1. Download the Backtrack 2 iso

• http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html

2. Open VMware Workstation and create a new virtual machine

• File > New > Virtual Machine

Click Next

Select Typical, then click Next.

Select Linux, then select Other 2.6.x Kernel from the pull down menu. Click Next.

Name your virtual machine Backtrack 2, or whatever you wish, then click next.

Choose Use bridged networking if you are on a network where you can acquire an IP address separate from your host operating system. If you’re on a home cable or DSL connection, you may only have one IP address, in which case you should choose Use network address translation (NAT). Read below for information on how this affects Backtrack!

Leave the default 8.0GB unless you think you may need more. You can select Allocate all disk space now if you’d like, but keep in mind it could take several minutes.

Click Finish
3. Edit virtual machine settings
Adjust the RAM depending on how much you want to allocate to the virtual machine. My Backtrack 2 installation seems to do fine with 512MB, and I have 2GB on the host machine.If you already have the Backtrack2 CD with you:

• Select CD-ROM (if you have more then 1 CD-ROM on your machine), and put in the BackTrack2 cd into CD-ROM.

Or If you already have the Backtrack2 CD with you:

• Select CD-ROM
  

Click OK
4. Start the virtual machine

5. Login with username root, password toor
Don’t worry, you can change this once you install Backtrack to the hard drive.
6. Partition and mount the hard drive
The virtual SCSI hard drive in VMware is usually /dev/sda. We need to partition this drive and create a filesystem on which Backtrack 2 can be installed.We will use fdisk to create 2 partitions - one for the filesystem and one for swap space. Type:

fdisk /dev/sda

Enter each line below into fdisk’s prompt:
n
p
1
<enter>
+7168M
n
p
2
<enter>
<enter>
w
This will create a 7GB partition for the filesystem and a 1GB swap space. If you want more space on the filesystem (or if you made your virtual disk larger than 8GB), you can change +7168M to another number (in megabytes).

Create an ext3 filesystem on the first partition:
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
Create swap space on the other:
mkswap /dev/sda2
Mount the drive:

mkdir /mnt/backtrack
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/backtrack


7. Run startx to boot up KDE

8. Use the Backtrack installer

• Start > System > Backtrack Installer

Leave the source blank

Install backtrack to: /mnt/backtrack

Write MBR to: /dev/sda

Select Real (2700 MB required) for the installation method

Click install. It could take awhile or hang at certain parts (seems to hang for awhile at 81% on my machine).
9. Check if the vmlinuz been copied into your /mnt/backtrack/boot:
I have problem for my first time install, backtrack-installer did not copy the vmlinuz this will cause failed or maybe blank screen on boot.
If your /mnt/backtrack/boot have no vmlinuz, copy the file from /boot on the BackTrack2 Live CD.
cp /boot/vmlinuz /mnt/backtrack/boot/

10. Have fun
Restart the virtual machine, and you’re ready to start using Backtrack 2 in VMWare!

More about running Backtrack in VMware:

Keep in mind that to get reliable and accurate results, you will probably want to be running networking in Bridged mode for your virtual machine - assuming you can get a separate IP from the host OS. I have not had good results trying to run things like nmap through VMware’s NAT. The general rule for scanning is you want to be as close to the physical wire as possible. That means anything between a scanning tool and the target could potentially alter the packets that are being sent and received. Routers, firewalls, software NATs, host-based firewalls, etc. can affect the scan results or make them completely inaccurate.