J0hn Labs

First the important warning: The procedure below have not been tested on Windows Vista nor Windows 7 by me. So don't come back asking for support on those scenarios. Working solutions and fixes to whatever problem are welcome, of course

We will learn how to install BackTrack 4 Pre Final inside a Windows XP Installation without partitioning or disturbing it in any way, and take advantage of its native boot loader to boot BT. This is usefull if you don't have a 4Gb thumbdrive, dvd drive, or your computer just can't boot from USB media whatever reason.

I know, you find this very odd. I mean, is there anyone with a thumbdrive smaller than 4Gb, or without a good friend with one to borrow? Well I have many friends to borrow one, but I just wanted to find an alternative way of installing BackTrack. This is -plus the fact that I actually lack of a >4Gb thumdrive- how I got to this article searching the remote-exploit forums. All credits for the below procedure belong to the guys on that post.

Now get into our bussiness.

First step is to install WinGrub/Grub4DOS, which is the actual responsible for the whole thing to happen.
Download it from http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/ and install.

Next step is to edit the Windows boot loader configuation file so we can use it to boot BackTrack without disturbing the Windows installation. This file is named boot.ini and is located at C:\ with hidden attributes.

WARNING: editting this file manually can get your Windows installation unable to boot again!!!!

It will look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


It should then look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\GRLDR="Linux"

To avoid manual edition we will use WinGrub GUI. In the general options, select default from the profiles drop down menu. Then choose "install grub" from the Tools menu. Select the "BOOT.INI" radio button. Edit the Title entry, I entered Linux. Then click install. This will copy the file GRLDR to c:\ and create the directory c:\grub with needed files. It will also modify the hidden system file C:\BOOT.INI safely for you.

The next step is to install BackTrack itself. Wil will simply extract the /casper and /boot directories from the iso image into c:\. Se we will have a directory structure like this:

C:\
  |
   \_boot\
  |
   \_casper\

Now we have successfully installed BackTrack! See? No tragedy, end of the world, creepy alien clowns claiming your soul(?), whatsoever!  There is some work left to do though.

Final step is to edit MENU.LST file (yes, the very same as any other Grub installation). It will be located at C:\boot\grub\menu.lst.

It should look exactly like this:

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

title Boot the First Hard Disk
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Now we are fully done! This is what it is! The next step is just to reboot and test it.

Notice: There is a glitch regarding the splash image I experienced on my laptop. Somehow it makes the whole Grub menu invisible. It is no problem since you can still choose amongst the options, or let the default one to boot. But is quite uncomfortable if you are not familiarized with the list I gues that disabling the splash image should fix it. But I haven't test is yet :/

If you are still courious about WinGrub/Grub4DOS here is their Wiki:
http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I hope this to be usefull to you!