Several Pretty Simple Bt5 Questions

[NegativeSpace]

I'm new to Backtrack Linux. There are a few things that I am trying to figure out how to do that I haven't been able to find instructions for.

1. I would like to map the key combo FN+F3 to run the command to enable and disable my WiFi interface (wlan0). I'm not sure it can even be done but with the beauty of the Linux terminal, there seems to be a good chance that it's not only possible but may even be simple. The desired effect here is to emulate the common windows key combo that enables and disables the WiFi radio.

2. I would like to map the "Windows" key (or "Power" key in Linux) to open a terminal. As it stands now, Ctrl+Alt+T opens terminal, which is fine, but I rather like the idea of using the unused Windows key to do it in one stroke instead of 3. I have looked in the System>Preferences>Keyboard to find a way to accomplish this but there is no way to map individual keys from there as far as I can tell.

3. I will be showing my level of competence here.... I don't know how to associate with my WiFi AP without using the Wicd network manager, and that is lame. What are the exact commands to, uhhhhmmm, initialize? (whats the word again?) my WiFi radio, authenticate with WPA2, and associate with the AP? I've seen Darren K. use the command "ifconfig wlan0 up" before, but that command alone doesn't seem to do the trick, which makes sense.

4. When a person wants to use the terminal in order to access files or directories on a Windows machine across the LAN, what are the commands to do so? Also along the same lines, what is the standard or best way to get an RDP session going, where host is a Windows box, already set up to host RDP sessions, and client is Linux terminal, when both machines are on the same LAN, as well as when using an outside network/over the internet?

I've been a little surprised at the lack of a website with a database of instructions on how to do this stuff. Otherwise, how is a person supposed to learn this stuff? Backtrack-linux.org has some instructions for some, but not nearly enough, functions of the OS but they seem to assume a certain level of experience that I do not have.

[Infiltrator]

1. I would like to map the key combo FN+F3 to run the command to enable and disable my WiFi interface (wlan0). I'm not sure it can even be done but with the beauty of the Linux terminal, there seems to be a good chance that it's not only possible but may even be simple. The desired effect here is to emulate the common windows key combo that enables and disables the WiFi radio.

You could use the following commands to turn off and on the WLAN0 interface.

ifconfig wlan0 down (to turn off)
ifconfig wlan0 up (to turn on)

3. I will be showing my level of competence here.... I don't know how to associate with my WiFi AP without using the Wicd network manager, and that is lame. What are the exact commands to, uhhhhmmm, initialize? (whats the word again?) my WiFi radio, authenticate with WPA2, and associate with the AP? I've seen Darren K. use the command "ifconfig wlan0 up" before, but that command alone doesn't seem to do the trick, which makes sense.

Buy the "Backtrack 5 Wireless Penetration Testing Book". It has all the commends you require. And from reading the book, I have learned a lot.

4. When a person wants to use the terminal in order to access files or directories on a Windows machine across the LAN, what are the commands to do so? Also along the same lines, what is the standard or best way to get an RDP session going, where host is a Windows box, already set up to host RDP sessions, and client is Linux terminal, when both machines are on the same LAN, as well as when using an outside network/over the internet?

I've been a little surprised at the lack of a website with a database of instructions on how to do this stuff. Otherwise, how is a person supposed to learn this stuff? Backtrack-linux.org has some instructions for some, but not nearly enough, functions of the OS but they seem to assume a certain level of experience that I do not have.

You should only attempt to use Backtrack, if you are familiar with the Linux commands, if you are NOT, I would encourage you to install Ubuntu on a VM and learn all the commands from there. There are plenty of wikis and documentations, for Ubuntu that will give you the foundation you need, before you can move onto Backtrack.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Infiltrator

[NegativeSpace]

You could use the following commands to turn off and on the WLAN0 interface.

ifconfig wlan0 down (to turn off)
ifconfig wlan0 up (to turn on)

Buy the "Backtrack 5 Wireless Penetration Testing Book". It has all the commends you require. And from reading the book, I have learned a lot.

You should only attempt to use Backtrack, if you are familiar with the Linux commands, if you are NOT, I would encourage you to install Ubuntu on a VM and learn all the commands from there. There are plenty of wikis and documentations, for Ubuntu that will give you the foundation you need, before you can move onto Backtrack.

Thanks for writing up a response to this, but I actually already learned the terminal commands to bring the interface up and down, so that's not a problem. Making it so FN+F3 accomplishes the task is just a fun thing I wanted to do while learning something along the way.

I looked for books about BT5 but I wasn't able to find one with that title. Here is a list of the books related to BT5 that Amazon carries Search; BackTrack Linux

I actually considered weather or not it was a good idea for me to install BT and just start using it without really knowing what the hell I was doing. This is pretty much all I have ever done where computers and concerned. When I was 8 years old, the librarian at my elementary school told me the commands to issue to play Oregon Trail. For the next 10 years I went around to any computer I could find and used trial and error to learn. I ruined quite a few installations of Windows, and none of them belonged to me. I surely would have preferred to have a mentor/teacher but in those days there were very few people who were in the position to do so.

Now I'm older and I can buy my own computers, and I am willing to ruin one once in a while in order to learn. Obviously though I prefer not to ruin my computers, so I have to ask, what is the danger in using BackTrack without already knowing what I'm doing? As long as I am mostly just risking losing the BT OS and other stuff within that partition I'm totally ok with that. Obviously when accessing remote drives and directories there is a risk of losing those as well, but I'm ok with that. I'm careful to not keep anything in the same partition as BT is installed so that if I have to format it and reinstall BT I won't lose anything.

[Infiltrator]

Now I'm older and I can buy my own computers, and I am willing to ruin one once in a while in order to learn. Obviously though I prefer not to ruin my computers, so I have to ask, what is the danger in using BackTrack without already knowing what I'm doing?

Hi NegativeSpace,

I have found an Amazon link for the book, I was referring to,

http://www.amazon.com/BackTrack-Wireless-Penetration-Testing-Beginners/dp/1849515581/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334374895&sr=1-2

Let's say, you do know how to use Backtrack, one of the dangers associated with using it, would be; For example, gaining unauthorized access to someone's network/system without their authorization, this is something that no one in here in these forums will condone or be in favor of, its illegal and will get you in jail.

Another danger, would be if someone catches/sees you while you are using it, that could get into trouble too, as they will think you are trying to hack into something.

Whenever using Backtrack use it on own your system/network, never against someone's else system/network. If you want to do it, professionally and legally, do courses, use your own system to practice on and perhaps consider looking for a job as a pen-tester.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Infiltrator

[NegativeSpace]

I'll take #1:

To find (and change) system-level keyboard shortcuts, one can (at least in later, GNOME-based distros, e.g. BT5 R2) run the Keyboard Shortcuts applet, e.g. via System>Preferences>Keyboard Shortcuts on the main menu.

I just noticed that I left out the fact that I already went there, and the option doesn't exist. Thanks anyway though.

[NegativeSpace]

I found a command on some website that was supposed to be what I was looking for but I'm not sure how to define the "Windows" key to the applet. The command is gconf-editor, then open /apps/metacity/global_keybindings - and this is where the instructions quit being useful, as they didn't tell me what to do once I navigated to the directory. I looked around and tried to figure stuff out for a while and finally tried.....

In the directory /apps/metacity/global_keybindings there is a list of functions under the 'Name' column, including one named "run_command_1" whose default value is "disabled". I changed the value to "windows" (for the windows key), and then navigated to the folder "keybinding_commands", and changed the "command_1" value to "gnome-terminal" (I found this command under a list of Linux terminal commands from a website). Didn't work.

So then a few minutes ago I remembered that the windows key is called the Super Key in Linux (from watching HAK5). So I went back and changed the keybinding value to Superkey (no success), then Super (same thing), then finally after a serach I learned that the proper usage is "Super_L" so I replaced the value with that, and then after issuing "pkill x" and then "startx", my Windows/Super Key opens a terminal!

[NegativeSpace]

Hi NegativeSpace,

I have found an Amazon link for the book, I was referring to,

http://www.amazon.com/BackTrack-Wireless-Penetration-Testing-Beginners/dp/1849515581/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334374895&sr=1-2

Let's say, you do know how to use Backtrack, one of the dangers associated with using it, would be; For example, gaining unauthorized access to someone's network/system without their authorization, this is something that no one in here in these forums will condone or be in favor of, its illegal and will get you in jail.

Another danger, would be if someone catches/sees you while you are using it, that could get into trouble too, as they will think you are trying to hack into something.

Whenever using Backtrack use it on own your system/network, never against someone's else system/network. If you want to do it, professionally and legally, do courses, use your own system to practice on and perhaps consider looking for a job as a pen-tester.

That looks like a great book! I'm gonna have to order that, but damn, 44 dollars seems a little steep!

Concerning using BT without knowing what I'm doing... I thought you meant that I could corrupt my OS or lose data. I won't be attempting to learn the suite of BackTrack tools until I learn about the more basic Linux functions. When I dig into learning the full array of hacker tools, I will be using a dummy network that I will set up for the task. Just for the record, I'm not interested in hacking for malicious reasons. Curiosity, and nothing else, has always been the thing that compells me to learn.

[NegativeSpace]

Hi NegativeSpace,

I have found an Amazon link for the book, I was referring to,

http://www.amazon.com/BackTrack-Wireless-Penetration-Testing-Beginners/dp/1849515581/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334374895&sr=1-2

Let's say, you do know how to use Backtrack, one of the dangers associated with using it, would be; For example, gaining unauthorized access to someone's network/system without their authorization, this is something that no one in here in these forums will condone or be in favor of, its illegal and will get you in jail.

Another danger, would be if someone catches/sees you while you are using it, that could get into trouble too, as they will think you are trying to hack into something.

Whenever using Backtrack use it on own your system/network, never against someone's else system/network. If you want to do it, professionally and legally, do courses, use your own system to practice on and perhaps consider looking for a job as a pen-tester.

I just realized that you thought I was talking about accessing directories on someone elses network. I was actually talking about accessing directories and files on my own network.

[Infiltrator]

I just realized that you thought I was talking about accessing directories on someone elses network. I was actually talking about accessing directories and files on my own network.

I just threw that out there, as a word of caution. I wasn't implying that you were actually going to do it.

As for accessing directories and files on your network, this link should help you out,

http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2081

[NegativeSpace]

I just threw that out there, as a word of caution. I wasn't implying that you were actually going to do it.

As for accessing directories and files on your network, this link should help you out,

http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2081

So samba is the way to share files from windows (host) to Linux (client)? I've never used it before, and from what the people on the BT forum say, it's pretty difficult to even install and configure. Maybe I don't have the skills as of yet. It seems like it woul dbe much easier to just view some LAN files wiht a few commands. Would it not be as simple, in theory, as mounting the remote drive and then issuing the command to view the contents of the target directory and then view the files? Or is this what samba enables us to do?

One of the things that I think I have learned in the past week or so is that a person really needs to know certain things in order to complete tasks with commands. Even the step-by-steps assume some kind of previous experience and knowledge of more basic skills, such that you have to read the instructions for the instructions.

Edited April 17, 2012 by NegativeSpace