Run android x86 with persistence from Easy2Boot

[Jordan]

Run android x86 with persistence from E2B

 

 

 

android-x86-4.4-r5.iso can be added to your E2B USB drive, but to get it booting with persistence, we need to create a .imgPTN file as follows:
For UEFI-booting and >4GB persistence (see here).

1. Download android-x86-4.4-r5.iso (approx 450MB).
2. Drag-and-drop the file (.iso or .img versions will both work) onto the MPI ToolKit MPI_FAT32 Windows Desktop shortcut.
3. Change the default size and add whatever size you want for the persistence store - e.g. use 2500 for 2GB of storage.
4. Copy the resultant android-x86-4.4-r5.imgptn file to your E2B USB drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU)
5. Run \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe and double-click on the android-x86-4.4-r5.imgptn file to switch to it.
6. Run RMPrepUSB and select the E2B USB drive.
7. Click on Make Ext2 FS button and specify a file name of data.img and a size to use up any remaining free space on the USB drive (e.g. 2000). You can use any name for the volume name (I used casper-rw, but I think any volume name will do). Keep the file in the root of the E2B USB drive. Max size 4GB.
8. [Edit] Make all files contiguous using the /MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd script.

That's it!

 

To boot to android, use the second 'Alternate MBR boot' menu entry in the CSM menu, or UEFI-boot.

 

After the initial sign-up, you should be able to reboot and the settings will be persistent. You can also download and install apps, etc.

Note that some versions of android have two alternate downloads, .iso for MBR booting and .img for UEFI booting. The android-x86-4.4-r5.iso download seems to support both MBR and UEFI booting.
 

Tips if running from VBox

1. Tick VBox - Input - Mouse Integration to make the mouse cursor visible.

 

2. As soon as possible, turn-off Auto Rotate to prevent any app from rotating the screen, by dragging down the black bar from the top-right of the screen:

 

 

3. You can shutdown android by using the Power Off button (as in picture above).

 

4. Always shutdown the VM 'nicely' to avoid corrupting the ext2 persistence file! Make a backup of the data.img file (or the whole .imgPTN file) just in case, once you have your apps, etc. installed!

 

5. You may need to boot from a real system to test UEFI-booting, I had problems UEFI-booting via VBox (using Clover or UEFI).

 

SOURCE

 

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Run android x86 + >4GB persistence via UEFI & MBR (from an NTFS partition)

 

In a previous blog post, I described how you could MBR-boot to android x86 with a persistence file.
To UEFI-boot, we need to create a FAT32 .imgPTN partition image. However, this limits us to a <4GB data.img persistence file.

Here is how to have a >4GB persistence file and UEFI-boot by using an NTFS partition to hold the android boot files and persistence file.

I used android-x86-4.4-r5.iso for this.
 

Instructions

1. Make two folders on your PC:

android_FAT32
android_NTFS

2. Extract the contents of android-x86-4.4-r5.iso to the android_NTFS folder (e.g. using 7zip)

3. Copy the android_NTFS\boot folder from the android_NTFS folder to the android_FAT32 folder

4. Copy the android_NTFS\efi folder from the android_NTFS folder to the android_FAT32 folder

5. Create a android_FAT32\boot\grub\x86_64-efi folder

6. Find a Ubuntu ISO (or other linux ISO that uses grub2) and copy the \boot\grub\x86_64-efi\ntfs.mod file to the android_FAT32\boot\grub\x86_64-efi folder

7. Edit the android_FAT32\boot\grub\grub.cfg file to add the line in red below:

set timeout=30

insmod ntfs

menuentry 'Android-x86 4.4-r5 Live' --class android-x86 {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /system.sfs
linux /kernel root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 quiet DATA=
initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry 'Android-x86 4.4-r5 DEBUG mode' --class android-x86 {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /system.sfs
linux /kernel root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 DATA= DEBUG=2
initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry 'Android-x86 4.4-r5 Installation' --class android-x86 {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /system.sfs
linux /kernel root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 DEBUG= INSTALL=1
initrd /initrd.img
}

menuentry 'Windows' {
search --file --no-floppy --set=root /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
chainloader (${root})/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}

 

As you can see, this grub.cfg will look for a /system.sfs file and set the root to that volume.

By loading the ntfs.mod module, we can search NTFS volumes.

 

8. Use RMPrepUSB to make a large data.img ext2 file by using the Make ext2 FS button (file name = data.img, volume name=data.img, size=whatever - e.g. 5000).  You need to select an NTFS  drive for this, not a FAT32 volume (use Ctrl-F5 to see all disks on your system to allow you to use an internal hard disk, if you wish).

 

9. Move (cut and paste) the \data.img file to the android_NTFS folder

 

You should now have:

 

android_NTFS folder

\data.img

(contents of android ISO)

 

android_FAT32 folder

\efi folder

\boot folder 

\boot\grub\grub.cfg (modified)

\boot\grub\x86_64-efi\ntfs.mod (new file)

 

10. Drag-and-drop the android_FAT32 folder onto the MPI Tool Pack MPI_FAT32 shortcut, specify a name of android.imgPTN

Tip: The filename should NOT contain a . (dot) (e.g. android_4_4 is OK but not android_4.4).

 

11. Drag-and-drop the android_NTFS folder onto the MPI_Tool Pack MPI_NTFS shortcut, specify a name of android

The file name must be identical to the .imgPTN file name (but with no extension).

Tip: The filename should NOT contain a . (dot)
 

12. Copy both android.imgPTN and android to your E2B USB drive (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX folder).

 

 

You should now be able to run the android.imgPTN file (or use SWITCH_E2B.exe) and then UEFI-boot to android x86 with persistence.

 

Note that I had to type exit a few times (during a debug boot) because android objected to some drives in my system, but after the first time, I did not need to do this again.

 

I had to boot from a real 64-bit UEFI system (not VBox) to test this, because android did not seem to like my VBox VMs.

 

If you like to be tidy, you can delete the Clover and e2b folders from the android.imgPTN volume, and also delete /boot6, /boot7, /boot3, /grldr, menu.lst, /autorun.inf, /PBR.BIN, /CUSTOM.txt, /autorun.ico too.

 

MBR booting

If you want to MBR boot, add this menu to the bottom of the \menu.lst file in the android_FAT32  (the .imgPTN volume) partition once you have switched to it.

title android x86 (MBR) \n Boot to android
root (hd0,2)
kernel /kernel root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 quiet DATA=
initrd /initrd.img
boot

 

SOURCE

 

All credits to RMPrepUSB and Easy2Boot devs.

[Jordan]

Install Debian from a DVD ISO using Easy2Boot

 

I previously described a method of installing Debian from a CD ISO file here. You can also use the LiveCD to install Debian or the net-installer ISO.
 

debian 8.4.0 Cinnamon

However, this method appears not to work when using a DVD-1 ISO because it cannot find the 'CD' to install the packages which are kept on the DVD after installing the base files.


If you want to install from the DVD version of the ISO (perhaps when you don't have internet access?), try one of these methods:
 

For an NTFS E2B USB drive

1. Download the DVD-1 ISO (e.g. debian-8.4.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso  3.7GB)

Note: This ISO must be smaller than 4GB.

 

2. Download the 'hd-media' versions of vmlinuz and initrd.gz. Use the correct 'bit' version for your particular DVD ISO.

I used Debian 8.4 amd64, and so I downloaded the files from this folder:
http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian8.4/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/

Note: I tried the versions in the gtk folder too, but I just got a blank screen under VBox???

3. Copy the DVD ISO file to a new empty folder on your Desktop (e.g. debian)

4. Copy the vmlinuz and initrd.gz files to the new folder

5. Make a new text file \menu.lst:

title debian install \n Install from DVD-1 ISO
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.gz
boot

 

The new folder should now look like this:
 

 

 

6. Finally, drag-and-drop the whole debian folder (NOT the ISO file) onto the MPI_FAT32 desktop shortcut (the MPI Tool Kit needs to be installed on your Windows system). Specify a .imgPTN target file and Combine the menu.lst files when prompted.

 

You can now copy the debian.imgPTN file to your E2B USB drive. Choose the new menu entry to begin the installation. I chose the Cinnamon desktop option. Be sure to install the boot loader to the target drive and not to your E2B drive!

If the .imgPTN file is below 4GB, you can also copy it to a FAT32 E2B USB drive, if you wish.

 

For a FAT32 E2B USB drive (does not work on an E2B NTFS drive)

1. Download the ISO and place it in the root of the E2B USB drive.

 

Note: This ISO must be smaller than 4GB.

 

2. Download the vmlinuz and initrd.gz files (see above) and copy them to the \_ISO\LINUX\debian folder.

 

3. Add this text file to \_ISO\LINUX\debian\debian.mnu  (any name will do)

 

title debian install \n Install from DVD-1 ISO
kernel $HOME$/vmlinuz
initrd $HOME$/initrd.gz
boot

Now select the menu item from the LINUX menu and debian should find the ISO file automatically.

 

SOURCE

[Jordan]

Various Hirens ISOs and Gandalf PE with Easy2Boot

 

I have been experimenting with various Hirens ISOs with E2B and came up with this table which you may find useful:
 

 

If Windows PE boots and loads all the Desktop icons correctly, you should get the number noted in the last column.


Note that DLC.Boot.2015.iso also is 64-bit UEFI bootable (for Mini Windows 8 64-bit) when converted to a FAT32 .imgPTN file.

If you have a USB 3.0 E2B drive, it is best to convert any WinPE-based ISOs to .imgPTN files. If you have a USB HDD with a second partition containing files (portable apps, documents, etc.) that you want to access from WinPE, then use the .imgPTNLBAa23 file extension instead of .imgPTN, and the second partition on the E2B USB drive will be accessible to WinPE.
 

 

You might like to try the latest Gandalf WinPE 1511 TH2 builds (32-bit and 64-bit versions are available with UEFI+MBR boot files, they are both over 2GB in size though). Details on how to add these to E2B can be found in a previous blog post here (it is easiest to just convert them to FAT32 .imgPTN files).
 

December 2015 build of Gandalf's 32-bit build - Gandalf's_Win10PE_x86_TH2-12-31-2015.iso.

 

SOURCE