HowTo: Install BT4 Dual Boot using VMware Workstation

[Snayler]

NOTE: Since VMware Workstation is not a cheap software, I did some researching and recreated this tutorial with VirtualBox, which is free (but slower, in my experience). You can follow that tutorial here: http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forum...irtualbox.html

This tutorial is great for those of us who have an old laptop that can't boot from a DVD/USB, or just for those who would like to be able to watch a movie, listen to some music, etc... while installing BT4 to the hard drive.

This was not my idea, I followed what bender01101 shared in his post. I just wanted to make this "official".

HowTo: Install BT4 Dual Boot using VMware Workstation

Step 1: Resize Windows partition

In order to follow this tutorial, I advise to resize the windows partition first, freeing some space for your BackTrack installation.

I've used a freeware named EASEUS Partition Master - Home Edition, you can use another program if you like or, in case you have windows Vista/7, the disk manager included with this versions.

Step 2: Create the Virtual Machine

Open VMWare Workstation and create a new virtual machine (File>New...>Virtual Machine...)
Select "Custom (advanced)" and then hit "Next >" twice.
Select "Installer disc image file (iso):" and browse for the bt4-final iso. Hit "Next >".
Select Linux then choose Ubuntu from the dropdown menu. Hit "Next >" twice.
Choose processors as you like/need > "Next >"
Choose amount of RAM as you like > "Next >" (x3)
Select the option "Use a physical disk", so that VMware can access and install BT4 to the disk.
Click "Next >", select "PhysicalDrive0" and "Use entire disk". Click "Next >" twice, then finish.

Step 3: Power on your virtual machine

ATTENTION!!! Right after you power on the machine, you have to click on the VMWare window until the guest captures the mouse and then click "esc" quickly, so that you can select where to boot from. Otherwise it will try to boot windows, which is already our host. Select to boot from the CD/DVD and press enter.



Step 4: Install BackTrack

Start BT4 and install. When you reach the page where the installer asks how do you want to partition the disk, select "Manual". Select the free space and create a new partition.
We will first create the swap partition, so enter the desired size for the partition and change the filesystem to swap. Then create your BT4 partition, enter the desired partition size, leave the filesystem as Ext3 and select "/" as mount point.


BT4 is ready to install now. You can now surf the web, listen to some music, watch videos,... while you wait for the installation to finish. Once it's done, close VMWare and reboot your computer. Grub will appear, hopefully, and you can boot into BackTrack 4 and Windows.

[archaeus5]

did anyone tested this install method?

[Archangel-Amael]

did anyone tested this install method?

Here's an idea, instead of making such posts as the one above why don't you test it out and then make a new post in this thread and let us know how it turns out.
I mean it should be somewhat obvious since the post has only been here for a few days.

[Snayler]

did anyone tested this install method?

No, I just like to make posts about things I don't have a clue how they work...

Now speaking seriously: yes, I tested it and as it seems, bender01101 has tested it too. It worked pretty well for me, like a normal installation. After installation, you can also boot your BT4 installation on disk using VMWare, while using windows. Which is great because sometimes I just want to add a package I'm reading about or test something quickly and I don't want to waste time rebooting my machine, doing what I have to do, and rebooting again to get back to windows.

But, like archangel.amael said, it's better if you test it by yourself, and post here your results so that others can know if it works or not, and in this last case, for me to know what went wrong and update the tutorial accordingly.

[archaeus5]

Here's an idea, instead of making such posts as the one above why don't you test it out and then make a new post in this thread and let us know how it turns out.
I mean it should be somewhat obvious since the post has only been here for a few days.

Don`t get hard on me mate. I`ve asked this because, in order to do it, I have to deleted data on my PC. So, I wanted to know if it worth it. I don`t have much free space on my HDD. that`s why I run BT on live CD.

Snayler: ok then. I`ll give it a try. Thanks for answering so fast.

[lex luthor]

Snayler, thank you and to the rest on this post/thread, I will give this a try tonight and give it a go. I have that the vmware workstation has a 3 day trial period. I will give it a try and go from there. As far as space go, I have an extra hdd (60GB) that I upgraded to 180GB and I also have a 20GB that I will use as an external hdd when I can get the enclosure. But for this I will stand up and take a shot.

"You'll miss 100% of the time unless you take a shot." - Retired Army Kernel F.R.

Another one of my fav for tech enhanced:

"There is many things that you can undo, a pregnant woman is not one of them" - my father, the paramedic

[lex luthor]

Tested it and is did not perform well. The vmware station installed correctly and apparently since I have a 256mb Ram card installed but the BIOS is only allowing 192mb of ram to be seen. The workstation is wanting me to use more physical memory than what is there. So for no luck, but I will keep trying. Till then.....no light bulb yet.

[lttazz99]

i tried using vmware and followed the exact same steps but on rebooting grub doesnt show up but my win7hp boots up....what could be the problem?

i also tried dual boot by booting from liveDVD but there is a problem with the screen config. any option i choose for the os selection gives me the same error.
after entering startx all of them say: screen(s) found but none have a usable configiuration
fatal error
no screens found
what should i do?
PS.i have a 15inch 720p screen if that matters

[Eatme]

has anybody found out by doing this will make aircrack-ng run a little bit faster or the whole BT4 OS itself, Vs running it with Vmware Workstation ?

Asking a such question due to not having any free space to test this on. If this is so, then I can go ahead and delete my vmware HD and switch to this method.

I have a AMD dual Core 2.10 GHz with 6GB RAM. Running BT4 Vmware 7.x Install (2GB RAM). And I get up to 540.00 k/s. 10:00Hrs to run a 22,000,000 password list.

[Snayler]

i also tried dual boot by booting from liveDVD but there is a problem with the screen config. any option i choose for the os selection gives me the same error.
after entering startx all of them say: screen(s) found but none have a usable configiuration
fatal error
no screens found
what should i do?
PS.i have a 15inch 720p screen if that matters

Have you tried fix-vesa? What graphics card do you have?

has anybody found out by doing this will make aircrack-ng run a little bit faster or the whole BT4 OS itself, Vs running it with Vmware Workstation ?

Asking a such question due to not having any free space to test this on. If this is so, then I can go ahead and delete my vmware HD and switch to this method.

This method is like a normal installation. It will make aircrack and BT4 run faster and smoothly (like any other installation method [liveDVD, LiveUSB,...]) as long as you boot BT4.
Just to clarify, booting windows and using BT4 inside the VM created in this tutorial will be the same as running a normal VM, in terms of speed.