Running Backtrack on Ubuntu 10.04 OS

[DavidOfLondon]

Hi guys,

My only OS is Ubuntu 10.04. There are no partitions ( that is, I use the entire hard drive for Ubuntu, obviously). I need to run Backtrack for security testing.

I've seen lots of various options from running it in virtualbox to running it from a bootable USB but there seem to be problems originating with the grub bootloader. One thing I keep seeing is that the only way to get round all this is to hard drive install Backtrack first and THEN install Ubuntu. Clearly I don't want to have to reinstall my entire world on my pc, play with settings, re-install a billion apps etc.

My question is this - Given that I have 10.04 installed and running alone, how do I get Backtrack installed/running easily and without all the associated disasters?

Did you achieve this without problems? How did you do it? What do I need to do?

I like the USB option because the thought of screwing the grub up does not appeal; I don't want to reboot my computer and be told "Sorry - I'm grub and I don't want you to load anything" / Other Annoying Message.

Backtrack's site says they didn't provide a USB option so what should I use to burn the ISO (does Unetbootin work for Ubuntu??!?!?!

If you've done what I need to do I'd really appreciate your advice.

Thanks.

[Agarax]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

In the future please read the FAQs before posting.

This is the link to installing Backtrack to a USB drive with persistent changes from the HOWTO: Backtrack 4 – USB/Persistent Changes/Nessus

[Barry]

I've got 10.04 and backtrack dual booting on the same box. Easiest way is to change your Ubuntu partition size so you have room for backtrack. Then install backtrack as you normally would BUT when it comes to the boot loader part, hit advanced and tell it to install grub to the new partition you used for backtrack. Yes, you will have two boot loaders now, but that's okay. Now fire up Ubuntu, and open a terminal and type "update-grub" (no quotes). This will search your computer for other operating systems and add them to your grub.cfg.