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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Easy2Boot for grub4dos bootable USB flash drive

http://tecnicambalandia.blogspot.com/2011/08/usb-stick-became-unusable.html
http://tecnicambalandia.blogspot.com/2011/01/usb-flashdrive-tools.html
http://files.hddguru.com/download/Software/FLASH/
http://www.rmprepusb.com/documents/release-2-0
http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/72---easyboot---a-grubdos-multiboot-drive-that-is-easy-to-maintain/e2bv1
How to make a new grub4dos bootable USB Flash drive
Play the YouTube video for a demonstration.
To make a bootable USB Easy2Boot v1 drive:
Download and install the latest RMPrepUSB (or use the portable version if you prefer).
1. Make the following selections (numbered 1 to 6)
1. MAX (or whatever size you want for the partition, e.g. 2000 for 2GB)
2. Easy2Boot (or whatever name you like!)
3. WinPE v2
4. FAT32 + Boot as HDD (or use NTFS +Boot as HDD if you have files larger than 4GB)
5. (leave unticked)
6. Click 6 Prepare drive (this will erase all contents)Note: If you have a smallish 16gb 4gb="" a="" as="" br="" ctrl="" defrag="" drive="" easier="" fat32="" files="" flash="" have="" hdd="" however="" i="" if="" in="" is="" iso="" it="" know="" large="" ntfs.="" on="" or="" over="" recommend="" ress="" rmprepusb="" that="" the="" then="" to="" usb="" use="" used="" using="" will="" wincontig="" would="" you="">2. Now click the Install grub4dos button and install grub4dos to the MBR and copy over the grldr file. You must use a 2013 version of the grldr file (included with latest RMPrepUSB).

3. Now extract the files from the Easy2Boot download onto the USB Flash drive using 7Zip.
IMPORTANT: After adding any of your own payload files (e.g. ISO files) - remember to run WinContig (Ctrl+F2in RMPrepUSB) to make all files contiguous and avoid the dreaded Error 60: File not contiguous error!
Adding your own boot files
Once you have made your bootable Easy2Boot USB flash drive, you can simply copy over any bootable ISO or other bootable file to the correct folder (see next section).
Run WinContig to ensure all files are contiguous (in RMPrepUSB, type CTRL+F2).
In some cases, you may need change the file extension or also add a special .mnu menu file (see Where to add your files - 4 below). A selection of these are available in the \docs\Sample mnu files folder.
Where to add your files
To add your own boot files (payload files), just copy them to a one of the folders described below:
1. Add any number of Windows install ISO files to the correct folders under \_ISO\Windows\subfolder and name them correctly (the correct iso filenames to use are indicated in each folder). For Win8/svr2012, the product key can be entered by the user, after selecting an ISO or you can edit the menu's (e.g. MenuWin8.lst and MenuSVR2012.lst) to add your own company product key or you can use the default dummy key which will not activate but will allow the install to proceed.
You can download Windows 7 ISO install files from the link on the Useful External Links page.
IMPORTANT: To see how to install Windows XP see the instructions in Tutorial #30 (hint: You MUST press F6 during Setup boot and select 2 or three drivers manually!). To see how to install Windows Vista and later OS's see Tutorial #43.
OR
2. Add your favourite bootable files (e.g. .ISO, .img., ima, etc.) to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder, these will be individually listed in the first main menu when the USB drive is booted. Note: if you also add a .txt file of the same filename containing a title some_text_here\nsome_help_text_here line, then that entry will be used as the menu title instead of the name of the file.
Note that the file extension determines how the file will be executed by grub4dos. For instance, if you have an .iso file and it does not boot correctly, rename the file extension and try a different one - for example
.iso - works for most linux live ISOs
.isomem - loads the iso file into memory before booting from it
.isofira - loads a firadisk floppy image and direct maps the ISO - use for XP/PE/BartPE based ISOs
.isomemfira - loads the ISO into memory and loads a firadisk floppy disk image - use for BartPE/WinPE based ISOs
.isowinv - loads WinVblock floppy disk image as well as the ISO and loads setupldr.bin- swaps hd0&hd1 - use forWinPE XP BartPE based ISOs like ERDCommander
.isowinvH - use for Hirens ISOs (does not swap hd0/hd1)
OR
3. Add any other directly bootable files that you don't want to be listed in the Main menu, to the \_ISO\AUTO folder or subfolders, these will be listed when you choose the 'Files in \_ISO\AUTO’ menu entry. Note: if you also add a .txt file of the same filename containing a title some_text_here\nsome_help_text_here line, then that entry will be used as the menu title and not just the name of the file. If required, modify the file extension (see above).
OR
4. Add payload files (those which do not work using the above three methods) and add their matching .mnu files to the \_ISO\MNU subfolders. The .mnu files can be downloaded from the Easy2Boot tutorial web page or from the \docs\samples folder contained in the download. These payload files will be the ones that don't work just by copying them to the \_ISO\Auto or \_ISO\MainMenu folders and running them directly based on just their file extension. These .mnu file entries will be listed in the 'Files in \_ISO\MNU’ menu when selected from the Main menu.
If you want your .mnu entries to be listed in the Main menu instead, simply copy the .mnu file to the \_ISO\MAINMENU folder or a subfolder and copy the payload file to the same folder (each .mnu file will contain instructions) - e.g. If you have fred.mnu and fred.iso which were supposed to go in \_ISO\MNU\Utility folder, you can move both to the \_ISO\MAINMENU\Utility folder and the menu entry will be listed in the Main menu.
Some ready-made .mnu files can be found under the \docs folder. Instructions on how to use them are inside each .mnu file - open them in Notepad to read the instructions. If you require any more, please ask!
NOTE: Always run WinContig to ensure all files are contiguous (Ctrl+F2 in RMPrepUSB).
List of tested ISO files that just work!

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