Can't get my WIFI to work,

[th3ic3man0]

Hello Sir Maverik. Thank you for you help. I will give this a try. Thanks again.

[byteme]

Hello Sirs! i'm also new in both Linux and backtrack. I too is also experiencing difficulty with the wireless card. but i read that you will still need a usb wireless network card for you to use the wifi in BT5 in VMware. Because when I try to check the interface using airmon-ng comman, it just shows blank interface, chipset and driver. does it mean that the BT5 on VMware cannot use the default wifi card of my laptop? I hope you can help. Sorry for my ignorance. I'm really just a beginner.

Yes, that is exactly what it means. If you have an integrated wireless card on your motherboard, you will need to use Backtrack on a live CD / USB or a hard drive installation.

If you have a USB wireless card, then you can tell your Virtualization software (VirtualBox, VMWare) to pass the card to the Guest machine (BT5). That means that your host (Windows? or whatever you use to run VBox/VMWare) will not have access to the card, only the guest will.

As gunrunr wrote, you can simply use Bridged mode just to connect to a wireless network so you can still run a myriad of tools, except for the wireless ones.

Small tip @being a beginner: I would start by installing Ubuntu in dual-boot mode if you have no previous Linux experience, and run VirtualBox in there. It's very simple (and much safer) to use, and will give you a chance to really get used to working with Linux. Since BT is based on Ubuntu, a lot of the same principles apply (apt-get). The key to success is practice, practice, practice

[sheena]

Jumping straight into "deep water" of Backtrack without the prior basic knowledge of linux is just like trying to solve ODE without knowing what integral and derivative are.

Gee thanks. My lap top crashed and windows was lost and the ONLY Linux that will work on here is Back Track 5 so far. Just love how Pros are such helpful people.

[scottm99]

I mean no offense, but iliyapolak is correct. BackTrack is intended for the intermediate to advanced user; the faq in the wiki says as much. You may be better off in seeking help from a data recovery specialist for your problem.