loading, please wait...'

6. I quickly unplugged the USB drive from the USB port and connected it to the USB 3.0 port

7. Acronis booted and I can access the USB drive that is in the USB 3 port

[dianedebuda]

My Acronis WD is based on Acronis 2013, but it sounds pretty much the same.  From memory, "seeing" low-res blue screen followed by black screen with "Acronis loading".  Not sure what this is buying me though.  Isn't that booting to Acronis?  Having no problem with Acronis internally using native usb 3.0 ports.  I want to boot the o/s on the usb 3 hdd actually in a usb 3 port - not the usb 2.0 one that E2B is using.  Kind of visualized a "select device" boot menu thingy that I thought MIGHT be somewhere in E2B's Grub4Dos, a product I currently know zip about.  If my mb's boot menu offered usb 3.0 drives as options, wouldn't have a problem.  Sure didn't expect you to go to all this trouble. 

[steve6375]

If you have a system that will only boot on a USB 2.0 port, then something else has to boot that has a USB 3.0 driver.

I don't know of any  BIOS level drivers that will work on USB 3.0 ports. Neither Plop or grub4dos 0.4.6a detects USB 3.0 controllers.

So you need to boot to an OS (linux or WinPE) that has USB 3.0 drivers - hence the need for the port 'shuffle'.

If the linux that Acronis uses, had  'hot plug' detection features, you could simply shuffle the USB drive to a USB 3.0 port after Acronis had fully booted. As it is, you need to do it before it gets to the USB detection stage during booting.

 

cheers

Steve

[dianedebuda]

I do think I understand about the boot usb 3 driver problem and needing to boot into a usb 2 system first.  That's why I thought about E2B in the first place.  I think I get/got confused when booting to Acronis is involved.  There's no "boot to o/s" option - it just waits for you to hit return & continue to load Acronis.  Too bad, 'cause it does seem to hot detect devices.  I need to research.  Thanks for your efforts though.

[tonyzg]

Is there a .mnu file for booting Tails from USB HDD? I saw there was one in version 1.25 of Easy2Boot but

I started to use this great app few days ago and in newer version there is no such .mnu file.