So I decided to have a look at the latest Backtrack release (Backtrack 4 R1) which is claimed to be the best version released so far from the backtrack community. With the new Linux kernel version 2.6.34 and with significant overall improvements, this release is worth checking out. I always use the virtual machine option so that to play with it and then install the image on a hard disk by its own. Let us see below how I installed Backtrack 4 R1 on a VMWare virtual machine:
The specifications of my hardware and software are the following:
- Laptop DELL (core i3 with 4GB RAM)
- Win7 64-bit Professional
- VMWARE Workstation version 6.5.4
STEPS:
1. Download file from http://www.backtrack-linux.org/downloads/
File downloaded is bt4-r1-vm.tar.bz2 (around 2.5 GBytes)
2. Check the file with md5.exe tool to verify that MD5 is correct. This is important because such big files sometimes get corrupted when downloaded and also to verify the integrity of the file.
3. Uncompress the image with WinRAR (it took some time for winrar to open the archive – Be patient here.)
4. In VMWARE go to File>Open and select the virtual machine (BT4-R1) which you extracted above.
5. I then selected “Edit Virtual machine settings” and increased the memory from 768MB to 1024MB.
6. Then click on “Power on the virtual machine”
If you get a message that “This virtual machine may have been moved or copied” I selected “I copied it”.
7. After the Virtual machine boots up, you will get a prompt:
bt login:
Use root/toor as initial username/password
You will get the root prompt:
Now we must change the root password to something really strong.
[email protected]:~# passwd
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
8. Now do the fix-splash as advised by the backtrack website:
[email protected]:~# fix-splash
And then reboot
[email protected]:~# reboot now
9. After the machine boots up, start the graphical interface:
[email protected]:~# startx
DONE
Some other notes:
I like to have my virtual machine with direct access to the network interface of my host computer, so I always go to the virtual machine settings (“Edit Virtual machine settings”) and change the network adapter from “NAT” to “Bridged Mode“. With that, the LAN interface of the Backtrack in the virtual machine will have direct access to the network. If you have a DHCP server in the network, the Backtrack system will receive IP from the network, or otherwise you can configure static IP. Let’s see how to do both options below:
IP address from DHCP Server
ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient eth0
Static IP
ifconfig eth0 100.100.100.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
route add default gw 100.100.100.2 eth0
Also, you need to edit the /etc/resolv.conf file and change the nameserver line to add your DNS IP address.
latte says
I got up to step 4 but could not proceed further, because the compressed file when extracted gives me 6 vmdk files only and no vmx file (my MD5 check is good). VMware Workstation asked me for the vmx file.
How do I get VMWare Workstation to use these vmdk files or how do i generate a vmx file?
jobber says
You need to import a Virtual Machine File|Import/Export.
It will then let you browse to the vmx file you need to import.
haykel says
In the repository u will find the file that u need.
it has an icon that seams to vmware.
u add this file
good luck
gao says
what’s the initial username/password? i am a newer thanks
BlogAdmin says
The initial username/password are: root/toor
gao says
thank you soooooooo muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. it’s working
gao says
sorry one more question, it seem can’t connect to internet, why????
gao says
if i use network as ~bridg~ can not connect to internet, it says no ip address obtained
BlogAdmin says
You need to assign IP address, gateway and DNS and also bring up the ethernet interface (eth0)