USB Stick/HD Install

[Amadeus_Hack]

Ok I am at a total loss here, I have tried every imaginable way to do an install to a USB Stick or a USB Hard Drive, I have tried different size sticks, hard drives and different laptops just to make sure it was not my hardware that was mucking me up. I am newer to Linux, but I can get my way around and most of the instructions out there are really straight forward, so I am fairly confident I am RTFM'ing before I posted here.

I boot up my laptop with the BT2Final iso and go to install it to my USB stick (/dev/sda) of course after fdisk and mkfs.ext3 and mounting it to /mnt/sda1 or /mnt/sda2. The install goes fine, when I try to boot it up, LILO runs and it goes thru all of it's motions, but then I ALWAYS get this message:

RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.
VFS: Cannot open root device "802" or unknown-block(8,2)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,2)

Now I take it that I keep getting that error message due to the fact that it does not recognize the USB device to load the filesystem, am I correct in that assumption? If I am, what's next? I have done quite a bit of googling for those terms and what most sites provide as answers I have not been successful in applying it to this distro.

Thanx for any help you can provide, I would be MOST appreciative.



AH

[Amadeus_Hack]

Ok now I am really baffled..... I was able to download a copy of MySLAX Creator, and using the Nov BETA, I was able to flawlessly create a bootable USB stick in about 10 minutes. But, I am not able to create a bootable USB stick using MySLAX and the BT2Final ISO. MySLAX says that it is not a valid SLAX ISO image or one of it derivatives. Might anyone know the reason for this?


Thanx!!!!


AH

[ghost8786]

Youre not alone, I could not get MySlax creator to work with BT2 final. It gave me the same error message. Also, a few screens later it said it could not find some cfg file, even though the file was clearly in the iso. So I copied it from another location into the temp folder and tried again. No error message, but the next screen said that it could not copy the cfg file from the folder. hmmm...It would be nice to boot from the USB but MySlax creator doesnt work for me. I did try another method with no luck either: If you copy the boot and bt folders into the usb and then run bootinst from the usb it is supposed to make it work, but when I try to boot from it it doesnt work. I hit enter to boot, it says loading blah blah file and then it loads another file, and then the infamous black screen appears. WTF??

[arcus]

ok..i did experienced your problem as well but luckily i managed to get my BT2 worked on my thumbdrive..burn the iso to a cd and boot it using the cd..plug in ur thumbdrive the mount it..n mount the cdrom as well..start the BackTrack installer and set the source from the cd rom and ur target to ur thumbdrive,of course :) then set the MBR to ur thumbdrive, there should be two options and dont pick the hda, pick the sda if im not mistake..then just click install then ur thumbdrive is ready..but to mention, i did it few times coz it seems to hang sometimes then i've to do it again..gud lux.. btw, why is the make_iso.bat dont works? in BT2beta it works well...

[zikarus]

Guys you should use the search function as well as have a look into the new wiki first! This has been a topic here many times before and the solution is to easy to believe...

Quote:

"BT2 final does not support MySlax any more. BT2 is based on the new Slax 6.

But there is good news:
MySlax is not needed anymore! The installation is even easier now! Have a look in the HowTo's on the new wiki-page.

Just use WinRar or anything else that is capable to unpack the .iso, copy the two folders (boot and BT) to your stick and run the bootinst.bat in the boot folder. BUT BE SURE TO RUN THE .BAT FROM WITHIN THE BOOT-FOLDER ON THE STICK! This is important because you will destroy your HDD's MBR if you run the .bat from out of the .iso (or your HDD if you have copied the folders there) by mistake!"

[rumburak514]

Try to boot BT from CD
then in K menu you should find Bactrack installer option
it has three fields to fill
if you choose live CD option :
1.system is on CD : /mnt/hdb_cdrom
(it could be something similar /mnt/cdrom or so
the you have there two folders /boot /BT
2. install on : /mnt/sda_removable
(or where sda is )
# write MBR to : /dev/sda
this writes everything on stick
if you want the full install
the system is on : / ( but I didn't do it cos have no big stick)
the rest the same

[totoymola]

Guys you should use the search function as well as have a look into the new wiki first! This has been a topic here many times before and the solution is to easy to believe...

Quote:

"BT2 final does not support MySlax any more. BT2 is based on the new Slax 6.

But there is good news:
MySlax is not needed anymore! The installation is even easier now! Have a look in the HowTo's on the new wiki-page.

Just use WinRar or anything else that is capable to unpack the .iso, copy the two folders (boot and BT) to your stick and run the bootinst.bat in the boot folder. BUT BE SURE TO RUN THE .BAT FROM WITHIN THE BOOT-FOLDER ON THE STICK! This is important because you will destroy your HDD's MBR if you run the .bat from out of the .iso (or your HDD if you have copied the folders there) by mistake!"

Hi. I tried that method but it did not work for me. I don't know why.. but I am sure that I did everything correctly.

[arcus]

i created my BT on the thumbdrive using that method n it works.. did u run the .bat file in the thumbdrive? it should be run in the thmbdrive or maybe u can edit the .bat file so it refers to your drive where the thmb drive is (e.g F:/ ) so it will make the MBR on the thumbdrive...ur pc support boot from USB?if not, u r out of luck..

[ghaze]

I installed mine following the wiki method. I did it while running bt and used the bootinst.sh. Worked like a charm.

Maybe taking a look at the bootinst.sh and boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg will show you where you went wrong.

http://backtrack.offensive-security.com/index.php?title=Howto:USB_Stick

[totoymola]

arcus & ghaze

I am sure that I ran the script from the flashdrive. I will try it again tomorrow and see how it goes. I do not have any problems booting it, it just gives me an error that the BT folder is not detected.

[arcus]

have u try using Back Track installer? it work well too..but i noticed that when i used BT installer, it created LILO file but when i used the other method(winrar the iso to your thumbdrive and run the .bat file inside the /boot folder) the LILO file is not created but it just work well too..

[/S4NE/]

Hey guys i was working on a full 2700mb installation on my USB thumbdrive the whole day yesterday...

But i have no luck :'(

Can you explain me step by step what you have done?


Thank you will be nice guys ;)

Greetings