Boot parameters
From Offensive-security.com
Boot parameters are rules you can add to BackTrack's boot lines to alter its booting process and behaviour.
If you're altering BackTrack's boot-lines via editing /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg, you add the parameters to the APPEND line of the boot mode. If you're altering the boot-lines via hitting Tab on the boot menu, the parameters must start with either bt or dbt.
Listed below are a few boot parameters you can use to troubleshoot or alter your BackTrack's booting process.
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Skip ACPI hardware detection
If you're experiencing hang-ups while booting, you can skip ACPI hardware detection by appending to the boot-line:
bt acpi=off
This method has prevented many installations from encountering errors while booting. To mention only a few, this is needed for:
- HP ZV-6000 Laptops
- Dell Inspiron B130 Laptops
- Some HP Pavillion Desktops
Dual-core processor support
To boot with Dual-core processor support, replace bt with:
dbt
as a prefix to all boot parameters. If you encounter SQUASHFS errors, you cannot use dual-core support.
Prevent PCI interuptions
Append to the boot-line:
bt irqpoll
To have no PCI interruptions and to disable the cardbus in dmesg (e.g. using ubiquiti SRC card).
Skip AGP hardware detection
To skip AGP hardware detection in the case of hang-ups, append to the boot-line:
bt noagp
Disable DHCP
To disable your network adapters from using DHCP, append to the boot-line:
bt nodhcp
Prevent automounting hard drives
If you seek to prevent the hard drives from being automounted during the booting process, append to the boot-line:
bt nohd
Skip PCMCIA hardware detection
To skip PCMCIA hardware detection in the case of hang-ups, append to the boot-line:
bt nopcmcia
Disabling sound
If you're encountering issues with your sound drivers, you can disable sound on boot-up by appending to the boot-line:
bt nosound
Altering target device for saving changes
All changes that are made while in BackTrack are kept in the RAM - thus, they're lost once the computer is turned off. However, using the boot parameter:
bt changes=/dev/device
You can tell BackTrack to use a different device other than memory for storing changes. For example, you can reformat your disk partition /dev/hda1 to a Linux-compatible filesystem (eg. ext2) and then use changes=/dev/hda1 to store all changes to that disk. This way you won't loose your changes after reboot.
