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Easy2Boot?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
This bad motherfucker contains 8 Distros, Win 7, 8.1, 10 (Creators and Fall Creators), Win10PE, Memtest86, Acronis True Image, Freenas, a ful standard disk image for our PCs, and a few other tools. ALL bootable.
Check out Easy2Boot. Once set up, you can start up a completely regular ISO straight from the filesystem. I'm in the process of redoing my work flash drives, but so far I've got:
- Linux Mint starting into a persistent environment (32 and 64 bit, it chooses depending on the computer)
- Clonezilla Live, which will immediately begin cloning a computer with a predetermined image at boot (once again, 32/64 bit aware)
- Start straight into Windows 7 or 8 install ISOs with several preset options (32/64 aware)
- Several utility ISOs like memtesting and password reset ISOs
All of this is from one drive. While its UI and documentation is horrendously organized, the documentation is all there, and it's quite comprehensive at that. Pretty impressive.
Format a thumb drive as an easy2boot system.
Download the lastest Tails OS iso.
Drop the ISO file in _ISO/LINUX
Boot your computer from the thumb drive.
Have fun, everything will work out of the box. When you browse you will browse from different IP adresses and you can click on .onion links. And while doing all of this you will know you are pissing of the NSA.
It's also nice to get some experience with being on a secure system that is semi anonymous and browsing a network that can't be censored or shut down. Hey you might need it one day. For any journalist that is doing anything that goes against the interests of a modern nation state this is now a must.
I use easy2boot and it works wonders for me. Nice menu system and easy to setup, just drop ISOs inside folders which create the menu system. I found a link to it either on this sub or on the /r/sysadmin sub from someone who uses it for imaging systems.
Yumi can create issues if you also have windows ISO there. I have switched over to Easy2Boot since over a year. It's a lovely little program. You need to run it only once on the USB and later on you can just go on copying the iso's to it. The menu is automatically created at boot time.
EDIT: Forgot your side question. Here's the iso's that I have
Acronis True Image
Easeus Data Recovery
Hiren's Boot CD
Minitools partition wizard
NT Password Recovery
Sea Tools for DOS
Various AV Rescue Disks - AVG, Avira, Bit Defender, Comodo, Kaspersky
http://www.easy2boot.com -- it actually works without all the fiddling and allows you to have multiple versions of the same iso without freaking out like YUMI. And you don't need to do anything for a new iso except copy it to the drive.
I use a usb3 64GB flash drive running Easy2Boot with all of my isos on it. It took me maybe 20 minutes for initial setup and now I can just add isos and execute a batch file on the drive to get it good to go. http://www.easy2boot.com/
General advice would be the larger capacity drives are faster, because they can write to multiple banks in parallel.
The really small ones (Sandisk Ultra Fit et al.) can run quite hot, because they can't dissipate the heat. They are convenient though.
You may want to look at one of the tiny linux distros, for example Pupply Linux or Porteus Linux.
These allow you to boot the entire OS into memory, entire meaning a couple of hundred megabytes at most. When that's done, you run everything from RAM, and only on demand it will flush writes back onto the usb stick.
If you can tolerate the nerdiness and the somewhat outdated design, please take a look at Easy2Boot: http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/
This allows you to prepare your stick so it can run multiple OSes from the same usb device. It takes a minute or so to format, and afterwards you can just throw ISOs into a directory.
It initially runs from Windows, and even contains a small emulator (think vmware lite) to test things out.
This video on youtube should give you an impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO1xdJCywwA
Good luck on your quest.
Useful tools are a relative.
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standard iso stuff is on there. but i also keep all of our latest bios flashes for the systems in production so i can flash a system with no/failing image.
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I also keep a portable apps folder with various apps that i can use on a user systems if i really need it.
Have you tried out easy2boot? I use that on mine. It's set up similar to yours but supports Windows ISOs as well. I'm mostly doing remote support right now so haven't had a ton of opportunities to use it but the times that I have it's worked great.
Any sort of tool like this won't work with UEFI at all. The ONLY Mutiboot tool out there to my knowledge that works flawlessly with UEFI is Easy2Boot. There's one or two that can do a single drive boot with UEFI and BIOS, but you can't put more than one payload on that USB at a time.
This one is pretty simple to create and there's methods for installing it on Winderp$ as well as Linux, but it's recommended to prepare the USB on Winderp$, after that you can use Linux to add more to it or modify settings, etc.
If someone knows of a better solution by all means tell me. A major drawback with this tool is that for UEFI compatibility you need two copies of the .iso, one being the original and the second one being a .imgPTN for UEFI compatibility. The creator claims that you don't need the original .iso, but I can't seem to get it to work on BIOS with just the .imgPTN. Might be a fix, but I'm not sure.
Yes, but you have to convert the .iso to a FAT32 .imgPTN file using another piece of the E2B toolkit, MPI (Make Partition Image). It's pretty easy, unzip MPI to a folder, run the "Make Shortcuts.bat" file, then drag and drop your .iso on the FAT32 shortcut. Then you can swap the E2B drive to the .imgPTN file and boot from it in UEFI, and switch back to E2B when you're done. Tutorial here.
Just want to throw this out there, Rufus is nice for a single ISO but Easy2Boot blows it away in every other aspect.
NTFS partitioning so you can use a single partition for data and ISOs. Drag and drop ISOs to a folder and the boot loader will read the folder to build the boot list on the fly, no need to config a boot list manually. Windows boot options, I have Win7, 8, 10, server 2012, 2016 ISOs on one thumb drive.
I used easy2boot to make a bootable USB stick. I have a bunch of ISOs on it, including Memtest86, Kali, fresh Ubuntu, etc. It reads them on startup and lets you choose what to boot in.
I'd reccomend creating an E2B USB (http://www.easy2boot.com/) You can load multiple bootable images of os's/utilities as well as being able to put your own tools on there and browsing to them once you boot into an OS.
Possibly you mean easy2boot. Yes, once made you can drop/add isos on the correct folder using a file manager. I have the old Hirens on one, also a gparted disk, clonezilla, acronis, windows 7, 10, etc.
Hiren's boot CD will have most of the tools needed to troubleshoot components individually. It also has a wide variety of cleanup, anti virus/malware, filesystem, data recovery tools, linux installers/environment, plus much more. Hiren's + all your Windows installers on a single multiboot flash drive is great to have around even for a home user.
Winsetupfromusb or Easy2boot utilities make this incredibly easy to setup if you don't know how/have experience configuring bootloaders.
You can use easy2boot for this purpose, it is pretty easy to setup and use. The program creates a directory structure on your usb, and you just place the iso's into the correct folders. You're supposed to run a command/program or booting might not work but in my experience it worked fine albeit with some warnings.
The caveat is that you have to go through some extra steps with windows (in my case I ended up giving in and just formatting another usb to make a windows installer, just because I didn't have the time.)
The website altough not as stylish as some has most use cases covered and provides (troubleshooting) guides and FAQs.
This should be enough info to get you going and good luck with those windows ISO's... (If by chance you figure out a good setup please let me know).
Similar questions from a month ago and a year ago.
Putting everything on a Easy2Boot USB is the way to go.
I've been using Easy2Boot for a few months now. I've installed Linux distros and Windows with it without any major problem. It comes with a Windows utility to defrag the ISOs (grub complains otherwise) and points to another Windows utility to make UEFI bootable partition images.
Not only can you do it, OP, but I'll give you a website that'll allow you to do it fairly easily with the ability to add various ISOs:
Easy2Boot is what we use at our shop.
i use Easy2Boot. i have W7 and W8 installers, hiren's, plus all other obligatory utilities, various linux distros, etc. mine's not configured UEFI, but it's apparently possible.
easy2boot supports uefi but it's a bit more complicated and you won't see the e2b menu, you have to convert the iso to imgptn and put the imgptn in the usb drive instead of the iso
now since you can't see the e2b menu you have to activate the imgptn that you want to boot using another computer, from windows you can open the usb drive and launch _iso\switch_e2b.exe and then double click the imgptn that you want to activate, this will change the partition table of the usb drive and you'll only be able to see the partition of the imgptn that you activated
to go back to the standard usb drive partion you have to launch e2b\switch_e2b.exe and click on restore e2b partitions
if you don't have a windows pc but you have another computer that can boot in legacy mode you can also do this from the e2b menu
The build quality of the Zalmans are not what they use to be. They are actually developed by a Korean company named Iodd. http://iodd.kr/wordpress/product/iodd-2531/ The latest Zalman models no longer support nested directories. They also lost support for vhd and floppy images. The Iodd version does.
Also as ez2boot is based on the directory structure of the Zaman/Iodd you can do this http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/using-e2b-with-a-zalman-ve200/
1) Win10SE: http://win10se.cwcodes.net/
2) Download as many portable AV as possible. You'll have to keep these updated, but you can probably get away with doing it like once a week. You'll need Win10SE as from experience the "MiniXP" environment from Hiren's can't run all of the latest portable AV.
I used to have a list of portable AV, can't seem to find it, but off the top of my head: Clamwin (PortableApps), Kaspersky's KVRT, McAffee Stinger32, SUPER Anti-Spyware (SAS) Portable, Spybot: Search and Destroy (original/classic version), HitMan Pro (no removals), Sophos Virus Removal Kit, Emisoft Emergency Kit, VIPRE! Rescue, a2cmd (command-line).
This will probably be your best offline tool, downloading Windows updates offline: http://download.wsusoffline.net/
You can even use DISM or Sysprep to integrate updates into the Windows images.
Ultimate Boot CD is also a good companion boot tool with Hiren's Boot CD and Win10SE, having newer free tools than Hiren's Boot CD and the Parted Magic UEFI-bootable Linux environment that comes with tools such as GParted and GSmartMonControl.
There's also an unofficial version of Hiren's called "Hiren's Boot DVD 16" or "Hiren's Remastered" or something that comes with Win8SE environment and additional tools, fitting on a DVD. Note the legal legitimacy of this software, and Hiren's in general, is suspect.
Note when dealing with possibly infected computers you want everything burned onto DVDs to prevent thumb drives and networks from getting infected.
For getting all of this on one bootable USB the easiest way is Easy2Boot: http://www.easy2boot.com/ as once setup you can literally just drag & drop most non-UEFI ISOs and it'll just detect them and allow you to boot off of them.
easy2boot's UEFI support seems to be this: http://www.easy2boot.com/uefi-grub2-ptn2/
which looks like a clusterfuck.
I'd actually recommend this:
install in BIOS mode with Grub burned into MBR or a GPT-MBR partition
boot it
download the arch ISO, copy it to USB drive with
ddboot the arch install media properly in UEFI mode, configure systemd-boot and remove GRUB from your MBR or GPT-MBR partition
Alternatively, try something other than easy2boot...
I have been using easy2boot for years. I have a dozen distros on a USB - with no manual work needed. Its like a software version of the Zalman thing they talk about on LAS. And I have written in about it several times. Dont be fooled by their terrible web site (http://www.easy2boot.com/), its a great project.
Easy2Boot does the trick nicely. http://www.easy2boot.com/ Watch the videos, last time I had to make a USB disk it wasn't clear what sequence to use, but my 64GB USB key and 2TB external are loaded up full of ISO images now.
I used Easy2Boot to create mine. Managed to get the following onto a 32GB flash:
- AOSS
- Comodo
- UCBD5.11
- Knoppix 6.2
- CentOS7
- Mint 15
- Ubuntu 14.04
- Kali Linux
- Falcon4 UCBD
- Win7 32 and 64bit Repair
- Server 2k8 boot
- Server 2k12r2 boot
- Win7/8/10 ISO
- WinXP (you know, for those close encounters...)
And a handful of other testing apps and drivers for when I finally get a desktop. I use this for my external clients who don't want their machines wiped for one reason or another. I have used it on my corporate PC's in cases where its someone who will scream bloody murder if I don't 'try everything'. It's come in handy more times than I can count when dealing with PC's that are having a bad day. I have used Yumi, Rufus, UNetBootin, USB Installer, and a few others, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but I've found Easy2Boot simple to use and they have a ton of tutorials on the site.
Use Easy2Boot to create the bootable USB. There will be a learning curve on how to use this program. But once you do, all you need to do is copy the iso files to it and you're ready to go. The menu is automatically created at runtime.
Thenumber of tools/isos you can have is restricted by the size of your USB drive. I use a old laptop drive in an external casing and have tons of programs and utilities on it.
Give it a try. Watch the tutorials on the website.
another +1 to rufus but if you want more config up front and less matiance later on check out the multiboot project http://www.easy2boot.com/ once setup just drop a iso in any of the particular folders i.e. linux windows windows pe and much more
Easy2Boot,. But it shows that devs shouldn't handle webdesign by themselves. I wouldn't get scared away by the website though.
Edit: use this when you have graduated from the USB flash only solutions on this thread.
Check out Easy2boot. http://www.easy2boot.com/ Capable of booting multiple Windows install ISO's, Linux Live ISO's and after the initial setup, adding new ISO's is just drag and drop into the correct folder. Menu's build on each boot so the menu's are dynamically updated based on what is in the folder.
Since I found this post earlier in the week, I messed around with YUMI but ended up going to EasyBoot for easier multiple windows and winPE boots. http://www.easy2boot.com/.
YUMI was wicked simple to use, so there are some minor things you may have to do to boot different WinPE ISOs (like rename the extension...)
Basically the ultimate USB key.
Easy2Boot is said to offer similar functionality of booting individual ISO files, without special hardware. Obviously it wouldn't be able to present as an optical device, like a hardware solution can.
Ensure that the file name of the iso does not have spaces in it.
BTW, Easy 2 Boot is my favourite program for making bootable USB's. Once the bootable USB is created, you just need to copy over the iso fileS to it. Yes, it's a multiboot USB creator.
Most intel macs will boot windows natively, if you have access to a device that emulates a CD drive over USB then you can easily boot the windows installer.
Failing that simply setup a hard drive in another computer with windows 10 and move it to the Mac - it'll boot cleanly.
Apple consider the cheesegrater Mac's vintage, so expect fewer updates in the future.
It depends on your requirements. A 128GB SanDisk Extreme USB flash drive + E2B may be enough for you. If you will need a lot of UEFI-booting, then IODD is best, and is better than Zalman (always unplug the cable to avoid damage during transportation). If you fit a cheap SSD HDD it will be more resilient than a spinny HDD. You can put E2B on it which will allow you to have more flexibility. As some BIOSes cannot access more than 128GB, if you use E2B, make sure the first partition that holds E2B is not larger than 128GB. You can use the 2nd partition for programs and disk images, etc. http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/using-e2b-with-a-zalman-ve200/
I use Easy2Boot personally. Once the USB is set up, you just drag and drop ISO's into whichever folders and you get a nice grub menu when you boot from it to choose your ISO.
Did you check the 'List of tested ISOs'. Many WinPE ISOs will work if you have a Removable E2B Flash drive by renaming the extension to .isoPE01. If it is a WinBuilder ISO, there are special arrangements (use .isoWB file extension + create a .ini and a .WB files). http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/winbuilder-and-winpe-isos/ MiniXP in Hirens should work is you use the .isowinvh file extension.
Aye carumba! I put all my bootable media on USB now. Easy2Boot (e2b) makes this way easier.
If you work with many computers of similar make/model, you may want to consider imaging with FOG, which operates over a network, or CloneZilla, which can image from USB. I routinely image 30 or more computers at a time with FOG, all running OEM Windows.
Edits: Added links for suggested solutions
To be fair, most people don't include disc drives anymore when building a PC.
I'm not sure how strict your college is, but look into using Easy2Boot to make a bootable USB containing as many ISOs as you can fit on your USB. It'll make your life so much easier considering you can drag and drop any new ISOs you may need (or need to update)
In the past for USB drives I have used UNetbootin and YUMI but found that they sometimes took a while to add the images. Looking for a better alternative I found Easy2Boot, which is what I use now.
After it is initially set up all you need to do it add iso files to the right directories on the usb drive and boom, they are in the menu and bootable. Saved me a ton of time when testing out various live cd tools since I didn't have to wait for each image to be extracted to the drive. You should check it out.
I have a C720 (4G ram model C720-2844) running Xubuntu that works great for general purpose tasks, surfing, coding, even can watch video on it (I use VLC). As long as you aren't trying Crysis it is a nice small useful unit. You can pick one up for ~$200, and swap in a 128G SSD for ~60 more. Just be sure to pick up the 2844 and not the units with 2G, I've also read about issues with the model with the touchscreen. Distroshare has lots of ISO images you can install, I threw a few on an Easy2Boot jump drive. Makes installing, testing, and reinstalling very easy.
Seems they don't make the 2844 any longer, but they have a 2457 and 3605 both with 4G of ram.
Not seeing the problem yet: format the drive and install easy2boot for bootable ISOs including Linux-based disk imaging, keep PortableApps, installers, and normal files in other folders that e2b won't look in. In theory it can handle MDT media, too, but I've not yet made that work.
If you're primarily on Windows, make an autorun file for the USB drive that shows a menu system in Batch, VBscript, Powershell, etc?
Check out http://www.easy2boot.com/
I have a 128 gig usb3 drive that has everything I could ever need on it as far as software based tools. You can boot from any iso out there, and still use the drive for storage which means your non bootable tools can go on it as well.
I would still recommend keeping your favorite tools on dvd/cd as well just in case a computer won't boot from usb.
If you have room in your car, pack a couple keyboards and mice, as well as misc cables (ethernet cables get chewed more often than you would think)
Get a backpack, consider it your "IT Bug Out Bag". Mine consists of: -a couple sticks of ddr2 and a couple ddr3 in antistatic bags (laptop and desktop) -rj45 crimpers with a built in stripper -rj45 ends -a few extra 8 and 16 gig flash drives, I buy them at walmart when they go on clearance after school starts each year. Got the 8 gig ones for .80 each haha. Perfect chance to make a bit of extra money, offer to backup all their pictures for a little extra. -a decent screw driver set, the iFixit pro that was linked earlier is great. That is what I carry. -anker usb charger (saw this listed already as well, just pointing out that it is a good idea) -portable hdd for backing up data (get a portable ssd if you can afford it) I almost always backup files before even touching a computer. I don't know the legality of it, but I keep these files on an offline server at home for 30 days in case they have issues. I have stated this in my contract as well.
Which brings me to the contract. Make sure you come up with something good, people will try anything to get work done for free.
Good luck!
You can get a 32gb usb3.0 flash drive for $15 and set it up with both Win8 and 10 installers plus recovery/diagnostic utilities. It's a good bit faster than installing from optical discs. Winsetupfromusb or Easy2boot utilities make this incredibly easy to setup if you don't know how/have experience configuring bootloaders.
I have been using Easy2Boot for creating multiboot USB/ext HDD. Works like a charm. It also allows multiple Windows OS on the same disk. Once the bootable disk is created, adding new iso is as simple as copying it to the drive. The boot menu is generated at runtime.
There is however a slight learning curve for using this application. Fortunately there are tutorials which will help getting you started.
Give it a shot.
Easy2Boot. One of the best multiboot USB creator. Once the bootable disk is created, all that one needs to do is copy/delete the iso's to the USB/Ext HDD (I use an old 40GB laptop HDD now converted to an ext by adding a casing to it). The menu is generated at runtime. It can handle multiple Windows iso on the same drive, which most other tools like Yumi cannot.
Download Easy2Boot. Once you have created/prepared the USB drive using this tool, you can simply add and delete isos to it. The Menu is generated at runtime.
So all you need to do is copy the iso(s) that you want on the stick.
Should check out Easy2Boot
Super easy to add new ISOs, just drag and drop them into the folder directory, as an added bonus i have my entire portableapps on there and everything works just fine as an all in one package.
Ophcrack is a separate (free) boot utility available here: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
I would recommend downloading the "No Tables" version and adding the tables you want separately. I believe there is more information about the recommended setup for multiboot on the Easy2Boot website or in the Ophcrack sample mnu file located on your flash drive under /_ISO/docs/sample mnu files.
There is a ton of information about customizing E2B on the website. Here is an extremely useful customization guide for themes and modifying the menu behavior: http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/mye2b-cfg/
I've always had issues trying to boot mutiple windows ISOs created using Yumi. Easy2Boot is what I generally use these days. Adding a new iso to the stick at a later date is as simple as just copying the iso over to the stick. If you too get issues with Yumi, give this a try.
With Easy2Boot I believe you can copy the image to RAM first before loading it. So as soon as the image is loaded and the windows installer starts running you could remove the USB drive and put it in the next computer.
So, a couple of ep's ago Chris talked about his recently purchased SSD-bracket-thingy that let you choose which .iso to boot. Superhandy but yesterday I stumbled acrossed something even better.
Not finding it when searching I presumed it hadn't been brought up so here's a quick resumé of the software.
Easy2Boot allows you to dedicate a USB to hold multiple .isos in a folder and when booting from the drive you are provided with a menu from which you can choose which .iso to boot.
The steps to get it to work are the following:
- Format your thumbdrive to FAT-32 (i know...)
- Install grub2dos
- Move the files from the Easy2Boot-download to the root of the USB
- Add the .isos to /_ISO/MAINMENU
Instructions and some info: http://www.easy2boot.com/introduction/
You're done!
I didn't get the installation process to work in Linux but had to use the Windows-software RMPrepUSB but I think that's me being an issue, not the installation. After installing I added a couple of .isos to the drive and booted into it w/o any issues. I picked my SysResCD and it started perfectly!
For one who keeps a USB in his/her pocket ready to go, like myself, this is a super handy tool that enables you to have your arch-iso, Ubuntu-LiveCD, debian-netinst, and SysResCD on one drive!
Thanks for a great show!
pro:
- enhanced plausible deniability by also downloading and copying some random other linux distributions / other live iso images onto the stick.
- easy to use
contra:
- grub bootloader. replace the one shipped with rmprep with one you trust just in case.
- Tails sometimes has problems wiping the ~~free space~~ RAM on shutdown. (version dependent - more recent versions of e2b and tails seem to be going along better)
- you need to resist the urge to save any files on the stick. you also do not want a persistent volume. seriously. You. Do. Not. Want. A. Persistent. Volume. i cannot emphasize this too much.
//edit note//: wiping free space? yaddayadda, there is no free space to wipe if done right. and no one noticed it? of course it's the RAM!
I used to think that. It worked nice for some things.
Then I found this .... http://www.easy2boot.com/
It lets you boot the isos directly, rather than having to decompress them to the drive. Plus, you don't have to fiddle with the grub/grub2dos entries, as it has all that magic in the code. It even worked with the openSUSE net install image, which is a super pain in the ass to boot directly (in fact, I couldn't even get it working, I had to extract on it's own and run it).
It can even boot Windows isos directly, which is a feat unto itself.
Not to worry about USB 3.0 on older computers, it is fully backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports. This means that when there are no USB 3.0 ports are available on an older computer it will work the exactly the same as a USB 2.0 flash drive with no problems. When there are USB 3.0 ports available you will get extremely fast transfer speeds.
If you ever start going to offsite work at a client's location frequently, I'd recommend making all your ISOs bootable on your flash drive using Easy2Boot. It can handle every Windows Install Disk ISO, Hiren's BCD, Ophcrack, F4BCD, every bootable antivirus disk, Microsoft DaRT, etc all at once (research those tools by the way, they are very useful). This way you won't need to bring your CD case everywhere and there will be one ~~last~~ less thing you need to keep track of.
I use the older Zalman VE200se, the newer ones seem to get negative reviews about the USB 3.0 connector breaking. Mine is only USB 2.0, but it has much better reviews due to the more reliable connector.
Also for usb drives, look into easy2boot, once you set up the drive its just drag and drop for most ISOs, It seems to handle more ISOs than any of the pretty gui applications. http://www.easy2boot.com/
There are two ways to boot: Legacy\MBR\CSM and UEFI.
There are two types of UEFI BIOSes and thus two types of UEFI-booting: UEFI32 and UEFI64.
The most common these days is UEFI64.
2020 seems to be the year when many BIOSes are dropping Legacy\MBR\CSM boot support.
Also, many BIOSes are configured to only Secure UEFI boot and only to Microsoft UEFI boot files. An alternative setting is Secure Boot - Other OS.
So which do type of system do you want to boot from and do you want to boot from a wide range of different systems or just or just your home system?
Rufus is not Muliboot. YUMI has a beta that supports UEFI but it does not work very well. Multibootusb does not support UEFI. WinSetupFromUSB does not support Linux UEFI booting (only Windows UEFI but does support Secure Boot).
Easy2Boot is quite simple for Legacy\MBR - just copy the ISO files to the drive and boot (though some files need to be contiguous so you need to run Make_This_Drive_Contiguous.cmd first). For UEFI booting you can add a 2nd FAT32 partition (see http://www.easy2boot.com/uefi-mbr-a1ive-grub2-file-manager/ ). This will work for Secure UEFI too except for Windows Install ISOs. For these you will need to convert the Windows ISOs to .imgPTN files (or just temporarily disable Secure Boot on the target PC).
There is also SARDU and AIOBoot to consider...
I actually just use Easy2Boot on my 256GB drive and it works wonderfully. You can also create images that boot with UEFI natively as well and it gives you a nice boot menu.
The Zalman + SSD is the best choice for 'on-the'road' techs because the drive can be write protected and also works well with UEFI-bootable ISOs. Since most systems will be UEFI-only soon, this is an important consideration. It can also carry full OS's in VHDs or disk images such as Windows To Go and Linux.
It is not as portable as a 256GB USB flash drive + Easy2Boot though.
Updating the Zalman\IODD simply involves copying over new ISOs, etc.
You have to connect it to a USB port in order to see and change the currently loaded ISO, so a battery pack with USB connector is useful - you can then load the ISO you want and write protect it before you connect it to a potentially infected system. The battery pack + Y-cable is also useful if you come across a notebook which has insufficient USB power.
You should also supply a USB 2 Y-cable as well as a USB 3 cable. Sometimes some systems have BIOS I/O issues with USB 3 - simply using a USB 2 cable solves this issue.
In addition, you can always add Easy2Boot (free) to the Zalman\IODD drive and use it's features (e.g. Linux ISOs + persistence, automatic install of Windows+drivers+apps, etc.), but E2B requires a rd/wr drive and a bit of a learning curve. http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/using-e2b-with-a-zalman-ve200/
QEMU doe not lock the USB drive so it snapshots the USB volume - this means that file writes under E2B dont really write to the USB drive. This can cause strange problems. Use RMPrepUSB - F11 QEMU feature for correct QEMU emulation with file writes or...
Use Virtual Box + VMUB. MUCH faster!
http://www.easy2boot.com/testing-e2b/using-qemu-or-virtual-box/
As much as I appreciate hardware, there seem to be software equivalents for the vast majority of the functionality except for appearing on the USB bus as a hardware optical drive, no?
I've been meaning to sit down and figure out how to make one of these Easy2Boot drives from Linux, but that website is a task to work through.
You need 4GB of contiguous free space, so use Defraggler
Note: Defraggler can make contiguous all the unused free blocks on a drive. Use the Action - Advanced - Defrag Freespace option in Defraggler to consolidate the free space before running WinContig.
I have a 128GB drive running Easy2boot with ISOs of every OS that our clients use. Including UEFI bootable "images" of Windows 10. A couple different Linux distros. And the new Win 10 Hiren's ISO.
The main tools I have off the top of my head are...
AdwCleaner
Advanced IP Scanner
BleachBit
Fab's Autobackup
ProduKey
Microsoft's tool for uninstalling Office.
Ninite Pro
Office 365 Business/ProPlus setup exe's
WizTree
You will need to put linux on it first. you can also use http://www.easy2boot.com/ 's offerings. You created a bootdisk and can just move ISOs for different OSes onto it. You should check the bios to make sure you can boot to a usb stick. hitting f2 or f12, or following the text instructions on the screen when booting.
But you can install an OS over the existing one with no need for the PW.
Easy2Boot has an SDI_Choco script feature. You can use an XML to install Windows but configure it so that it allows you to set up the user details (and possibly an extra admin account). Then allow the SDI_Choco script to run which will install missing Windows drivers (optional) and then install apps. The WAFG site will help you with the power/energy config and the Windows XML file.
When installing apps, you can automate it to install your own packages or Chocolatey offline or online packages. You can also add in any other scripts you like too.
http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/windows-install-isos/sdi-choco/
I tried most of the solutions out there, until I found EASY2BOOT.
I have a couple dozen linux isos, windows iso, gparted, freedos, bootrepair, supergrub, etc.
All you gave to do is drag and drop (defrag if needed) and you're good to boot any of it.
Have a look at http://www.easy2boot.com/
After installing, you just copy the iso to a folder on the USB, boot from the USB and you can select whichever iso you copied to boot from. You can then add more isos by just copying them to the USB.
I really like Using E2B to make my flash drives. The E2B website is also the one stop shop for learning how to all kinds of great USB bootable/portable tricks. Running multiple persistent USB OSes from the same flash drive is just the beginning. http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/persistence/
It will support UEFI+Legacy if you add a 2nd partition containing WinPE.
You can then UEFI-boot to WinPE and run SWITCH_E2B.exe to switch-in any .imgPTN file you like. See http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/refind/
I found a fix! For anyone else who had this issue... this is a bit of a pain to set up but this did the trick.
http://www.easy2boot.com/uefi-grub2-ptn2/
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You may or may not need a Windows computer or VM for this, but once you've set it up you're good to go. It's basically a UEFI USB multiboot solution via a grub2 menu. It booted the arch iso and resolved whatever issue was going on.
Seems like a bargain to me.
Also, if you have an access to Windows, then Easy to Boot might be your friend. What it does?
- Download it
- Install it
- Run it.
- Allow it to use a pendrive of your choice
- Download any Linux *.iso file you need
- Copy them to a specific folder on your newly prepared pendrive
- Boot it and simply select which Linux to use
It's great for testing multiple Linux distros.
I haven't tried this with MacOS installers but having a USB drive with multiple installers on it, ie. multiple Windows versions, Linux distributions or tools works just fine. The "trick" is to not mark the partition with the installer bootable but put a bootloader on the drive which will then boot the corresponding installer.
Take a look at http://www.easy2boot.com which does most of the work. However, as I mentioned, I have no experience with MacOS installers so I don't know how much work it is (if it's even possible) to make it play nice with a bootloader.
http://www.easy2boot.com/download/ is probably your best option. However to get UEFI installers like Win7 and Win10 to work requires of a bit of extra work (work I personally havent put in to be honest). But I havent been able to find anything that comes closer to what you're looking for, I too have an AIO flash drive. 64gb for various linux and windows installs, and 64 gb for storage.
Easy2Boot is the way to go. Takes a bit of learning and the file structure of the system is a little unintuitive, but once you figure it out it's incredibly useful.
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If you really wanna go down the rabbit hole... Download Easy2boot and create yourself literal hundreds of bootable tools.
I use this utility absolutely daily. Adding new items is literally easy as dropping the ISO into a folder on the flash drive.
You could build some sysprepped images with unattended answer files for each "version" and then load those on to an easy2boot USB drive http://www.easy2boot.com/introduction#intro
In most cases a txt file is not required for E2B. Simply rename the ISO (e.g. My HBCD ISO.isoPE). For Hirens 15 with miniXP, use a file extension of .isowinvh or .isoHW. If the filename contains spaces then sometimes it may not boot correctly, in which case you must use a .txt file and a filename with no spaces or 'special' characters. For best results when using combination ISOs like Hirens, is to convert the ISO to a .imgPTN file and use that on the E2B drive. See http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/hirens-isos/
In my opinion the easiest way to do this is use http://www.easy2boot.com/.
Run this http://files.easy2boot.com/200003337-dca6bdda0b/Easy2Boot_v1.A7.exe, plug in the usb drive, then open the app. Click Make E2B Drive button. Then put the iso's in the usb:\iso\mainmenu folder. For win 10 pe iso's I think it like the extension named .isoPE.
FYI: If you name the .iso file with a different file extension, it wont prompt you.
e.g. .isowinvh .isoHW
If the .iso file works OK as .iso, rename the file extension to .isodef to stop the auto-suggest or ensure the file name ends with the letter Q or q - e.g. WinPEq.iso.
If you create a .txt file for the ISO file, that also suppresses the auto-suggest prompt.
There are other ways too...
Hey, just another super happy long-time Rufus user here.
I was wondering if you are at all interested in creating a little more trustworthy (read: made by you, downloadable from an HTTPS website and possibly F(L)OSS) version of this tool: http://www.easy2boot.com/
It's similar-ish to Rufus but it creates its own bootloader on the USB drive which is capable of then mounting any ISO on the drive and subsequently booting from that. Basically you prepare the USB drive once and then just dump ISO files onto it, the utility creates an image selection at boot-time, you choose an ISO file and it boots that. It's sorta the natural evolution of utilities like Rufus, except even more work (I'd imagine) ... but SOOO useful!
Thanks for your work!
The site has a list of tested ISO's.
I've not personally tried this one, but from the site: > Trinity Rescue Disk - type sdb4 (if USB drive is 2nd drive) (tip from saddlejib on reboot.pro - to list drives type blkid in linux bash prompt and then type reboot) - see tutorial #58 to see how to get it to work automatically by making a FAT16 image.
Read more: http://www.easy2boot.com/add-payload-files/list-of-tested-payload-files/
This piece of kit is perfect for what you want to do, assuming you want to boot to a live iso image. It works with both windows and Linux iso's and it is so easy to add a new distro/image to the party. It is also a perfect tool for anyone who is involved in systems recovery and management.
Have a look at Easy2Boot
You can try Multisystem which allows you to edit boot parameters - http://liveusb.info/dotclear/
There is also EasyToBoot http://www.easy2boot.com/
EasyToBoot Once set up it's just a case of dragging the ISO image to your pen drive/usb device.
Are you talking a persistent OS or a live environment?
If you mean live, easy2boot is free and lets you boot from any .iso file on the USB.
I have about 12 OS's I can boot to from my single 128GB USB3 stick. (Live environments)
Have a look at easy2boot
List of tested payload files + instructions
Have a look at Lubuntu, Slax, Knoppix, Kali and Puppy.
Easy2boot can do what you are looking for in multiple ways.
http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-and-e2b-usb-drive-using-rmprepusb/
Also look at Linux with persistence using a .mnu file
One possible solution is to use Easy2Boot and create a persistence file - see also Linux with persistence. Best start with a known working distro such as Lubuntu.
I used to have this running from the SSD Card in a Fuji Finepix camera! P¬))
There's multiple ways to do this but UEFI make things a bit trickier. I use Easy2Boot for this myself: http://www.easy2boot.com/
For Windows you can also edit the boot.wim environments and tell the setup program where to find sources, so you can multiple sources on one volume (and even network sources). This way all you need to do is make your own BCD for multi-boot of different renamed boot.wim WinPE install environments.
if the drive is functional and you have a second pc, that's the easiest way to get your data off of it. just expect to have to adjust permissions of a user profile directory or other protected folders (windows will prompt if permissions won't allow you in. a couple clicks and wait. it's painless)... linux, btw, doesn't give a damn about ntfs permissions, but if the dirty bit is set you have a hoop to jump through to mount the partition(s). you don't need to install linux if you go that route. just download the iso and make a dvd (or... i use this and have a menu-driven usb flash drive with a couple dozen iso)
given the amount of data to copy, have another secondary internal drive to copy the stuff to. it would take a long time to copy over a network or usb.
There are a fair few solutions both Physical and software based - google 'usb multi ISO' . I have a physical jobbie with a 2.5 inch disk onboard and an LCD menu to select ISO - but things like http://www.easy2boot.com/ also work well
The UEFI firmware is better. It's consistently updated and includes fixes that will universally improve your experience no matter what OS you run on it.
If your tools don't support UEFI, that's unfortunate, but it's the tool developer's fault at this point, not your fault for updating and not our fault for not having a CSM.
I mean, is this the Easy2Boot you use?
Rather than trying to create a partition on a 32GB drive try out Easy2Boot for creating the bootable USB. Once the bootable drive is created you can simply drag and drop the ISO's to it. You can also delete unwanted ISOs at will. The boot mrnu is created at runtime.
You will also have no problems in saving your personal files on the same partition.
e2b seems to be based somewhat on the iodd/zalmans and you can pop a copy of it on a Zalman to have interfaces on both the device and screen.
http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/using-e2b-with-a-zalman-ve200/
The Zalman ve350 are a downgrade from the ve300s in that they do not support virtual drives and seems to have issues with directories. The build quality seems to be less as well. I would suggest using the Iodd versions at this point.
Easy2Boot works just fine for me in Manjaro, which is Arch-based. http://www.easy2boot.com/make-an-easy2boot-usb-drive/make-using-linux/
I haven't found anything that does this particular job better. The ability to just drag and drop ISO's is really important because I need to be able to change out and updates ISO's.