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i want to install backtrack 5 r1
i downloaded iso format from their website
i load it with oracle vmware (virtual machine in order to install it )

i run install on back track 5 screen

after that passing through time selection and keyboard setup i come to partion manger

so i want to know how to select parition in back track 5 installation

when i booted backtrack 5 its say no operating system installed on this system although am running windows

also by selecting manual parition option i did not see any of my drive there so that i select and procced installation

i have one empty parition of 10Gb i want to isntall backtrack 5 in it so please tell me how to i set this parition during installation procedure

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by moh_agabani

Dani AI

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Brief clarification and practical steps (building on ): a virtual machine presents the guest OS with a virtual disk file, not the host's Windows partitions. Two safe options exist: install BackTrack inside a VM (simpler, no host partition changes), or install to the physical disk as a true dual‑boot. Raw/physical‑disk passthrough is possible but advanced and risky; treat it as a last resort. (VirtualBox raw disk docs, VMware discussion: Running a physical partition in a VM).

VM installation (recommended if the goal is experimentation)

  1. Create a new VM and give it a virtual hard disk (allocate more than the bare minimum — 15–20 GB is comfortable).
  2. Attach the BackTrack ISO to the VM CD/DVD drive and boot the VM.
  3. In the installer use manual partitioning on the virtual disk. Example layout:
    /dev/sda1  ext4   ~18G   mount: /
/dev/sda2  swap    1–2G

    Install the bootloader (GRUB) to the VM's virtual disk (e.g. /dev/sda). If the installer does not list any disks, confirm the VM has a virtual disk attached and the ISO is the first boot device.

Physical dual‑boot (if BackTrack must live on the real 10GB partition)

  • Full disk backup first.
  • Shrink Windows using Disk Management to create unallocated space (Microsoft guidance: Shrink a basic volume).
  • Make bootable install media from the ISO (tools such as Rufus work well), boot the machine from that media, then choose manual partitioning and install GRUB to the physical disk. Note: BackTrack 5 is discontinued and older; modern UEFI/Secure Boot systems may require legacy/CSM or using a maintained successor (Kali Linux). See BackTrack history and Kali successor info: BackTrack (Wikipedia) and Kali Linux.

Cautions: avoid exposing the same host partition to both host and guest (risk of corruption). If raw disk passthrough is needed, follow the hypervisor vendor docs exactly and keep backups.

Member Avatar for moh_agabani

That's because you are using VMware so it reads only the partition space which you had selected earlier during creating new machine. So, in this case you should select the whole disk. In case you want to install it besides the windows you should insert the live CD and reboot and start the setup, here you will see the whole hard disk size and choose the size that suites you. NOTE BT5 needs over than 7 GB for just the file system

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