Since I have finished my projects it is time to release all the notes I gathered. The easyboot manual is not very informative when it comes to make mixed multiboot DVD's so I decided to go through all the 59 pages and gather all the "specific situation" tutorials and other useful information which should make your multiboot live easier.
First you should download this:CODE
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XGA7PVMU
What does it contain?The
Main folder contains everything you need to get started with Easyboot, from basics to advanced examples of multiboot projects.
The balder folder contains updates scripts from our advanced user balder which will allow you to integrate Live Systems, Distro's, Hiren's Boot CD and other stuff with just a few clicks.
The Graphics folder contains few tutorials for making your boot menu's look nicer, a pack of nice backgrounds, a tutorial to create a GFX menu and a video tutorial about how to create a compatible background for easyboot in photoshop.
The
Tools and other folder contains files which you will need in specific cases to integrate specific OS'es (when you read the tutorials in the main folder and you see that it describes to downlaod and use a file, check out the Tools and other folder and the needed file can be found there), various applications to launch your multiboot projects from USB and tools like the HEX editor XVI32, Aero Studio and many other useful stuff.
Other tools you need which are not included in this archive:- Easyboot of course
- UltraISO (prefered) or other similar tools which can extract boot information and open .iso and .img files
- Photoshop or other similar tools if you wish to add custom graphics for your boot menus. I prefer
PhotoFiltre Studio or you can use
GIMP, it's up to you.
- VirtualBox - one of the most important tools, you will use it to create a virtual machine and test your easyboot projects and it is freeware! Download it
here. You may also use VMware Work station or Virtual PC.
- Notepad++ - although the notepad you get with windows is actually enough to edit the files which need some changes, notepad++ provides additional features like automatic search through a folder and makes it possible to change all occurrence's of a specific line of text with something different with ease, this app is a must have! Download it
here.
Other tools which are optional (depending on your preferences):- Daemon tools - used to create virtual drives and mounting .iso and other image files (UltraISO does this too, so if you have UltraISO, you don't need this tool)
- MobaLiveCD - this would be something like a light version of an virtual machine emulator, basically, if you don't want VirtualBox, this tool should do the trick
- WinISO - if you don't like UltraISO, try WinISO
A good place to find your menu graphics is
wallbase and for all your distro needs you should visit
Distrowatch, there you will find different distro's for different purposes and with valid download links.
And now let's get started with easyboot.
The BasicsTo understand how easyboot works you will need to read the easyboot manual provided by the author of this software. You can view it by clicking on the Help button and then click on Contents (Easyboot File tab) or open the copy provided in my tutorial collection, the file name is
EasyBoot.chm.
After you read the manual and get the idea of how it works you can proceed to the next step. That means creating your first multiboot project. You should start with integrating multiple XP systems. You don't have to keep it or burn it, it just serves for testing and training purposes which will help you to better understand how easyboot works.
So you should start with the following tutorials which can be found in my tutorial collection folder:
1. INSTRUCTIONS.txt
2. Configuring Multiple Operating Systems With EasyBoot.txt
1. The first .txt file will teach you how to integrate just one Windows XP live system in easyboot.
2. The second .txt file takes it not one but few steps further and shows you not one but few methods to integrate Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Server 2003 in easyboot and as a bonus you will find how to integrate Acronis products and Norton Ghost.
NOTE: Some tutorials may not work with current versions of software since the tutorials deal with various software ranging from software more than 5 years old to tutorials for software from the current year so if some of the tutorials don't work, it doesn't mean that you are doing something wrong so be always sure to ask in the forums before you give up and always provide as much information as possible when you ask a question in the forums.
The next thing you should do is to review the files which contain "ADD - ..." and "MULTIBOOT - ..." in their file names. The files which contain "ADD - ..." are just for a specific software or software version and in many cases they contain more than one method about how to integrate the software in easyboot so if one method doesn't work for you, you can try another one. The files containing "MULTIBOOT - ..." in their file names represent specific cases of multiboot projects. For example you have:
MULTIBOOT - WinXP + Win7.txt and MULTIBOOT - WinXP Pro + LiveXP.txt
The first one will show you how to integrate Windows XP and Windows 7 in one multiboot project. The second one will show you how to integrate Windows XP and a "Live" version of Windows XP but in this case you are able to combine them so you can use the first tutorial to integrate Windows XP and Windows 7 and one part of the second tutorial to integrate a "Live" version of Windows XP so that you have Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows XP Live in one multiboot project (of course if the final size of the project fits your needs).
So in many cases you can combine those tutorials but in some cases you can't because the files of one OS will interfere with the files of another OS and you will receive error's when trying to boot your systems. In one case you will maybe succeed to create a multiboot project containing 10+ OS'es and applications without problems and everything will work but on the other hand they can be cases where even 2 or 3 OS'es/Applications just can't "live" with each other and you will receive error's when trying to launch them so again be sure to ask in the forums in those cases.
Two more things left to say about the Basic stuff.First, the "EAZYBOOT GUIDE TO LINUX 4 NEWBIES". This guide will show you in a detailed way on how to deal with GNU/Linux Distro's and after you read it (maybe a few times to be sure) you should be able to integrate as much Distro's as you want (well, almost, there are always limits, the final size of the project and the interference of similar files because most Distro's are based on some other Distro). You can read the guide
here or find it in my tutorial collection, the name of the file is "Easyboot Linux guide.txt".
Second, balder's script collection. This is a very useful script collection and it will make your life much easier so be sure to familiarize yourself with it.
You will find it in the root folder of my tutorial collection. The folder name is "balder". Open it and read the READ_ME.html and you should be good to go but make sure to test it by yourself and this script collection can do many things but it can't integrate everything so don't forget to read the various tutorials I included!
NOTE: I packed all these manual's and guides in .txt files since it is easier to handle with plain text but if you find it difficult to read, you can always open a manual/tutorial, press "ctrl + a" (without "+") and paste the text in your favorite word processor (Microsoft Word, Open Office, etc.).
Now I will show you 4 examples/projects I have done by myself so you can get an idea how easyboot works in action.
EasyBoot - Project 1EasyBoot - Project 2EasyBoot - Project 3EasyBoot - Project 4
