Tricks, Hacks and Fixes for Everyday Problems.

This tutorial is a quick break down on how to install a bootable version of Backtrack 4 Pre-Final (BT4) to a USB key or DVD. It’s part of the Tutorial Series for Myfriendjosh.com. I plan on using Backtrack 4 for quite a few articles in the future. Instead of writing the installation procedures into every article, I will instead refer to the Tutorial Series in the future to cut down on redundancy. This article is in fact a re-hash of the previous article “Quick Tutorial: Installing Backtrack 4 Beta (BT4) to a Dvd or USB key”

What is Backtrack 4?

From Remote-Exploit.org, “BackTrack is the most top rated Linux live distribution focused on penetration testing. With no installation whatsoever, the analysis platform is started directly from the CD-ROM and is fully accessible within minutes.” Don’t let the name Linux scare you off though, it’s incredibly easy to use and very intuitive.

So, Backtrack is basically a ready-to-run Linux installation that requires no installing; you just pop the disk/USB key in and you are ready to run. Backtrack 4 contains over 300 security tools that allow you to do everything from breaking into wi-fi networks to password cracking to intercepting wireless information and much more. It’s an amazing Swiss Army® knife of security tools.

The great thing about Backtrack 4 is that you can run it all from a USB key or a DVD. Backtrack 4 leaves your hard drive untouched. This means that when you pop the disc/USB key out and reboot, your computer is unchanged and nothing you did in Backtrack 4 will be saved. This also means that if you do “mess something up” in Linux, you can just restart the computer and Backtrack 4 will be running just like it did the first time. If you want to save data while in Backtrack, just pop a(nother) USB key in and copy all the data to it.

So let’s get started.

What you need for this:

If you are installing Backtrack 4 Pre-Final to a DVD:

Computer with a DVD Burner
A Blank DVD
Backtrack 4 Pre-Final .iso – Get it here (Select the newest version, which at the current time it is ‘BT4 Pre Final- Release‘)
Burning Software (not needed for Windows Vista or 7, as its included with them) – If you don’t have one, get ‘Infrarecorder‘

If you are installing Backtrack 4 Pre-Final to a USB key:

A Blank 2gb (or larger) USB key
Backtrack 4 Pre-Final .iso – Get it here (Select the newest version, which at the current time it is ‘BT4 Pre-Final Release‘)
Unetbootin – Get it here

*From here on in Backtrack 4 will be referred to as BT4

Installing Backtrack 4 Pre-Final (BT4) to a DVD

So we will begin by downloading the necessary software.

Backtrack 4 .iso – Get it here (Select the newest version, which at the current time it is ‘BT4 Pre-Final – Release‘). You will need to have burning software; if you don’t have any (and you are not using Windows Vista or 7 which can burn .iso files natively) download the free software Infrarecorder Here. If you download the burning software, once the download is complete double click the setup file and install the program. Now that we have everything downloaded and installed we are ready to go.

Some people have been having problems booting Pre-Final from Dvd and/or USB. This occurs when the download has been corrupted during download. Be sure to check if the download completed uninterrupted. To do this check the MD5 tag on the file. Simply GO HERE (Or anywhere) and grab a MD5 checker and make sure the MD5 tag matches this code:

b0485da6194d75b30cda282ceb629654

Because there is such a range of options for burning software that readers may have installed, I will not be program specific when giving instructions. Regardless, begin by putting a blank DVD into your DVD burner. With your burning software installed you should be able to just double click the ‘bt4-pre-final.iso’ file (If you have Windows Vista or 7 it will do the same) which should be named ‘bt4-pre-final.iso’ and it will load your burning software. Click ‘Burn’ and the program should burn BT4 as a boot-able DVD. When you want to boot into BT4 you should just pop the DVD in your computer and reboot it, if your BIOS boot settings are correct, it should take you right into BT4!

The default login and password for BT4 is:

login: root
password: toor

**Remember, if your computer is not set to boot from the DVD before the hard drive, then it will boot into your normal operating system and you won’t be able to boot from the DVD. You can change these settings in your BIOS. To learn how to do this, read “Tutorial: Setting your computer to boot from Dvd, CD or USB”

Installing Backtrack 4 Pre-Final to a USB

Begin by downloading the necessary software.

*These methods will not with with Backtrack 4 Beta. Backtrack 4 Beta needs a couple extra steps if you want to install Backtrack 4 Beta please read “Quick Tutorial: Installing Backtrack 4 Beta (BT4) to a Dvd or USB key” .

Backtrack 4 Pre-Final.iso – Get it here (Select the newest version, which at the current time it is ‘BT4 Pre-Final Release‘)
Download Unetbootin – Get it here.

Once your downloads are complete, plug your blank USB key into your computer and format it with a FAT32 partition (to do this go into My computer and right click the USB key and select format). Run Unetbootin and select the option ‘Disk Image’ and then click the ‘…’ on the right hand side of the Disk Image option. Find and select the ‘bt4-pre-final.iso’ file we just downloaded and click ‘Open’. Now, on the bottom of the window, select which drive your USB key is on. Mine is on Drive E:\ – yours may be the same or it may be different. If you are unsure which drive your USB key is on, open up your windows explorer and on the left hand side it should show you the name of the USB key and the letter your drive is on. When you have selected the right drive click ‘OK’ to continue.

Unetbootin will proceed to extract and install BT4 onto your USB key now. Let it finish. When it’s done it will present you with the screen letting you know that the job was a success!  If your computer is already set to boot from USB just click reboot and it should take you into BT4!

The default login and password for BT4 is:

login: root
password: toor

Some people have been having problems booting Pre-Final from Dvd and/or USB. This occurs when the download has been corrupted during download. Be sure to check if the download completed uninterrupted. To do this check the MD5 tag on the file. Simply GO HERE (Or anywhere) and grab a MD5 checker and make sure the MD5 tag matches this code:

b0485da6194d75b30cda282ceb629654

**Remember, if your computer is not set to boot from USB before your hard drive then it will boot into your normal operating system and you won’t be able to boot from the USB. You can change these settings in your BIOS. To learn how to do this, read “Tutorial: Setting your computer to boot from Dvd, CD or USB”

That’s it!