Backtrack 5 - USB Persistant Changes not working.

[DamagedPacket]

Hello All,

I have followed the USB persistant changes instructions on the wiki with no success.
Persistent USB - BackTrack Linux

I have tried both the "Backtrack Persistent USB Installation" and the "Alternative install method for windows users" methods. The Linux Live USB creator method does create a functional version of BT5, but not with persistent changes. The Linux method boot to the "Minimal BASH" shell with the grub> prompt.

I have tried this on serveral different types of USB sticks with same results. Has anyone been succesful in getting this to work? Any tips would be great! Thanks

[Archangel-Amael]

I put both of those guides up there, and I can verify that both of them work for 32bit gnome and kde. I have not tried 64bit versions as of yet.
Check your download md5sum to start with and try again. Also ensure that your computer meets the requirements to run ubuntu 10.10 at a minimum.
Also make sure you are using 8gig or larger usb stick.

[Unhumanje]

Similar problem here. I am trying to install BT5 Gnome 32bit on my external USB HDD 320GB. I formated the drive completely to fat32 primary. Installed everything according to the wiki guide, grub installed and returned no errors. However, there is no such file as menu.lst in */boot/grub (/mnt/sdc1/boot/grub in my particular case) . Obviously it doesn't start without it so I tried to create it manually (copy pasted from the wiki what the file SHOULD look like), but got same error as OP - minimal bash and can't boot.

I also tried installing it through unetbootin, but with no success - it gets stuck on an empty command line with a "_" blinking.

I am running everything from a 8gb usb flashdrive with BT5 gnome 32 (non persistent). Tried both methods like 3+ times each. Not sure what else can I do :/ The hard drive is pretty much brand new and has no bad sectors or etc.

Here is the output of ls /mnt/sdc1/boot/grub (WITHOUT the manually created menu.lst):

root@root:/mnt/sdc1/boot/grub# ls
915resolution.mod            gcry_rmd160.mod     part_sun.mod
acpi.mod                     gcry_seed.mod       parttool.lst
affs.mod                     gcry_serpent.mod    parttool.mod
afs_be.mod                   gcry_sha1.mod       password.mod
afs.mod                      gcry_sha256.mod     password_pbkdf2.mod
aout.mod                     gcry_sha512.mod     pbkdf2.mod
ata.mod                      gcry_tiger.mod      pci.mod
ata_pthru.mod                gcry_twofish.mod    play.mod
at_keyboard.mod              gcry_whirlpool.mod  png.mod
befs_be.mod                  gettext.mod         probe.mod
befs.mod                     gfxmenu.mod         pxeboot.img
biosdisk.mod                 gfxterm.mod         pxecmd.mod
bitmap.mod                   gptsync.mod         pxe.mod
bitmap_scale.mod             grldr.img           raid5rec.mod
blocklist.mod                grubenv             raid6rec.mod
boot.img                     gzio.mod            raid.mod
boot.mod                     halt.mod            read.mod
bsd.mod                      handler.lst         reboot.mod
bufio.mod                    handler.mod         reiserfs.mod
cat.mod                      hashsum.mod         relocator.mod
cdboot.img                   hdparm.mod          scsi.mod
chain.mod                    hello.mod           search_fs_file.mod
charset.mod                  help.mod            search_fs_uuid.mod
cmp.mod                      hexdump.mod         search_label.mod
command.lst                  hfs.mod             search.mod
configfile.mod               hfsplus.mod         serial.mod
core.img                     iso9660.mod         setjmp.mod
cpio.mod                     jfs.mod             setpci.mod
cpuid.mod                    jpeg.mod            sfs.mod
crc.mod                      kernel.img          sh.mod
crypto.lst                   keystatus.mod       sleep.mod
crypto.mod                   linux16.mod         tar.mod
datehook.mod                 linux.mod           terminal.lst
date.mod                     lnxboot.img         terminal.mod
datetime.mod                 loadenv.mod         terminfo.mod
diskboot.img                 locale              test.mod
dm_nv.mod                    loopback.mod        tga.mod
drivemap.mod                 lsmmap.mod          trig.mod
echo.mod                     ls.mod              true.mod
efiemu32.o                   lspci.mod           udf.mod
efiemu64.o                   lvm.mod             ufs1.mod
efiemu.mod                   mdraid.mod          ufs2.mod
elf.mod                      memdisk.mod         uhci.mod
example_functional_test.mod  memrw.mod           usb_keyboard.mod
ext2.mod                     minicmd.mod         usb.mod
extcmd.mod                   minix.mod           usbms.mod
fat.mod                      mmap.mod            usbtest.mod
font.mod                     moddep.lst          vbeinfo.mod
fshelp.mod                   msdospart.mod       vbe.mod
fs.lst                       multiboot2.mod      vbetest.mod
functional_test.mod          multiboot.mod       vga.mod
gcry_arcfour.mod             normal.mod          vga_text.mod
gcry_blowfish.mod            ntfscomp.mod        video_fb.mod
gcry_camellia.mod            ntfs.mod            video.lst
gcry_cast5.mod               ohci.mod            video.mod
gcry_crc.mod                 part_acorn.mod      videotest.mod
gcry_des.mod                 part_amiga.mod      xfs.mod
gcry_md4.mod                 part_apple.mod      xnu.mod
gcry_md5.mod                 part_gpt.mod        xnu_uuid.mod
gcry_rfc2268.mod             partmap.lst         zfsinfo.mod
gcry_rijndael.mod            part_msdos.mod      zfs.mod

I have checked the md5sum - it passes. My laptop is sufficient enough to run Ubuntu 10.10 - MSI GX740.
The guide worked flawlessly on BT4 R2

[darkoptx]

Same for me. Ending up with "grub>" after reboot. Tested cd and usb-stick, none worked.
BT4 rc2 was done in seconds. Dont know where i go wrong. No menu.lst ...
Only way it boots is stuff like unetbootin, but there i cant make it persistent.
Hope there will be a solution soon.

Edit : I did it once again on my 8GB SCHD with unetbootin (lastest version), choosed Backtrack as Distribution (took 4f), and gave about 5GB preserved space, took a new downloaded image (32 bit gnome) and now it works
Same steps as before, but now it is saving everything i do. I use this for learning, and hope the will be soon a solution with this grub problem.

[nervien]

with unetbootin

i change syslinux.cfg

label ubnentry7
menu label ^Start Persistent ESSAI TRY 1
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrds.gz file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper persistent rw xforcevesa quiet splash --

label ubnentry8
menu label ^Start Persistent ESSAI TRY2
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrds.gz file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper persistent rw text splash vga=791--
------------------------------------------------
the ubnentry8 is good for me
kde 32 and 64 bits

[Arkaic]

Same problem here. It appears that this tutorial - Persistent USB - BackTrack Linux - is not actually for BT5. It references grub, when BT5 is actually using isolinux. There is no boot/grub directory on my Gnome 32 BT5 iso. Perhaps there was a mistake and a newer tutorial was not linked when BT5 came out.

[AldousU]

I can confirm that linux live usb uses BT4 R2 settings and creates an image that works very well, but doesn't have persistence. I used BT5-GNOME-64. md5 is correct. Unetbootin (you have to get the latest version) does work with persistence, but I had some other problems with it (hangs when I try to shutdown). I'll just wait until linux live becomes compatible with BT5, since I like the additional feature that it can be started from windows. For now I'm just using it without persistence.

[dusf345]

Have any of you as yet successfully installed BT5, BT5R1, or BT5R2 on an 8GB flash drive? I have been trying a lot of methods (and versions of BT), and have now resorted to trying to install BT4.

More details on what I have tried, and not tried, can be found at http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forum...ad.php?t=48618.

[istovit]

Have any of you as yet successfully installed BT5, BT5R1, or BT5R2 on an 8GB flash drive? I have been trying a lot of methods (and versions of BT), and have now resorted to trying to install BT4.

More details on what I have tried, and not tried, can be found at http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forum...ad.php?t=48618.

one other way is to do a full install to the usb stick

burn and verify your choice of iso to a dvd
attach a 16gb stick,8 will work but will complain of low disk space
deactivate all other hard drives in your bios
boot from BT5 dvd
click the install iicon on desktop
BT5 would not list sdax as a drive for installation when hard drives were active,now you should see only sdax
I chose to use the full drive space for the nstall,ignore the 99% complete notice and keeo waiting.should take about 40 minutes