Install BT3 to EEE PC Solid State Disk

[eovnu87435ds]

This is a tutorial I put together specifically for the EEE PC. It is derived from pureh@te's guide for a shell install and another guide for the beta from an external site. After following these 20 steps you will have Backtrack 3 running off the solid state disk in no time!
Note: if this hasn't worked for you before, I fixed a few typos, so try again!

You will need...
- An eee pc (4gb or larger SSD)
- A flashdrive (1gb or more) or a blank DVD, and an external USB DVD burner
- USB version of Back|track 3

1. Start by downloading backtrack 3, open the ISO with daemon tools or power ISO, or any other program that will give you access to the folders inside. If you have a DVD instead, just burn the ISO to the dvd using any popular burning program and skip step 2.

2. Copy the BT3 and BOOT folders to your flashdrive. Run the bootinst.bat if you are on windows or bootinst.sh if you are on linux, and make your flashdrive bootable. If you are using windows Vista, please follow the procedure stated below...
Copy BT3 and BOOT folders to your flashdrive. Click Start and search cmd. when cmd.exe appears, right click it and click "Run as Administrator." When it comes up, make sure you navigate to the flashdrive first, and then run the program. If you just type the entire path with the program, it will make your windows hard drive slax bootable only. Then you have no more running Vista. On, the bright side, no more Vista, so its not a total loss!!
***Thanks to governor for the Vista only options***


3. plug your flashdrive into your eee pc, and turn it on. At the grey boot screen, press the ESC key so you come to the boot menu. Highlight your flashdrive and press enter. Choose the 1st selection, Compiz. If an undefined video error comes up, just press SPACE to continue.

4. Once the GUI starts up, open the K menu, and open up xmms(in multimedia.) if they have a white outline around them, continue on. if not, skip to step 9.

5. go back to a working computer, and download the most recent beta of backtrack 3 USB version. It is archived on the remote exploit website.

6. once downloaded, navigate to it, and go to BT3 --> optional --> and copy the cubez.lzm file.

7. plug your flashdrive in, and replace the cubez.lzm file that is on your flashdrive with the one you just copied.

8. repeat steps 3 and 4.

9. format your harddrive, as that is where it will be stored. to do so, foll these commands. My SSD is usally /dev/sdc, so wherever you see that, replace C with whatever letter your SSD is. Also, I will not be creating a swap partition since the SSD does not have much space to begin with, and I have 2GB of ram anyway!!

fdisk /dev/hdc1
o
w
fdisk /dev/hdc1
n
p
1
[enter key]
[enter key]
w

10. restart, for good measures. boot back into your flashdrive using step 3.

11. format your disk in EXT3. yes, its journaled, but its less problematic than EXT2, and later in this tutorial you will cut down on some write cycles.

umount /dev/hdc1
mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdc1
mount /dev/hdc1

12. Now it is time to copy the files from the flashdrive to the SSD

mkdir /mnt/backtrack
mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt/backtrack/
mkdir /mnt/backtrack/boot
cp --preserve -R /{bin,dev,home,pentest,root,usr,etc,lib,opt,sbin,va r} /mnt/backtrack (the underlined is all one command line, dont hit enter inbetween. Also, When I posted, the last folder is all one word, but for some reason it shows with a space between the a and the r. This will take quite a while, just let it go, and grab a cup of coffee or something... it will be done when "bt~#" is back)
mkdir /mnt/backtrack/{mnt,proc,sys,tmp}
mount --bind /dev/ /mnt/backtrack/dev/
mount -t proc proc /mnt/backtrack/proc/
cp /boot/vmlinuz /mnt/backtrack/boot/

13. Set up LILO

chroot /mnt/backtrack /bin/bash

now, edit the lilo config file. I will use nano, you can use whatever.

nano /etc/lilo.conf

delete everything in it, EXCEPT THE LINE THAT IS vga = 773 the number may be different, but it is the only line that begins with vga that does not have # in front of it. make your lilo.conf look like this.

lba32
boot = /dev/hdc
prompt
timeout = 60
change-rules
reset
vga = 773
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hdc1
label = Back|track3

14. excecute these commands

lilo -v
exit

15. Check what letter your flashdrive is assigned, and make sure it is mounted. then copy the xorg config file to fix compiz in the real version. mine is sda1, so change accordingly

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /mnt/sda1/

16. Shutdown and restart

shutdown -r now

There is a bug that affects some eee pc users where it will hang in the shutdown process. If it comes to a point where nothing is happening for a while, just force it off with the power button.

17. remove the flashdrive. when you turn on, you will boot from your harddrive. log in with root, password toor. then type startx to start the GUI. If you have gotten this far, congrats, you have Backtrack on your eee pc! all you need to do is fix a few flaws and you can be "auditing" networks in no time.

18. Fix compiz. plug in your flashdrive, click OK, and navigate to BT3 --> Optional. press F4 and a Konsole window will open. Quit the Compiz fusion icon in your panel by right clicking it, and clicking quit

lzm2dir cubez.lzm /
cp /mnt/sdX1/xorg.conf /etc/X11/

The next time the GUI runs, compiz should be fully working

19. Reduce write cycles to your SSD. To do this, we will put all log files in your RAM instead of on your SSD, so if you ever need to daignose a problem, comment these lines out or delete them.

nano /etc/fstab

Add these 3 lines to the bottom of that file, and save.

tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=0777 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=0777 0 0
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=0777 0 0

20. Fix Shutdown bug. Some people have a problem where the shutdown process hangs, and they have to force off their eee pc. to fix this, edit the following file.

nano /etc/rc.d/rc.6

find the line echo "Unmounting local file systems."
add this line just before it

modprobe -r snd_hda_intel

Save and exit

20.Fix Kismet. to do this you must edit Kismet's config file.

nano /usr/local/etc/kismet.conf

find this line...

source=none,none,addone

replace it with this...

source=madwifi_g,wifi0,madwifi

save and exit. Note that you may have to start Kismet from the Konsole by typing kismet instead of picking it from the K menu.

Congratulations! you should have a perfectly working eee pc with Backtrack 3 on the solid state drive! if it still isnt working, post something. if I get the time i may add screenshots to this.
P.S. I bet you didnt notice 2 step # 20s

[Barry]

Kismet works from the menu now. You don't really "need" the fix. Though it won't hurt if you never use usb wifi devices with your eee. Though the menu won't allow multiple sources, so knowing what to configure with command line doesn't hurt either.

[3l33t1]

Hi i am new ,I used a free program to open the usb iso. Its called 7-zip. And copied actually 3 folders onto the usb drive:E\ and clicked on boot folder boot install,then it was made bootable. Am in the process to follow your tuturial,Bactrack-F to usb then sdhc card or solidstate drive on eee 4 g. Presently have bt3beta on eee. It rulz and im sure this one will too. Great job guys. Thanks My first post

[K4rn4K]

Can I translate this topic and post it on a Italian Forum ? Naturally with a link to this forum and Back Track Site.

[Hayw1re]

it does not let me do this : mount --bind /dev/ mnt/backtrack/dev/ says mount: mount point mnt/backtrack/dev does not exist

[eovnu87435ds]

Originally Posted by K4rn4K

Can I translate this topic and post it on a Italian Forum ? Naturally with a link to this forum and Back Track Site.

Ma certo! (if i said that right...) sure!

[governor]

Originally Posted by eovnu87435ds

2. Copy the BT3 and BOOT folders to your flashdrive. Run the bootinst.bat if you are on windows or bootinst.sh if you are on linux, and make your flashdrive bootable.

experience to be shared #1:


for those working on vista, and bootinst.bat results with:

"Accessing physical drive: Access is denied.
Did not successfully update the MBR; continuing..."

the solution is "run as administrator"... if you wanna run from cmd to ensure your working directory for avoiding mistakes etc. then an easy way to run cmd as administrator is "start->search->cmd" ... type cmd but dont enter, just wait... in your search list in the start menu you will see cmd.exe... now you can right click it and "run as administrator"

*** reminder: be sure you see the correct drive letter for your good will

hope this helps

[Barry]

Originally Posted by governor

experience to be shared #1:


for those working on vista, and bootinst.bat results with:

"Accessing physical drive: Access is denied.
Did not successfully update the MBR; continuing..."

the solution is "run as administrator"... if you wanna run from cmd to ensure your working directory for avoiding mistakes etc. then an easy way to run cmd as administrator is "start->search->cmd" ... type cmd but dont enter, just wait... in your search list in the start menu you will see cmd.exe... now you can right click it and "run as administrator"

*** reminder: be sure you see the correct drive letter for your good will

hope this helps

People actually use Vista??!!

[pureh@te]

Originally Posted by Barry

People actually use Vista??!!

And if they do why are they admitting it?

[eovnu87435ds]

Originally Posted by governor

experience to be shared #1:


for those working on vista, and bootinst.bat results with:

"Accessing physical drive: Access is denied.
Did not successfully update the MBR; continuing..."

the solution is "run as administrator"... if you wanna run from cmd to ensure your working directory for avoiding mistakes etc. then an easy way to run cmd as administrator is "start->search->cmd" ... type cmd but dont enter, just wait... in your search list in the start menu you will see cmd.exe... now you can right click it and "run as administrator"

*** reminder: be sure you see the correct drive letter for your good will

hope this helps

I will edit my post to put this tidbit of info in there, I only assume it will become more commonplace seeing that XP is no longer being sold by retailers any more.