Saturday, February 14, 2009

Installing BackTrack 4 beta on a USB disk

You might have noticed BackTrack 4 Beta is out for a few days. Since it brings some interesting new features I planned to upgrade/reinstall my BT3 USB to the latest edition.

For the Linux users there is a quick install guide that enumerates the different commands needed to setup the system.
Having at that precise moment only a Windows system laying around I had to follow another procedure. The easiest way is the following:

  1. First format your partition as FAT32. Windows refuses to format partitions bigger than 30GB in FAT32 (to force users to use NTFS). It's only a GUI limitation so you can still use the CLI to format d: /fs:fat32.
  2. Now download Unetbootin. It's a kind of assistant to install ISO's to your USB disk. (Thanks for the tip Security4all)
  3. In Unetbootin choose Disk image and specify the path to the BT4b iso file.
  4. In the Type I had to choose manual as Unetbootin didn't detect my disk as USB disk.
  5. Just press the OK button and wait.

I noticed there was no bootloader installed on the USB disk so I had to to this manually. It's fairly simple:
Browse to the disk located on your computer and execute the d:\boot\bootinst.bat script. The script will try to autodetect the drive letter and will ask a confirmation. Double check it and confirm.

Now boot your system from the USB disk and here it is: BackTrack 4 beta.

34 comments:

  1. What is the default username and the password?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Username root
    password toor

    ReplyDelete
  3. This worked great. Got BT 4 beta booting fine off USB. Much better than Puppy Linux.

    ReplyDelete
  4. sorry but after i use the login pass root there is a problem.
    it asks for the passwaod (toor)but i am not alloud to tape anything... any ideas???

    ReplyDelete
  5. Its somthing like Login
    root
    toor

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm haveing the same problem = I'm not alloud to tape anything in to password slot . All it does is blink . Is there a command that can be entered to over come this - to let us all in ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. after you type toor just hit enter and it should work

    ReplyDelete
  8. from where i boot?

    ReplyDelete
  9. It onley looks like it. You just type toor and press enter!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, you could open the .iso with winrar and unrar it on the pendrive root.
    exec boot/bootinst.bat and done.
    Restart the computer and boot from USB (Some bios is with tab key, another with esc key, oter with F10)

    ReplyDelete
  11. when i try to boot i get ntldr missing error

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey, i get only a black screen after i type "startx" any1 know why that is ? I also hear "FINISH HIM" lol. but still the screen stays black.

    ReplyDelete
  13. works just as well for bt4 pre final

    ReplyDelete
  14. followed the steps but with pre bt4 i don't see \boot\bootinst.bat


    I noticed there was no bootloader installed on the USB disk so I had to to this manually. It's fairly simple:
    Browse to the disk located on your computer and execute the d:\boot\bootinst.bat script. The script will try to autodetect the drive letter and will ask a confirmation. Double check it and confirm.

    ReplyDelete
  15. impossible because it doesn't come with a bootinst.bat

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes, just type inn toor. It doesn't show that you're typing, but you actually are :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you very much for the instruction!I have a problem at the first loading with USB and similar situation with DVD drive.When the command line with the name was loaded it has been written "root@bt:~#" ,but when I enter "startx" (does not help).When I taping "root" The program 'root' is currently not installed. "You can install it by typing: apt-get install root-system-bin". Help me please to solve this problem...(p.s.excuse for my bad English language)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I get white screen and the sound.
    Got ATI Radeon.... Fucking hate ATI.

    ReplyDelete
  19. this guide is outdated since there's no bootloader or a script (bootinst.bat) to write an MBR on the usb any more...

    ReplyDelete
  20. when i enterd the user name"root" and pass word" toor" it says invaild combinatioon or username and password kindly if any one know any solution kindly tell me by e-mail

    ReplyDelete
  21. J'ai exactement le même souci! Mais euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!! Does anyone can help me? Thx

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi

    Any luck ?,, I have the same problem !

    ReplyDelete
  23. Work Fine thanx very much.
    username : root
    Password : toor

    ReplyDelete
  24. I had the same problem so I just chrooted to the new install before I rebooed and changed the root password to something I would remember.

    The steps are to make a directory somewhere, I just created one in the root folder of the liveCD and called it "test", so mkdir test. This was a vm install and I wasn't sure what the device was so I did a dmesg to see what was discovered and in my case it was /dev/sda1 so I mounted /dev/sda1 to /root/test. Then I just did a chroot /root/test and did a passwd to change the password then exited and rebooted.

    Hope that helps someone, I'm still trying to get BT4 to boot off of my USB stick.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Try:
    #sudo su
    #passwd root

    ...or...

    sudo passwd root

    or something similar

    ReplyDelete
  26. I don't know if you should use BT at all :/

    ReplyDelete
  27. When in doubt, and you have no root access, SUDO.....SUDO good!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Worked a treat, thank you.

    This saved me a lot of time when trying to setup a dual boot on my netbook.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Frist , type:
    "fixvesa"
    after, type:
    "startx"

    ReplyDelete
  30. type ''TOOR'' in the password, u cant see what you type but its still there and logs you in

    ReplyDelete
  31. thanks .. brother .. for this best soluation .. i am not beleve it .. because my cd drive was brokken !

    you are the greate .. all the best to you.. thanks again.

    -------------
    GeNeRaLs2009

    ReplyDelete
  32. hey i am a totally new user in backtrack4 .

    now i am running backtrack4 for in vmware.

    i am running windows Xp as a host.

    i cannot connect my backtrack4 through bridge connection in vmware.

    i am able to connect this with "NAT" connection in vmware.but in NAT connection i face many problem.
    so i need a bridge connection.

    here is my ip address configuration

    ip address is: 10.21.26.7

    subnet mask: 255.0.0.0

    default gatteway: 10.21.26.1


    peferred DNS server: 115.69.208.208

    alternate DNS server: 4.2.2.1



    mac address:00b0273784ad

    in windows if i not use my mac address.I have no connectivity.

    please tell me how to put this ip address in backtrack4

    very argent

    ReplyDelete
  33. where can i download backtrack 4???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. where can i download backtrack 4, for study only.

      Delete