How to install backtrack 3 final from the shell

[pureh@te]

This tutorial is going to assume a few things....

1. You have at least 2 neurons in your brain and that there is not to much tar build up between them from smoking tweed.

2. Your already partitioned and ready to go. (If you need a tutorial on partitioning I cant help you)

3. You have heard of a shell and know how to get one going.

Alright so lets begin. I'm going to cover installing backtrack to harddrive to ways. #1 with a /boot partition and #2 where bt is all on one partition. (just a side note. The team is trying to shy away from HD installs and is encouraging USB install which in my humble opinion is the best way to go).Most of this info is from various sources on the wiki and I will attempt to put it into one tutorial for newer members.
So you have a fresh HD with 3 partitions..
sda1=/boot
sda2=swap
sda3= /

Boot your live cd and open a bash shell and begin.

If your swap is not yet made then do this..(otherwise omit this step)
bt~#mkswap /dev/sda2
bt~#swapon /dev/sda2

bt~#mkdir /mnt/backtrack
bt~#mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/backtrack/
bt~#mkdir /mnt/backtrack/boot/
bt~#mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/backtrack/boot/ (note: If you only have one partiton to install backtrack to simply omit this step)
bt~#cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,etc,lib,opt,sbin,va r} /mnt/backtrack/ <<< note: there is no space in var. Seems to be a glitch in the matrix
bt~#mkdir /mnt/backtrack/{mnt,proc,sys,tmp}
bt~#mount --bind /dev/ /mnt/backtrack/dev/
bt~#mount -t proc proc /mnt/backtrack/proc/
bt~#cp /boot/vmlinuz /mnt/backtrack/boot/

Now for lilo.
bt~#chroot /mnt/backtrack/ /bin/bash
bt~#nano /etc/lilo.conf

Now I like to delete all the bulls**t in the lilo config file so here is what mine would look like. (remember to set your own VGA accordingly )

lba32
boot=/dev/sda
prompt
timeout=60
change-rules
reset
vga=791
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda3
label = backtrack3_final

Excellent. Save that and then execute lilo (I like to use the verbose flag)
bt~#lilo -v

after that exit your chroot enviorment
bt/~exit

and reboot and cross your fingers

bt~#reboot

[wyze]

Originally Posted by pureh@te

This tutorial is going to assume a few things....

1. You have at least 2 neurons in your brain

This is the most important requirement for those that depend heavily on point/click installations btw ...time will tell how many n00bs heed this

Excellent tutorial btw

[drwalter]

title Backtrack 3 KDE
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro autoexec=xconf;kdm
boot


title Backtrack 3
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro
boot

REMEMBER: hd0,2 would be for partition 3 NOT 2. Change accordingly!

[punkrokk]

I agree w/encouraging a usb boot, but I'm sure there are reasons to want it on a hard drive... if only to have a place to play around

[alexios]

Nice Tutorial will try it when I'm done downloading BT3 Final.

Originally Posted by drwalter

title Backtrack 3 KDE
rootnoverify hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro autoexec=xconf;kdm
boot


title Backtrack 3
rootnoverify hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro
boot

REMEMBER: hd0,2 would be for partition 3 NOT 2. Change accordingly!

Should it not be this? (Correct me when I'm wrong.)
You forgot the "(" before hd0,2

title Backtrack 3 KDE
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro autoexec=xconf;kdm
boot


title Backtrack 3
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda3 ro
boot

[theprez98]

Replaced BT3b with BT3 Final using the above procedure, works like a champ.

[xirtam]

Originally Posted by pureh@te

This tutorial is going to assume a few things....

2. Your already partitioned and ready to go. (If you need a tutorial on partitioning I cant help you)

i have partioned my drive but do i need to set up the file system e.g. mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdc1?

[eovnu87435ds]

Originally Posted by punkrokk

I agree w/encouraging a usb boot, but I'm sure there are reasons to want it on a hard drive... if only to have a place to play around

A hard drive installation would be good for people who rely on their flashdrives alot. Thats a lot of data being written to the flashdrive, and they only have a limited number of write cycles. I've already killed a flashdrive that way, and if someone uses it to store/transfer important files, you wouldnt want to have the chance that they might just dissapear anytime soon.



Also, what are the minimum/recommended sizes for the partitions?

[jackabee]

I made a few minor changes to make a basic upgrade method:

You should already have swap so skip that part

After mounting your existing backtrack partition to /mnt/backtrack, copy any configuration files (e.g. /etc/X11/xorg.conf or individual app configs) somewhere.

When doing this part:

cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,etc,lib,opt,sbin,va r} /mnt/backtrack/

DONT cp home or root but remove the other dirs first so:

rm -rf /mnt/backtrack/{bin,dev,pentest,usr,etc,lib,opt,sbin,var}
cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,pentest,usr,etc,lib,opt,sbin,var} /mnt/backtrack/

I didn't have to touch grub (apart from change the name of my "Backtrack Beta 3" entry to "Backtrack 3 Final" so nothing major) so lilo should be ok too

Then simply cp your config files back

[drwalter]

Originally Posted by alexios

Nice Tutorial will try it when I'm done downloading BT3 Final.
Should it not be this? (Correct me when I'm wrong.)
You forgot the "(" before hd0,2

oops good call sorry I was literally rushing out the door when i posted. Thanks I this edited it.