Wednesday 28 September 2016

Disabling System Volume Information folder for Removable drives

If you read my previous blog and tried the Registry fragment I provided in a previous blog post, you may have found that it does not actually seem to stop Windows from making a System Volume Information folder on some systems.

It used to work (honest!), but recent versions of Windows 10 also require you to stop (disable) the Storage Service too (type 'Services' into the start menu to find the management applet). I think this service used to be called 'Removable Storage' in earlier Windows versions.

Double-click and disable the service.
So, for recent Win10 versions:

1. Disable the Storage Service
2. Install the Registry Fragment
3. Reboot
4. From an Admin command prompt, type rd /s "L:\System Volume Information" to delete the folder on the L: drive if it is already there (or whatever letter your USB drive is using).

I am not sure what affect disabling the Storage Service has on the system, Microsoft seem very sketchy with information about it. So far I have not noticed any issues (famous last words...)

RMPrepUSB v2.1.734 and new version of Disk Doctor available (with bug-fixes)

I found that the SpeedTest function in RMPrepUSB/RMPartUSB no longer seems to work on Windows 10 and gives a write error. This is now fixed in v2.1.734.

I also took the time to look into some niggly bugs in DiskDoctor (use CTRL+D inside RMPrepUSB to launch it after selecting a disk (does not work on disk 0) in RMPrepUSB).

DiskDoctor

DiskDoctor is a disk testing and editing tool which must be run with Admin privileges. The version included in RMPrepUSB has been stripped down quite a bit since I wrote it some years ago, and some functions and command line support have been removed. It was originally used as an automated test tool in a factory environment and used to test literally millions of computers.

If you want to try DD, use a disk that contains unwanted data first, until you become familiar with it!

For instance, if you start a Sequential Read of the whole disk, DiskDoctor (aka DD) will attempt to read all sectors, in blocks of a 'track' at a time, into a track buffer (63x255 sectors). This can take several hours for a 2TB HDD!

Monday 26 September 2016

New USB_BOOT_v2.iso (Plop! CD)

I have updated the USB_BOOT CD ISO file to use the latest version of grub4dos. The CD may now work with a wider range of USB 2.0 controllers. Download USB_BOOT_v2.ISO from here in the Alternate Downloads Areas and burn it to a CD (remember those?).

Latest v2.2 IS HERE.

USB_BOOT_v2 CD with latest grub4dos version

  1. The USB_BOOT CD will boot to a grub4dos menu and then will automatically install the grub4dos USB 2.0 read\write driver.
  2. If no USB drive is detected, it will then automatically run Plop! to load a USB 2.0 read-only driver.
  3. If a driver is loaded successfully, it should then boot from a USB drive (e.g. an Easy2Boot USB drive).

The CD is useful for systems that will not boot straight from a USB Flash drive or USB HDD but will boot from a USB CD (or IDE\SATA CD-ROM drive).

Note that modern USB 2.0/3.0 systems will probably not work (even if you use a USB 2.0 port), but these modern systems should boot from any USB drive anyway.

Quickly make WinPE ISOs using Lazesoft Recovery Suite

If you want to quickly make some 64-bit and 32-bit WinPE bootable ISOs, which also contain some useful utilities, try the free Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition.

Note: I have not fully tested any of the Lazesoft utilities yet, this blog post is just to inform you of a useful set of ISOs.

You first need to download and run lsrshsetup.exe to install it onto your Windows system and then run it (or the separate Desktop entry for the Lazesoft recovery suite media builder).

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Problems installing Ubuntu x64 UEFI in Virtual Box

I have been trying to compile my own grub2 boot code files (core.img and bootx64.efi) recently.

To do this, I needed to set up a VM with Ubuntu x64 in UEFI-mode.

Easy right?

Err.... no!

E2B v1.84 released

E2B v.1.84 full version is released.

Changes from v1.84c beta are:

  • official grub4dos 2016-09-20 release (should be similar to the test version in 1.84c)
  • Some more Download URL links added to \_ISO\docs folder
  • Cub Linux + persistence Sample Mnu File added.
The 'SultryWoman' bitmap and MyE2B.cfg file are available
from the Alternate Downloads - Themes area.

Changes since v1.83 are:

RMPrepUSB v2.1.733 (Beta status) available - with grub2 USB drive installer

RMPrepUSB v2.1.733 changes are:

  • Latest grub4dos 0.4.6a 2016-09-20 (grldr)
  • Can install grub2 to MBR via BootLoaders tab
  • FAT32 partitions now start at LBA 2048 instead of LBA63 (RMPartUSB v2.1.733)
You can now install grub2 boot code onto the first sectors of a USB drive.

Friday 16 September 2016

UEFI_GRUB2_PTN2_Beta4 available

UEFI_GRUB2_PTN2_Beta4 has a few small bug fixes to some .grub2 files and the grub2 menu entries have been tweaked slightly so that the text in the menus aligns better.
I have also changed the Excel spreadsheet slightly.
The main changes in .grub2 has been around the naming of kali isos.
If you already have the Beta3 version on your E2B drive, instructions on how to update to a later version are here.

If you use the Grub2 menu system with E2B, please let me know. I have had very little feedback about it and so it is still in Beta status. If I get reports that people are using it successfully, then I will officially 'release' it.

The downloads are in the Alternate Download Areas - Other Files folder.

Thursday 15 September 2016

Registry fragment to prevent creation of System Volume Information folder

For Windows 8/10, you can add a Registry fragment that will stop Windows from creating a System Volume Information folder on all your USB drives.

The download is available from the Alternate Download Area - Other Files folder (direct link here).

I will also include the registry fragment in E2B v1.84 in the folder:
\_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\Disable_System_Volume_Information_Folder_Creation.

Note: In recent versions of Windows 10, as well as the Registry Fragment, you need to stop (disable) the Storage Service too (type Services into the start menu to find the management applet).
For more info, see my previous blog here (the Take Ownership reg tweak is really useful too!).

FYI: The top three posts in my entire blog are:

  1. A faster test for fake SD cards and USB Flash drives (*more popular by a factor of x10!)
  2. Deleting the 'System Volume Information' folder from a USB drive (and other system files\folders)
  3. Add Microsoft ERD Commander and MSDart Windows Recovery ISOs to Easy2Boot
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Wednesday 14 September 2016

Chromium OS (Cub Linux) with persistence

Cub Linux is Chromium+Ubuntu. Unlike ChromixiumOS, it comes in a nice LiveCD ISO format and so we can easily run this from an E2B drive. As it is based on Ubuntu, we can also add persistence.




Here is the .mnu for the 64-bit version (also added to \_ISO\docs\Sample mnu Files\linux\CubLinux-amd64_Persistent.mnu in E2B v1.84d).