howto install backtrack 4 final on a usb drive with persistant changes
get a laptop, a usb thumb drive (& internet) (tip: you might already have a computer and internet, when you can read this text)
for partitioning your usb we will take fdisk
fdisk /dev/sdb
to take a look at our usb we do “p”, which prints out our partitiontable.
normally it should be empty, when you followed the cleaning instructions right. if not, delete all partitions until the table is empty, using “d”.
to create a new partition we do “n”,we take primary “p”, choose the partition number “1”, and size it to 1600mb
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-15296, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-973, default 973): +1600M
make partition 1 bootable
Command (m for help): a Partition number (1-4): 1
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (206-973, default 206):
Using default value 206
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (206-973, default 973): +1600M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 3
First cylinder (411-973, default 411):
Using default value 411
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (411-973, default 973):
Using default value 973
=== partition types and change the type of the first and last partition to FAT32 using “t”
Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-4): 1 Hex code (type L to list codes): b Changed system type of partition 1 to b (W95 FAT32) Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-4): 3 Hex code (type L to list codes): b Changed system type of partition 3 to b (W95 FAT32)
looks good, now lets write it on our stick
Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional information. Syncing disks.
mkdosfs /dev/sdb1 -n dharma mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb2 -L casper-rw mkdosfs /dev/sdb3 -n larry
NOTE : it is very imported that you name the scond drive “casper-rw”, so backtrack can find the volume with your changes !!!
download the backtrack 4 final iso, or wget it
cd /tmp && wget http://www.backtrack-linux.org/download.php?fname=bt4f
(if does not work try a torrent)
cd /tmp && wget http://www.backtrack-linux.org/bt4-final.iso.torrent
copy the image to a usb using unetbootin,
1. Plug in your USB Drive (Minimum USB Drive capacity 2 GB) 2. Format the USB drive to FAT32 3. Download Unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ 4. Start Unetbootin and select diskimage (use the backtrack-final ISO) 5. Select your USB drive and click “OK” for creating a bootable BackTrack USB drive 6. Log into BackTrack with the default username and password root / toor.
after you boot your fresh installed backtrack and apply the following, to make your changes persistant.
first mount the second partition on the usb
mkdir /mnt/foo -v mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/foo -v
create the changes folder
mkdir /mnt/foo/changes -v
edit the syslinux.cfg
kate /media/cdrom/syslinux.cfg
change the timeout
timeout 23
and copy the following lines under timeout
label btbootin menu label Backtrack 4 final - persistant changes kernel /ubnkern append initrd=/ubninit BOOT=casper boot=casper persistent rw changes=/dev/sdb2 vga=0x317
done !
now you only need to reboot one more time, and you finally can enjoy your backtrack 4 live with persistant changes on a usb !!!