#2 Getting Internet & Wireless Range Extension

Getting Internet & Wireless Range Extension

 

 

Now you have your Backtrack up and running, your going to need to be able to connect your VM to your local network.

 

I am assuming that the machine hosting your VM already has the Internet connected, if this is so it wont matter if its a wireless connection or a wired connection. It will still show up in Backtrack as a wired connection.

 

Now some people will have DHCP enabled on their router at home while others may not. So i am going to show you how to connect to the Internet using both ways using either a static or a dynamic IP. I always preferred to use a static IP address so i would always know Backtracks IP.

 

GETTING INTERNET ACCESS

 

Step One

 

First boot up and login to your VM Backtrack (login data below in case you have forgot ....)

 

Username: root

Password: toor

 

and to load the GUI enter:

 

Startx

 

You should now have the GUI screen like below:

 

 

Second Step

 

We will now load up the WICD (Wireless Interface Connection Daemon).

 

To do this go to 'Applications > Internet > Wicd Network Manager ' like in the image below.

 

 

SIDE NOTE! (if you did not get this error move on to Third Step)

 

If like me you got the following error "Could not connect to wicd's D-Bus interface. Check the wicd log for errors messages" like in the image below:

 

 

 Then press 'ok' and close Wicd when it loads up.

 

Now open a terminal and enter the text in bold below

 

root@bt:~# dpkg-reconfigure wicd
root@bt:~# update-rc.d wicd defaults

 

and you should get somthing similar to below

 

root@bt:~# dpkg-reconfigure wicd
root@bt:~# update-rc.d wicd defaults
Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/wicd ...
   /etc/rc0.d/K20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc1.d/K20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc6.d/K20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc2.d/S20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc3.d/S20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc4.d/S20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd
   /etc/rc5.d/S20wicd -> ../init.d/wicd

 

And now this error will not show again!!!

 

Third Step

 

you should now see the screen below:

 

 

 

 To use a dynamic IP address just press connect and the Wicd software will do the rest and you will end up connected to the internet like in the image below:

 

 

 

For a static IP address click on 'properties' under were it says 'Wired-Default'. You will end up with the screen below:

 

 

 

 Simply check the box next to 'Use static IPs' and then enter your desired IP address, Netmask and gateway so it looks like below (obvouisly use your own/correct ip etc):

 

 

Now press 'OK' and press 'Connect' and you should be connected and see a screen like the image below:

 

 

 Thats it! you now have internet access!

 

Wireless Range Extension

 

If like me you have a 'Alfa AWUS036H 1000mW' wireless network-adapter then you will want to get full use of that 1000mW but because of restrictions each country restricts which channels and at what strength you can transmit signals. This has been built into Backtrack but because linux is fully editable we can change it so we can have full signal strength and transmit on all channels.

 

Below is a guide on how to do this, as you can see their is 2 ways. The first is a quick one done in a terminal which will need to be done at every startup and the second is a permant fix which once done will never need to be done again. Its up to you which one you choose but i will be choosing the second method.

 

First Method

 

Open a terminal and enter the bold text into the terminal:

 

root@bt:~# sudo ifconfig wlan1 down
root@bt:~# sudo iw reg set BO
root@bt:~# sudo airmon-ng start wlan1

 

This first turns off the wireless interface and then changes your region to a place were your allowed to transmit at 30dbi (1000mW) and on all channels. It then turn the wireless interface back on.

 

Second Method

 

This time we will be making a script that will run at statup and change are region.

 

First create a blank document on your desktop. To do this:

 

Right click on the desktop and select Create Document > Empty File and rename it RangeExtension.sh.

 

Now click on the the new file (RangeExtension.sh) so you get a blank page like the one below:

 

 

and now enter the text in bold below into this document:

 

#!/bin/bash
##iw reg set BO
iw reg set BO

 

Now save this and close the window.

 

Next open a terminal and enter the text in bold below, this will move the file from the desktop into the init.d which runs on boot.

 

sudo cp ~/Desktop/RangeExtension.sh /etc/init.d/

We will now make the document we made into an executable script with the code below, just enter the bold text into the terminal.

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/RangeExtension.sh

 

Now we need to make it run on the next startup, just enter the bold text into the terminal.

sudo update-rc.d RangeExtension.sh defaults

 

Note: ‘defaults’ puts a link to start ‘/etc/init.d/setwirelesscountrycode.sh’ in run levels 2, 3, 4 and 5. and puts a link to stop ‘/etc/init.d/setwirelesscountrycode.sh’ into run levels 0, 1 and 6.

 

Just restart so changes can take effect!

 

Thats it now! are range sould not  be at 30dbi (1000mW)! Enjoy!