Dual Boot Backtrack 4 PF and Mint 7

[aquatsr]

This is a tutorial to get both Mint 7 (an OS based on Ubuntu) and Backtrack 4 Pre-Final installed on my laptop, a Compaq Presario V2000. Much of the information on how to get either Backtrack or Mint installed separately is already found in other places, and is relatively easy to do. However, this is for the benefit of those who want both, and I'm trying to make that as easy as possible.

What You Need
1. The Backtrack 4 Pre-final iso, available from the Remote Exploit website.
2. The Linux Mint 7 iso.
3. A USB stick (around 4 GB or more)
4. A blank CD-R or CD-RW disk
5. Computer that can boot from both USB and CD-ROM.
6. unetbootin (installed on a computer already running Windows or Linux)

Disk Preparation and Partitioning
We need to make a bootable USB drive that contains Backtrack and a LiveCD that contains Mint. For the Mint LiveCD, simply burn the iso using your favorite image burning software. I used the Disk Utility in Mac OS X. (Mount the iso, then burn it to disk). For backtrack, just download the iso to a working computer.

Making a bootable USB stick is somewhat more involved, but still very easy.

First boot into the Mint 7 LiveCD. You may need to change the boot options in your BIOS to boot from CD ROM, which you can get to by pressing Esc when your computer is starting up (or F2)

Once you are in the Mint environment, plug in your USB stick and open a Terminal window to start GParted by typing sudo gparted at the prompt. Sometimes the USB stick is pre-formatted as FAT32, I think you can leave it like that, but I made it into one 1.5 GB fat32 portion and one 2.5 GB ext3 partition. (This can then be used to make a BT4 install on USB with persistent changes, but that's for another time)

After partitioning the USB drive, close everything down and boot into a working computer that contains your Backtrack 4 iso. Download and install unetbootin. Plug in the newly formatted USB stick and make sure it is visible and mounted. Run unetbootin.

Specify the path to your iso by selecting the option for Disk Image and typing in the path or browsing to the file. If you formatted the USB drive as stated you can simply press OK to begin the process. Otherwise make sure that you choose the USB disk option at the bottom before pressing OK. You can safely ignore any warning about files already existing on the drive.

Once the process completes you will have a bootable USB drive of Backtrack 4 Pre-final.

Now that we have our LiveCD and bootable USB stick, we need to partition the hard disk that we'll install the OSs on. In the boot-options in the BIOS I specified the USB stick as first boot.

Exit the BIOS saving changes. When the Backtrack boot options come up just choose Default. At the root@bt prompt type in

startx

to start the Backtrack 4 Desktop

Once the Desktop boots up open a Terminal window by clicking on the Konsole icon on the taskbar.

Again use the command gparted to open GParted. At this point I'm assuming you want to begin with a fresh disk. If there are existing partitions delete them until you have one large unallocated partition. Then set up additional partitions as follows:

(My hard drive is 100 GB, so the sizes you choose may be different.) If all you plan to use are Mint7 and Backtrack4, you could do 50/50 partitioning, leaving just a tiny bit for swap space.

/dev/sda1 ext3 25 GB <- Will use for Mint
/dev/sda2 ext3 20 GB <- Will use for Backtrack
/dev/sda3 none 50 GB <- Future install
/dev/sda5 swap 3 GB <- Swap space

Make the first two partitions as Primary and the swap as Extended. The swap space does not need to be very large - it can be as little as 256 MB. Note that when specifying partition size you must enter the number in megabytes

Installation

Now run install.sh which is found on the desktop. Set up your language, timezone and keyboard preferences. When you get to the partition screen, select Manual install. Click on /dev/sda2 and choose the Edit option. Mount on / (root). You do not need to format since it has been pre-formatted as ext3. Click through until you reach Step 8/8. Click on the Advanced button near the bottom right and uncheck the option to install the bootloader.

The installation can take some time (15+ minutes). When it has completed, reboot the computer into BIOS and this time change first boot to CD-ROM. Make sure your Mint 7 CD is in the drive.

When the LiveCD boots up choose to run the Installer. This will bring up a screen similar to the one we used to install Backtrack. Again, set up your user, language, timezone, and keyboard preferences. This time select /dev/sda1. Click edit and select / as the mount point. Click through until the final confirmation screen. This time click Advanced and make sure the Install bootloader option is checked.

When the installation is complete, remove the LiveCD from the drive and the USB stick as well. Start up the computer. The GRUB bootloader will load. At this point you should see 2-3 Mint 7 options, and under Other Operating Systems you will see a memtest option. Where is the Backtrack install? Don't worry we'll set that up right now.

Modifying the Bootloader

Boot into the first option at the top, the Mint 7 we just finished installing. Use the account name and password you specified for the Mint account to log in.

Click on the Menu icon and open Terminal. Navigate to /boot/grub using the command cd /boot/grub

Open the file menu.lst. You can do this with any text editor you prefer, I happen to like vi. (so type sudo vi menu.lst). Go to line 155 by typing :155. Press a to get into insert mode and then add the following lines:

title Backtrack 4
rootnoverify hd(0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.4 rw root=/dev/hda2
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.29.4

Press Esc to end insert mode. Type :wq to save the file and quit.

Congrats! You now have Mint 7 and Backtrack 4 Installed and available to use!

I know this tut is kind of rough so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Archangel-Amael]

Hello, I recently got Backtrack 4 Pre-Final and Linux Mint 7 working on my laptop. I was wondering if this would be the appropriate place to explain how I did so?

Thank you.

Yeah this would be the appropriate place for a tutorial and or a how to since it is the sub-forum title. So go back to your first post and then edit the above out and put in the tutorial, instead of your question.

[stevo937]

Haha well since this is a "how-to" forum, it seems appropriate.

[Archangel-Amael]

Haha well since this is a "how-to" forum, it seems appropriate.

Well you asked.
BTW at the top of this sub-forum:
BackTrack 4 Howto Tutorials and Howtos about BackTrack 4 (NOT for requesting tutorials or how to do anything)

[3z___]

Hello all,

I see that this method is to install bt4-prefinal first then proceed to install ubuntu mint7. I wish I know earlier.

But I did the dualboot installation where I installed ubuntu first then bt4-prefinal.

My problem is when i get a kernel update from ubuntu, bt4-prefinal grub wont find the new kernel .

Is there a workaround so that my bt4-prefinal grub finds the new ubuntu kernel?

My partitions are as follow:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4878 39182503+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda2 4879 12709 62902507+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 12710 14593 15133230 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 1 4672 37527777 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 4673 4878 1654663+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

sda3 is bt4-prefinal
sda5 is ubuntu jaunty

Thanks.

[aquatsr]

Hello 3z___,

As I understand it you have installed Ubuntu Jaunty and then also installed Backtrack 4 Pre-Final. That's fine. I did it the way I did because I knew it would work.

3z___, did you ever have grub set up such that both Ubuntu and Backtrack showed up, and is it since the update that it does not?

Reply back.

EDIT: I just noticed that you're booting into an extended partition? How is that working for you?

[3z___]

Hello 3z___,

As I understand it you have installed Ubuntu Jaunty and then also installed Backtrack 4 Pre-Final. That's fine. I did it the way I did because I knew it would work.

3z___, did you ever have grub set up such that both Ubuntu and Backtrack showed up, and is it since the update that it does not?

Reply back.

EDIT: I just noticed that you're booting into an extended partition? How is that working for you?

Hi aquatsr,

Yeah, the grub works.

But I just did an update and upgrade in ubuntu jaunty and I noticed that there is a kernel upgrade but unfortunately still have the old kernel.

I installed ubuntu using ubiquity installer (I guess it is the name)where:
my hdd = 120GB
/dev/sda2 ~60GB
/dev/sda3 ~15GB

and /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda4 are unused partitions about 40GB
then on prepare disk space (on ubiquity installer), I pick

Guided-use the largest continuous free space


and I get /dev/sda1 as extended
and /dev/sda5 ext3 for ubuntu
and /dev/sda6 for swap

I then, installed bt4-pefinal on /dev/sda3

My old menu.lst (in /mnt/sda5/boot/grub/menu.lst) is as follow:

default 0
timeout 3

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-12-generic
uuid 8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-12-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic

#title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
#uuid 8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro quiet splash
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
#quiet

#title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
#uuid 8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro single
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

# title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
# uuid 8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4
# kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
# quiet

title BT4 Beta (persistent changes)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT4b/boot/vmlinuz rw changes=/dev/sda3/changes_bt4b root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 quiet
initrd /boot/BT4b/boot/initrd.gz

title BT4 Beta (live)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT4b/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 rw quiet
initrd /boot/BT4b/boot/initrd.gz

title BT3 Final (live)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT3/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 rw quiet
initrd /boot/BT3/boot/initrd.gz


### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

My bt4-prefinal menu.lst (in /mnt/sda3/boot/grub/menu.lst) is as follow:

default 2
timeout 1

## ## End Default Options ##

vga=0x317image=859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d/boot/grub/vga=0x317.xpm.gz

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.29.4 (pwnsauce)
uuid 859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.4 root=UUID=859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d ro quiet vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.29.4
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.29.4 (recovery mode)
uuid 859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.4 root=UUID=859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.29.4

#title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
#uuid 859506d5-04d8-40cf-837d-246756314c3d
#kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
#quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
#title Other operating systems:
#root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-12-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro quiet vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-12-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=8f319891-ae4d-422c-8802-ee39c442a3a4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title BT4 Beta (persistent changes)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT4b/boot/vmlinuz rw changes=/dev/sda3/changes_bt4b root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 quiet
initrd /boot/BT4b/boot/initrd.gz
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title BT4 Beta (live)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT4b/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 rw quiet
initrd /boot/BT4b/boot/initrd.gz
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title BT3 Final (live)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/BT3/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=6666 rw quiet
initrd /boot/BT3/boot/initrd.gz
savedefault
boot

Furthermore in /mnt/sda5/boot:

abi-2.6.28-11-generic memtest86+.bin
abi-2.6.28-12-generic splash.initrd
abi-2.6.28-13-generic System.map-2.6.28-11-generic
BT3 System.map-2.6.28-12-generic
BT4b System.map-2.6.28-13-generic
config-2.6.28-11-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.28-11-generic
config-2.6.28-12-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.28-12-generic
config-2.6.28-13-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.28-13-generic
grub vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic
initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic
initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic
initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic

Sorry for the long post. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[3z___]

Hi aquatsr,

Yeah, the grub works.

But I just did an update and upgrade in ubuntu jaunty and I noticed that there is a kernel upgrade but unfortunately still have the old kernel.

I installed ubuntu using ubiquity installer (I guess it is the name)where:
my hdd = 120GB
/dev/sda2 ~60GB
/dev/sda3 ~15GB

and /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda4 are unused partitions about 40GB
then on prepare disk space (on ubiquity installer), I pick

Guided-use the largest continuous free space


and I get /dev/sda1 as extended
and /dev/sda5 ext3 for ubuntu
and /dev/sda6 for swap

I then, installed bt4-pefinal on /dev/sda3

My old menu.lst (in /mnt/sda5/boot/grub/menu.lst) is as follow:


My bt4-prefinal menu.lst (in /mnt/sda3/boot/grub/menu.lst) is as follow:



Furthermore in /mnt/sda5/boot:


Sorry for the long post. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Thanks vvpalin, it`s damn easy, just modify bt4-prefinal grub by changing the old ubuntu kernel version to the new kernel one (ie 2.6.28-12-generic to 2.6.28-13-generic).

[sudoaptget]

Im having hell figuring out how to configure my menu.lst im getting the error "unknown device string" when i try booting my backtrack 4 menu option here is how its all setup

fdisk -l gives me this

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0cd70cd6

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 17798 142962403+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 19132 19457 2618595 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 17799 19131 10707322+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 17799 19068 10201243+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 19069 19131 506016 82 Linux swap / Solaris


I currently have backtrack installed on sda5 and i thnk it just comes down to the hd(0,0) thing but im having hell trying to find anywhere that really explains all this. here is my menu.lst

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-legacy-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## Graphical boot menu location
gfxmenu=/boot/gfxmenu/linuxmint.message

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 5

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(single-user) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

title Backtrack 4
rootnoverify hd(0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.4 rw root=/dev/sda5
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.29.4

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

[aeon.maelstrom]

Thanks! My networking class uses backtrack 4, but I didn't want to run it from the dvd or overwrite my Mint Linux 7 installation. I almost had a heart attack after I installed bt4 to a new partition and reset, it had overwritten my mint grub loader. After I restored the mint grub loader, it was just a matter of following your tutorial to get bt4 into the grub menu.