Backtrack Final and R1 Mouse cursor error in VMWare Workstation with Live CD

[Agarax]

I'm not quite sure if this is a bug with VMWare or Backtrack, but I'll go ahead and post it.

Whenever booting Backtrack 4 Final or R1 from the ISO or a live USB created with unetbootin in VMWare 7.1.1 build-282343 the mouse is offset from where the effect is. Below is a screenshot of me dragging a box when I booted the BT4R1 ISO on a WinXP VM for some forensic stuff. The red X is where the mouse cursor was when I screenshotted.

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/4...essional20.png

This error does *not* occur when I install backtrack to the HDD in a VM and when I use the VM provided by the site.

[Archangel-Amael]

You boot BT4 onto a winxp vm ? Is that correct? If so then that doesn't seem right. You should boot BT4 in it's own virtual machine space.

I am thinking that this is not a bug.
Also more details would help us. Machine specs, did you check md5sum of downloads etc. See the faq.

[Agarax]

Apparently CTRL-ALT F2ing and then CTRL-ALT F7ing back into X recenters the mouse.

Booting Backtrack on a Windows VM makes a lot of sense if you are boning up on your forensics and/or data recovery methodology. The setup was a Backtrack VM and a Windows VM in a virtual network. Images were pumped from the Windows machine to the Backtrack one over the virtual network for analysis. After dumping the contents of the RAM to a .img and sending it over to a SMB share I had to reboot the machine into a live environment to send over the dd image of the Windows hard drive. I normally use X during this because I have one console window where dd if=/dev/sda | nc 192.168.0.xxx xxxx is running and a second window where I have TCPDUMP running (without saving the packets) to make sure that DD or netcat didn't crash and is still sending over the packets.

I found a similar bug in Fedora here.

[alexruyz]

I have the same issue. If I load Buffer 1024x768 or 800x600 my mouse position is way off, unusable.

Safe Graphics mode forces a resolution wider than 1600x1200 - I do not want to have to scroll around to see the whole VM. Auto fit is not doing anything.

Windows 7 with VMWare workstation 7 running BackTrack4...

[Archangel-Amael]

Whenever booting Backtrack 4 Final or R1 from the ISO or a live USB created with unetbootin in VMWare 7.1.1 build-282343 the mouse is offset from where the effect is.

Well this was your first sentence. So basically (all grammar rules aside,) it confused me. I saw this on first glance, "booting BT4 ~ from the ISO or a live USB in VMWare~ the mouse is offset.

So that is the reason for my initial response.

[Agarax]

Well this was your first sentence. So basically (all grammar rules aside,) it confused me. I saw this on first glance, "booting BT4 ~ from the ISO or a live USB in VMWare~ the mouse is offset.

So that is the reason for my initial response.

Yeah it does seem kinda confusing on second look. I was trying to get as much detail in as possible. I should have broken it up more and given more background.

My workaround will only work with VMWare workstation. I don't see an option in VMWare player to change the escape keys to allow the use of the CTRL ALT F# in the VM without exiting to the host OS.

For those that are trying to practice forensics or data recovery in the meantime I would recommend making a copy of the virtual hard disk from the Target VM and slaving it to the main hard disk in the official BT VM. You won't be dealing with the limited memory that you see in a Live CD but it's close enough.