Anonymous - 2012-12-10

BackTrack codename whydah R1 Release

User’s Guide

Burn To CD or DVD

BackTrack distribution in ISO format. ISO file you download from our site is a complete image of the CD. To burn it properly, start your CD-writing software and find "Burn image" or "Burn CD iso image" option. Your computer can allow you to boot from the CD once (only for this time) by pressing a special key (usually F11, F2 or F10) during the memory checks (very soon after the computer's power on). Or press some key during the startup (usually Del key), which will allow you to enter BIOS SETUP. There you can go through some menus and look for "Advanced settings", "Boot order" or "Boot options". Set CDROM as a first device and harddisk as a second one.

Run from USB or HDD

Run BackTrack from USB drive extract (unzip) the .iso directly to your USB flash key. To make BackTrack boot from your USB device or disk: you have to manually navigate to the newly created /boot/ directory and run bootinst.sh script or bootinst.bat script. Install syslinux bootloader to your device's MBR (master boot record). Syslinux works only on FAT filesystem.

Into RAM

BackTrack into RAM, the option to load BackTrack into RAM results in a freakishly fast system that has almost all the functionality of a fully fledged BackTrack install and twice the speed. Even when is loaded from a flash device or locally from your hard drive it is still very fast and around 30 seconds after pushing the power button you are ready to go. When you boot BackTrack you may be presented with a text prompt from which you are required to login and type 'startx' to get a graphical interface. if this is the case the username/password is root/toor.

Create Module

Convert directory tree into .lzm compressed module

root@whydah:/# dir2lzm source_directory.lzm
root@whydah:/# dir2lzm --help

Coonvert .lzm compressed module back into directory tree

root@whydah:/# lzm2dir source_file.lzm existing_output_directory
root@whydah:/# lzm2dir --help

Convert Slackware's TGZ package into .lzm compressed module

root@whydah:/# tgz2lzm source_filename.tgz output_file.lzm
root@whydah:/# tgz2lzm --help

Convert Debian/Ubuntu's DEB package into .lzm compressed module

root@whydah:/# deb2lzm source_filename.deb [output_file.lzm]
root@whydah:/# deb2lzm --help

What is it, the SquashFS?

Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux.
Squashfs is intended for general read-only filesystem use, for archival use (i.e. in cases where a .tar.gz file may be used), and in constrained block device/memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed. Putting it shortly, it’s an easy recipe for easy data compression. To be more precise, SquashFS is a file system in read-only mode which transparently uses the data it contains. To make such a file, one should issue the mksquashfs command:

root@whydah:/# mksquashfs /root /files/root.sqfs

Root home directory will be compressed to the root.sqfs file.

Navigate Through the File System

cd - change directory
ls - list files
pwd - print working directory

Manipulating Files

cp - copy one or more files
df - disk free displays the amount of available disk space
du - disk used
find - find a file
locate - locates files
ln - make a link to a file
mkdir - make directory
mv - move files
rm - remove files
rmdir - remove directory

Utilities

cat - list file content on screen
echo - just that... an echo
grep - search for pattern in file
head - display the beginning (head) of a file
less - less is more, more is less
man - display the manual
more - list file on screen
tail - display the last part (tail) of a file
tar - unpacks/packs files from/to file

System Commands

finger - Get information about other users
kill - terminate a process
ps - lists processes
talk - talk to other users
top - interactive list of running processes
who - Info about users who are logged on

If you need to use the module after BackTrack is started

All the methods described above require you to restart BackTrack every time you wish to add or remove additional modules. A more comfortable way is to manage modules on the fly, while BackTrack is running. You can use 'activate' and 'deactivate' commands manually. Syntax is following:

activate /path/firefox.lzm

deactivate firefox.lzm

The module will be activated on the fly and the application will look like installed. Then, you will need to start the application by appropriate command.

 

Last edit: Anonymous 2012-12-10