Full installation of Backbox on flash drive (not live version)

[herclick]

Greetings friends!

I made full installation of Backbox on my flash drive and decided to explain complete procedure. There are a few reasons for that. It's much faster than live version, you can update it, upgrade it, install what ever you want, every settings and configuration is saved and if someone knock hardly on your door, you can throw it through window without leaving any trace on your PC (if you wipe of your ram before) :D Off course, it's not illegal to have it but you'll avoid unnecessary questions.

I used to hide some other pentesting distros installing it through VirtualBox in TrueCrypt volume but TrueCrypt is not fully audit, not safe enough for me and it's still on your hard drive.

1st method - Full Installation on a flash drive through VirtualBox

Start VirtualBox and boot Backbox.iso. Put in flash drive, enable it, start Anonymous mode (not necessary but that's the way I prefer) and start installation. Chose flash drive as destination instead of hard drive and follow procedure. I always chose manual partitioning method but in this case I recommend you first automatic option if you want full encryption which is a great feature of 4.1 version I'm really impressed of. It's not possible to have full encryption with manual partitioning method or I just didn't realize how to do it. That's it.

2nd method - Full installation on a flash from other one or dvd

I did it with dvd but doing it with flash drive is faster and more reliable way. You will need two of them. Install live version of BB on first one with Unetbootin or some other method you prefer. Boot it, put the other one, start Anonymous mode and start installation. Everything else is same as explained in first method. Be careful to chose flash drive for installation destination but not hard drive. I made mistake and fck it... :D Lost everything. Be patient. It's much longer procedure then installing it on hard drive. After installation, everything works great and fast. I used 15gb flash and after update, upgrade there are about 6gb left. You'll get your fully installed OS in your pocket. Enjoy it!   

UPDATE: I made wrong statement that is impossible to make full disk encryption choosing manual partitioning. It's possible. You just need to make one /boot partition that will be unencrypted, then make partitions for /root and /swap. Optionally, you can make partitions for /home, etc. Just chose size of each partition and in drop down many, you'll find "physical volume for encryption" option. When partitions are encrypted, you will be able to chose mount point for each and start installation.

Here is detailed and well explained procedure: http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2014/05/28/how-to-install-ubuntu-14-04-on-encrypted-mbr-partitions/

[Numskull]

Thank you, works great. What are the general advantages of having this setup v.s live usb  to someone who wants to be extra careful with his finger prints and penetration testing activities?

[ZEROF]

Hi,

It's the same like using some bootable making software, just this is one easy way to do and don't deal with other software issue.

Thank you, works great. What are the general advantages of having this setup v.s live usb  to someone who wants to be extra careful with his finger prints and penetration testing activities?

[zero_cool]

will you guide me step by step for the 2nd method please??? :-\

[cyclex25]

Would you be that kind to elaborate further on the advantages of this setup ^^ i prefer live persistence cause of its performance and have no software issues at all here...

[herclick]

Thank you, works great. What are the general advantages of having this setup v.s live usb  to someone who wants to be extra careful with his finger prints and penetration testing activities?

Main advantage is to have fully encrypted os installed on external drive so you can install new tools, update, upgrade system and all setups are permanent. When you use live version of OS, you are not able to safe your work, settings and every time you need to install additional tools if needed.

[herclick]

Would you be that kind to elaborate further on the advantages of this setup ^^ i prefer live persistence cause of its performance and have no software issues at all here...

Performance is better with live version but this is the way to have fully installed OS with possibility to install, update and upgrade, keep your files, etc and no fingerprints stays on your host machine.

[cyclex25]

sorry, but did you even bother to read my article just below this one??  ::)

https://forum.backbox.org/howtos/easy-way-to-setup-persistent-backbox-live-medium-(mac-supported!)/

seriously, theres a reason i stated its PERSISTENT  :o cause its exactly that. persistent....

it is a persistent live version you may fully encrypt as you wish and what parts you wish. i even added the LUKS kali stuff which elaborates their nuke function, as ppl even state here in the forum to throw your device out of the window in case you´ve been too *#¿ to hide ya ass.  

???

it stores everything in a dedicated casper partition you may set up as a file if you wish instead. n sure you can encrypt this file too... though i clearly mentioned the advantages of a casper partition.... seriously guys do your homework. not to blame anyone here and don't want to bash this guide, which is great if you wish to install! and i appreciate your effort, which is in no way part of my discussion here. but those comments are weird and often misleading here on backbox forum. so pls don't take it personally if i ask for elaboration on certain claims. i just asked a question cause i experience this as a common case..... ppl doing wrong claims.

call me a bitch, but as i asked to elaborate one might see a drop of sarcasm and elocution in this incitement. ^^ pls read that article... if you say live is better in performance but you don't do it cause of mentioned issues..... i seriously would like you to read through it :) i know its a lot of rubbish, the interesting part is adding persistence! if you read it,  you should recognize that it completely meets the update you posted here and is of none difference if you set it up like that. though i don't mind swap in a live version ;) i didn't try encrypting home with SUDC as i don't regard it as advanced as setting up dedicated encryption afterwards....

i don't say a install has no advantages, but one should know which those are and which are the benefits of a persistent live version, to make a truly well aware decision. an install i.e. would be great to me if i wanted to dual boot on my internal ssd. or singleboot, doesn't matter at all. but if i don't have a ssd, performance might incredibly decrease installing. for several reasons for sure. an external flash might be faster, depending on the bus. at the end all depending on your bus and hardware and/or certain level of security (according encryption issues). while we´re at it, in terms of security one is sure way better of with a live medium. persistent or not.... if persistent, sure dedicated encryption is advised....

i took the effort to write that article cause many ppl favor live versions over install for certain reasons of which some i did elaborate. anyways ppl usually struggle adding persistence to their live versions, so i added a simple and beginner friendly way...

never mind, no offense intended.

cheers  

[clumsyninja]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't exactly accurate.  The major difference is in the fact that installing to a portable medium gives you a fully upgradeable portable system.  With a squash filesystem, unless you go through the process of rebuilding the squashfs fairly regularly, those core files don't change since theyre in a fs that is supposed to stay static.  Adding persistence doesn't change that fact, it allows you to save info between sessions but doesn't change the live portion in any way.  When you do a full install, you can update and upgrade exactly like a regular system.  Updating the squash files isn't nearly as easy, and most people aren't going to want to go through that hassle.  So there is a very big difference under those circumstances.  Not many people really will need one over the other, but this different.

[MsAlexandria]

I did a full install of Backbox from a live Backbox usb iso to an sdhc card. And I just followed the install procedure as things came up, making absolutely certain to point the install at the SDHC card.

I've been using it as a regular operating system from the SD port on a laptop from time-to-time. It updates and upgrades just fine, just like I installed it on a hard drive. Slower, of course. I pulled the card out and stuck it in the SD slot of another Lenovo laptop. It works fine there, too. I even made a backup of the entire SD card using Clonezilla booted from a USB stick. Without me doing anything, grub found the install on the card so when I start the laptop I get the option to boot either Win7 or Crunchbang Debian (on the SSD drive) - or and now Backbox on the SDHC card. Easy.

This is a safe redundancy for me while traveling because if the laptop totaly failed I could buy another, put the SDHC card into the slot and boot from that card right into Backbox (hitting f12 to bring up boot possibilities during startup)

The main downside is that it is slower than running of an SSD drive, of course. But I update and upgrade Backbox on that card just as if it were on a hard drive of SSD.

My install on the 32 Gb SDHC card works. What failed was when I attempted a second install on a bigger 64 Gb SD card, which I discovered after the fact is in a different format, and I bricked the card. Looking into it I discovered that 32 Gb SD cards and below are all fat32. And all SD cards over 32 Gb are SDXC and are ex-fat. And the ex-fat format. And ex-fat does not work for this, at least it does not for me.

I just keep the SDHC card with Backbox onstalled on it in the laptop all the time. It doesn't stick out like a usb stick. And it is always available if I want to boot into it.

[mekanagadde]

Thanks herclick, Your steps helped me to install Backbox on my personal laptop. Complete installation is better than live version for better performance due to swap memory etc.

[gerardo76]

sorry, but did you even bother to read my article just below this one??  ::)

https://forum.backbox.org/howtos/easy-way-to-setup-persistent-backbox-live-medium-(mac-supported!)/

seriously, theres a reason i stated its PERSISTENT  :o cause its exactly that. persistent....

it is a persistent live version you may fully encrypt as you wish and what parts you wish. i even added the LUKS kali stuff which elaborates their nuke function, as ppl even state here in the forum to throw your device out of the window in case you´ve been too *#¿ to hide ya ass.  

???

it stores everything in a dedicated casper partition you may set up as a file if you wish instead. n sure you can encrypt this file too... though i clearly mentioned the advantages of a casper partition.... seriously guys do your homework. not to blame anyone here and don't want to bash this guide, which is great if you wish to install! and i appreciate your effort, which is in no way part of my discussion here. but those comments are weird and often misleading here on backbox forum. so pls don't take it personally if i ask for elaboration on certain claims. i just asked a question cause i experience this as a common case..... ppl doing wrong claims.

call me a bitch, but as i asked to elaborate one might see a drop of sarcasm and elocution in this incitement. ^^ pls read that article... if you say live is better in performance but you don't do it cause of mentioned issues..... i seriously would like you to read through it :) i know its a lot of rubbish, the interesting part is adding persistence! if you read it,  you should recognize that it completely meets the update you posted here and is of none difference if you set it up like that. though i don't mind swap in a live version ;) i didn't try encrypting home with SUDC as i don't regard it as advanced as setting up dedicated encryption afterwards....

i don't say a install has no advantages, but one should know which those are and which are the benefits of a persistent live version, to make a truly well aware decision. an install i.e. would be great to me if i wanted to dual boot on my internal ssd. or singleboot, doesn't matter at all. but if i don't have a ssd, performance might incredibly decrease installing. for several reasons for sure. an external flash might be faster, depending on the bus. at the end all depending on your bus and hardware and/or certain level of security (according encryption issues). while we´re at it, in terms of security one is sure way better of with a live medium. persistent or not.... if persistent, sure dedicated encryption is advised....

i took the effort to write that article cause many ppl favor live versions over install for certain reasons of which some i did elaborate. anyways ppl usually struggle adding persistence to their live versions, so i added a simple and beginner friendly way...

never mind, no offense intended.

cheers  

I made this install with a external disk of 500Gb, make 1 partition of 4Gb fa32 and another of 16Gb ext2, the rest is a partition ntfs where I use to backup all my work in the job. When I try to update anything, the system crash!!

I try this method and going update to see...

[ZEROF]

Hi gerardo76,

It's normal you need more space when you run upgrades. If your disk have 500GB, set 20GB partition (fat32), and install BBox, and don't use ext2, it's not supported anymore for your stockage partition.

[gerardo76]

Hi gerardo76,

It's normal you need more space when you run upgrades. If your disk have 500GB, set 20GB partition (fat32), and install BBox, and don't use ext2, it's not supported anymore for your stockage partition.

Sorry for the double post.. When you say "Install", you mean the method explained here, or persistently method? Because I run the installation explained in this post, and it works, but now, my smart TV, do not see the NTFS partition where I have my movies and TV series hehehehehe

Thx

[ZEROF]

Hi,

Any kind of installation, and about your TV, that is not BBox issue, just your TV don't support that kind of sharing or that type of partition.