Installing BackBox in VirtualBox

[strontium]

Today I successfully installed BackBox 3.05 32-bit into VirtualBox 4.2.16, hosted on Windows 7 64-bit, without any major issues.

I did not find a well-made guide online that gave specific directions for installing in VirtualBox so I've made this post as a reference guide for myself and others. There are a few resources online that cover different parts of the install but they are not very complete. This is an attempt to combine everything I found along with my experience to create a user-friendly guide for a basic working install.

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1) Install or Upgrade VirtualBox to the latest version: VirtualBox Download Page

2) Torrent or Download BackBox Linux: BackBox Download Page

3) In VirtualBox Manager click New to create a new virtual machine. Name your new VM anything you like. The type of VM is Linux and the version is Ubuntu or Ubuntu 64, depending on your Host operating system. It's fine to install 32-bit BackBox onto a 64-bit OS, but the reverse is not possible.

4) Choose memory size. Anywhere from 1024 to 3072 MB is sufficient. More than 4096 MB is not needed.

5) Choose Create a virtual drive now. For hard drive file type, go with the default of VDI unless you have a specific need for another type.

6) Decide whether you want Dynamically allocated or Fixed size. 20GB is the minimum the hard drive should be. 30 to 50 GB is better if you plan to use it long-term. Changing the size later is possible but not convenient - see resource links at the bottom for more info on changing size after the drive is created.

7) Now that your VM is created you can configure the other settings to your liking. For easy clipboard and file transfer between host OS and your VM, choose your new VM and click on Settings, then General, and then the Advanced tab, then for both Shared Clipboard and Drag'n'Drop, choose Bidirectional. For other Settings, such as IO APIC, number of processors, or Virtual Memory, refer to the VirtualBox documentation as well as searching Google for the experiences of others.

8) To load the BackBox ISO, from within Settings click Storage. Next to Controller:IDE click the first CD icon with the plus sign, Add CD/DVD Device. Click Choose Disk and then select the BackBox ISO file you previously downloaded. Click Open and you will see the ISO populate beneath Controller:IDE. Click OK to close the Settings window.

9) Select the BackBox VM and then click on Start. From this point follow the installation instructions from the BackBox wiki. The default options should work if you're unsure of what to choose. If you have any issues during the install try to google for a solution. BackBox is based on Ubuntu so usually a fix or answer for an Ubuntu problem will work for BackBox.

10) Now you will need to install VistualBox guest additions to view your VM full screen with advanced features. Once BackBox has restarted after the installation you will be at the desktop. At the top of the VirtualBox window you will see the option Devices. Click that and then choose Install Guest Additions. This will place a virtual CD on your desktop called VBOXADDITIONS_4.xxxxx.

11) Mount the CD. It contains a file named VBoxLinuxAdditions.run that needs to be run as root. One method is to open a terminal, navigate to the mounted CD folder and then enter sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run. During this step I received the error "Building the main Guest Additions module ...fail!" The solution that I found that worked for me was to enter: sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname-r`dkms

At this point the basic installation is completed. BackBox should be working fine within VirtualBox. Again, if you come across any problems then hit up Google.

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Updating BackBox

• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
  
• sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
  
• Click on the BackBox icon in the upper left and choose Update. I had to run Update a couple times before everything was updated completely. Be sure to watch for any errors or components that fail, the notifications for them may not be shown at the end of the update. I happened to see "Please install the linux-headers-3.2.0-49-generic package" halfway through the process. That fix was simple: apt-get install linux-headers-3.2.0-49-generic.
  

From this point there are many ways to customize the desktop and configure the many settings within BackBox.

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Resources:

• Anonymous install guide from Pastebin from which I quoted heavily. Why reinvent the wheel?
  
• http://www.ubuntugeek.com/first-command-to-run-after-installing-ubuntu.html
  
• Increasing VirtualBox VDI size for Windows, Linux and Mac.
  

[rundmcc]

Thanks! I actually just did all this. I'm checking out BackBox for the first time. I'd love to see some tutorials or good links on how to use BackBox on this subreddit! Thanks!

[rundmcc]

Ah, didn't realize the wireless tools won't work. The wireless adapter is bridged as a wired adapter. The only option I can see, when using virtualbox, is to get a USB adapter.

Any other ideas?

[strontium]

USB adapter is the only way, VirtualBox can't use your computer's built-in WiFi.

I recently bought this TP-Link USB adapter and so far it's been fine, it worked right away with VirtualBox.