BackTrack 4 installation on a Dell Latitude D810

Published on Monday, 13 April 2009.

Steps I used to get BackTrack 4 BETA version running on my Dell Latitude D810. I will be using the single boot method of installation as opposed to dual boot. In other words, I will not been choosing between a linux, windows, or backtrack partition when I boot up -- only BackTrack will be installed on this laptop.

  1. Downloaded BackTrack 4 Beta DVD ISO from http://www.remote-exploit.org/cgi-bin/fileget?version=bt4-beta-iso. It is over 700Meg so it will need to be a DVD not a CD.
  2. Boot up on the ISO DVD
  3. Login as root. (Password = toor)
  4. If you need to dual boot, go here. Otherwise, follow these directions to setup/clean off your hard drive.
  5. Next copy the operating system onto your newly formatted hard drive using these directions.
  6. If it is not already running, start up networking by doing a /etc/init.d/networking start
  7. Call me a glutton, but after reboot I now do: 
    gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv CB2F6C86F77B1CA9
gpg –export –armor CB2F6C86F77B1CA9 | apt-key add -
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
    This will take a while so go get some coffee.
  8. The apt-get upgrade will cause some problems with X. So login as root and then do the following: 
    wget www.offensive-security.com/fix-kde.sh
bash fix-kde.sh
apt-get --reinstall install kcontrol-kde3
  9. Reboot for good measure.
  10. Now you should be able to start your networking again (per the /etc/init.d/networking start) and then startup the graphical environment by doing a startx.
  11. Now let's fix it so we can ssh into your laptop. From a command prompt do: 
    /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t rsa1 -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
/usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t dsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
/usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
  12. Let's make networking start by default. From the command prompt do: 
    update-rc.d networking start
  13. Added a sound mixer because I could not find anywhere to adjust volume: apt-get install kmix
  14. Cleaned up the message of the day by erasing everything out of /etc/motd and /etc/motd.tail.