XBOOT vs 1.0.0 beta5 - reboot

XBOOT vs 1.0.0 beta5 - reboot

XBOOT vs 1.0.0 beta5
(A utility for creating Multiboot USB/ISO.)
(based on .net framework vs 4)
Finally after lot of work I am releasing this software on which i have been working for past few months.


Purpose of this software is to create multiboot USB/ISO from various ISO files.
Support for some ISO files have been added , support for some other ISO files will be added later on the request of users.

Right now the purpose for creating this thread are:
1) Debugging. As xboot is in beta stage so there will be some bugs.All of you who are interested in using this software can test it and report here if you have any success or failure.
2) point out if you want any changes or make request for new features on this software.
3) The current name "xboot" of this software is just temporary. so please do suggest some nice name for it.(EDIT: XBOOT now is the permanent name for this software.)


Many people have helped me directly or indirectly in this project.
So they definitely deserves the credit. I do not remember all of the names but i am mentioning some of them here.

Wonko the Sane.
icecube.
cdob.
jotnar
tinybit.
steve6375 (author of RPprepUSB tool)
and many others....





Here's some screenshots:

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And Last but not least some precautions:

1) This software requires .NET framework vs 4 so install it before using this software.
you can download .NET framework vs 4 from here:.NET framework vs 4

2) If you are creating Multiboot USB :

a) Please defragment it after creating it.(else booting speed will be slow).(This is not because of Flashdrive but something related to bootloader)
EDIT: From beta5 , XBoot will automatically defragment all files which might slow down the booting speed , you don't need to defragment your flash drive manually.)
Note: All files don't need fragmentation , only some files , and they will be defragmented automatically by XBoot.If XBoot is not able to defragment some file due to low space or whatever reason , it will prompt you to defragment it later)

b ) Also FAT32 is the highly recommended file-system format for Creating Multiboot USB. (NTFS is not supported now but will be supported in future releases).
EdIT: From version beta4 NTFS is supported , but be careful Some linux distros don't support booting from NTFSpartitions.So NTFS is not a good choice for multibooting. FAT32 is supported by all.

Caution:XBOOT will not check if a particular iso file supports booting from NTFS partition or not , that should be taken care by the user.To be on safe side always use FAT32.

If you are worried about the size limitation of FAT32 partition , and wants large partition size , then please useRPprepUSB tool . It can create FAT32 partitions up to 2TB as mentioned by the Author of this software.


steve6375, on Dec 9 2010, 02:53 PM, said:

FYI - RMPrepUSB can format a 64GB FAT32 drive, it has no FAT32 size limitation (up to 2TB I think but never tested!)

c) For USB device USB-HDD is the recomended format, though others( USB-FDD ,USB-ZIP) are supported too.

3) Sometimes multiboot usb\iso doesn't work on vmware, virtualbox, qemu etc. but works on real PC. So If you are testingmultiboot usb\iso on vmware, virtualbox, qemu etc. and it didn't boot .Then please do check it again on Real PC.

4) Only supported ISO file will works.
There are some files which are not supported but can be added using Grub4dos ISO Emulation.
I am listing some of them here for you reference:

1) MSDART6.0(vista) & MSDART 6.5(windows 7)
2) Windows vista recovery cd & windows 7 recovery cd.
3) windows vistape & windows 7 pe.
4) All DOS based cd's.
5) Darik's boot and nuke(DBAN)
6) Hiren's boot cd (HirenBootCD vs12.0 will not work)
7) ....


Here's a screen shot of adding a file using Grub4dos ISO Emulation


5) There will be some minor glitches so be patient and report them here . I will fix them ASAP.


changelog for XBoot vs 1.0.0.0 beta5 :
- Added support for Gparted
- Added support for trinity rescue kit
- Fixed problem with defragmentation of files
- Fixed support for ubuntu v10.10
- Fixed support for Paragon utilities
- From this version you can update old ISO files on Multiboot USB.
For example if you have added ubuntu v10.04 to your Multiboot USB along with other ISO files and later you decide to update only ubuntu with newer version( ubuntu v10.10) while keeping the other ISO files intact .Then simply add new ISO(ubuntu v10.10) file to Multiboot USB using XBoot . This way older version of ISO file (ubuntu v10.04) will be deleted and new version of ISO file (ubuntu v10.10) will be added.
Note: You can not update ISO files on Multiboot USB created with previous version of XBoot.Only ISO files on Multiboot USB created by XBoot vs 1.0.0.0 beta5 and onwards will be updated.

Known issues in XBoot vs 1.0.0.0 beta5:
1) Hiren boot cd 12.0 not working ( previous versions will work)(Reason: This is due to buggy bootloader used in Hiren's boot cd. Future version might change the bootloader and it will work again , till then use previous version)

2) darik's boot and nuke (dban-2.2.6_i586.iso) might not work from multiboot USB but will work in multiboot ISO(Reason: Faulty bootloader( ISOLINUX 4.00 4.00-pre46) used in DBAN , If in future release bootloader is changed then problem will solve itself, till then use previous version)

3) knoppix will not work.It will give error during creation of multiboot USB/ISO( Reason : Silly mistake of mine.I unintentionally broke the code in latest release. will get fixed in next release)




Download link for xboot:
XBoot 1.0.0.0 Beta 5 (Host site: www.softepedia.com)