Root Access

Bob

3:00 PM

Ok, can you select disk=0 and provide the output of list partition and list volume?

The partitions are more important.

RoXaS

gimma one sec

to backup the most important files (my thesis)

Bob

Basically, we're gonna make sure the Windows BOOTMGR partition is set as the active one, and then go into the BIOS to tell it to boot the correct drive, and then possibly use the bootable USB to perform a boot repair.

The goal is to get it to boot directly into Windows, bypassing GRUB.

This is reasonably safe.

Once that's working, then you can wipe the other partition and work on installing Windows there. This is the potentially destructive action.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any experience with Windows dual-boot across different HDDs :\

RoXaS

OKay sounds good

Okay all is back upt

Bob

5 mins ago, by Bob

Ok, can you select disk=0 and provide the output of list partition and list volume?

RoXaS

2 partitions

1 = recovery 11 gb offset - 1024kb

2 = primary

453 GB offset = 11GB

Bob

3:08 PM

ok, looks like you don't have the 'system reserved' boot partition

RoXaS

pastebin.com/caTCjB7w

is volumes

Bob

Ok.

RoXaS

but this is my already windows disk

Bob

@RoXaS One more check. Do you have a C:\BOOTMGR file?

RoXaS

pastebin.com/9keaTWHA

This is mybacktrack disk

Bob

3:12 PM

(it'll be hidden/system)

RoXaS

No it doesnt seem like it

oh wait

I type in C:\BOOTMGR in explorer and it says it wants to open a .sys file

Bob

yep, ok

now, select partition=2 and detail partition

(make sure you're on disk 0)

RoXaS

okay

Bob

what's the output of detail partition?

RoXaS

pastebin.com/GQetWcE4

Bob

3:17 PM

hm. it's already marked active.

eh. this was all somewhat pointless, then :P

boot into your BIOS config and just switch the boot order so the Windows drive is at the top

RoXaS

the USB drive right?

or the HDD

Bob

@RoXaS the HDD

RoXaS

im on it

Bob

goal at the moment is to make sure Windows is booting, not GRUB

DemCodeLines

anyone here know anything about vpn?

RoXaS

3:19 PM

@Bob They are very hard to tell apart

Bob

@RoXaS ...any chance you can just unplug the backtrack one temporarily? :P

allquixotic

OK, that does it

RoXaS

I dont know which one that is physically

Bob

@RoXaS ...just pull one and see what boots? :P

allquixotic

!!learn bespecific "Please don't ask if anyone knows about X; rather than asking a general question that almost anyone could say yes to in some respect, simply ask your actual question. If anyone knows the answer or can provide some insight, they will. If they don't, they won't." .*

ChatBot John Cavil

3:21 PM

@allquixotic Command bespecific learned

allquixotic

!!tell 17681573 bespecific

ChatBot John Cavil

@DemCodeLines Please don't ask if anyone knows about X; rather than asking a general question that almost anyone could say yes to in some respect, simply ask your actual question. If anyone knows the answer or can provide some insight, they will. If they don't, they won't.

RoXaS

I tried both order

DemCodeLines

!!tell allquixotic ok

RoXaS

the first one loads GRUB that autmatically loads backtrack after 10 s

ChatBot John Cavil

3:22 PM

@allquixotic Did I not just ask you to shut up? If not, then...shutup.

DemCodeLines

whoops oh lol

allquixotic

!!info ok

ChatBot John Cavil

@allquixotic Command ok, created by Mr. I Don't Care on Mon, 14 Oct 2013 23:28:26 GMT, invoked 1 times

allquixotic

...

RoXaS

the second order gives a dashing line

DemCodeLines

3:22 PM

...

allquixotic

!!forget ok

RoXaS

a blinking underscore

ChatBot John Cavil

@allquixotic Command ok forgotten.

DemCodeLines

noooooo

RoXaS

and nothing else

DemCodeLines

3:23 PM

oh well

Bob

@RoXaS ok, that's kinda what you want

RoXaS

okay

but it doesnt boot windows

DemCodeLines

Anyways, I am trying to connect to a work VPN and it connects perfectly fine when I am on a secured wifi. However, if I go on a public wifi, it refuses to connect to it and throws error 800. Why?!

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines it's probably trying to use a port or protocol that's not supported by the public wifi network

Bob

@RoXaS Now you need to boot from the USB drive. I'd recommend physically pulling the backtrack HDD first, so there's less confusion.

allquixotic

3:24 PM

if it were just using TCP on port 443 (OpenVPN can do that), it'd probably work

Bob

Need to run some bootrec commands to fix the MBR

allquixotic

but many (most?) public hotspots don't support things like GRE, L2TP, UDP, non-HTTP ports, etc

RoXaS

@Bob Just to make sure we are on the same track

I want to replace backtrack not windows

DemCodeLines

so I have to use openvpn now?

allquixotic

it's not whether or not the wifi is secure that causes the problem; it's what kind of traffic the firewall is allowing through

Bob

3:26 PM

@RoXaS yep

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines what you "have to" use depends entirely on what any given wifi hotspot will allow you to use, which could be nothing (in the extreme case of the hotspot being completely disabled) or anything (in the other extreme case of the hotspot having no filtering on the traffic at all)

Bob

but first you'll want to make sure the existing Windows installation can boot by itself

allquixotic

one interesting point is that if use OpenVPN over TCP, its traffic is virtually indistinguishable from going to, say, https://google.com in your web browser

Bob

@RoXaS Most Linux distros will completely shit all over the Windows bootloader when you install them.

RoXaS

I dont have the tools right now to open up my laptop

Bob

3:26 PM

Now we need to repair the damage.

RoXaS

Aha

allquixotic

that's because OpenVPN uses TLS, and the hotspot won't be able to tell what's inside the TLS socket

Bob

@RoXaS Eh, that's fine, just means we might need to be a bit more careful about drive selection.

allquixotic

since 99.999% of hotspots would allow you to access the Internet over HTTPS, they also (by necessity) must allow OpenVPN listening on port 443 over TCP.

because the protocol that the firewall can see looks indistinguishable from HTTPS.

RoXaS

Okay SO set usb drive as first boot option I take it?

Bob

3:27 PM

@allquixotic Does it open the connection in the same way, though?

allquixotic

@Bob I think so. there's also something I found that can do proxy CONNECT in front of the session, though I forgot whether that was a part of OpenVPN itself or some add-on / injection

stunnel can also do a proxy CONNECT to establish the TLS socket

Bob

@RoXaS Yep.

You might be able to do that temporarily from F10 or F12 or something.

RoXaS

I just changed the boot order

allquixotic

once the TLS socket handshake is complete, the proxy has no clue (other than traffic shape analysis) what's going on inside the socket

RoXaS

its loading now

Bob

3:29 PM

@RoXaS That works too.

RoXaS

okay lemme get trough the serial stuff etc

Bob

When you're in, hit... what was the key, @allquixotic? F11? to open a command prompt.

@RoXaS Don't need the keys yet.

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic freaking openvpn stuck on installation...not responding...

sigh

allquixotic

@Bob in what?

I haven't been following your convo

RoXaS

But I have an 8.1 install

Bob

3:30 PM

@allquixotic Ah, sorry. Never mind (Windows boot)

Oh, Shift+F10

RoXaS

That allso bootable right?

Bob

@RoXaS You need to boot the installation media, and then press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt within the installer

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines keep in mind that you'll need to use OpenVPN on both the client and server -- if you just set up OpenVPN on your local system, but your work's VPN is something else entirely, it won't work

RoXaS

Got it

CMD with X:\Sources

allquixotic

you'll only be able to pull this off if you have a publicly-routable IP address on your work network, and you have administrative access (root, Administrator password, or somesuch) to install software on that system, and are allowed to by IT policy

then you'll have to tell OpenVPN not to listen on its default port of 993 or whatever (I forget the default port but it's not 443), and to listen on 443 instead

Bob

3:31 PM

@RoXaS dir C:

see if that's your Windows partition

DemCodeLines

oh no, i don't think I have openvpn on the server. :(

Bob

dir C:\Users does it have your user in there?

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines then you're SOL

RoXaS

Yeah

Thats definitely the windows drive

Bob

@RoXaS Ok, cd /d C:\

now bootrec /fixmbr

RoXaS

3:33 PM

done

Succesfully

Bob

try rebooting, change the boot order back to the Windows HDD, and pray it works :P

there's more options if it doesn't, but this is the lightest one... so this is what we start with

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic and plus I have to sign up for that? oh ew, forget it.

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines you will not be able to fix this problem "unilaterally" by only making changes to your client computer (laptop/desktop)... you must also be able to install arbitrary software onto a publicly-routable server of some sorts at your workplace...

@DemCodeLines no, you don't have to sign up for anything; OpenVPN is free and open source software

Bob

I'm really hoping we don't need to get into rebuilding/editing the BCD, because that's rather tedious to do over chat like this.

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic It downloaded Private Tunnel and then asked me for a username and pass or to sign up.

allquixotic

3:35 PM

@DemCodeLines that's because you clicked random buttons without reading the text on the page

2

Bob

s/It/I/

allquixotic

there are several things offered on OpenVPN.org; you don't necessarily want just any of them, you want a specific one

Bob

OpenVPN pushes their paid service quite heavily.

RoXaS

Both HDD orders give me GRUB now

DemCodeLines

I am on openvpn.net and I only see three options.

Service, Solution and Community.

Bob

3:36 PM

What you want is the Community software

allquixotic

OpenVPN.org offers:
(1) a Software as a Service (SAAS) platform called Private Tunnel, which routes your traffic through THEIR servers;
(2) a licensed OpenVPN Access Server product, which you install on your server, but it provides a nice GUI-driven web interface for configuring OpenVPN;
(3) the Free and Open Source Software project OpenVPN, which you download and install and configure using text files.

you want the community one, not OpenVPN AS or Private Tunnel

DemCodeLines

so here: openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html

allquixotic

oh, it's worth mentioning that OpenVPN AS is free for (I think) 3 simultaneous users, so you MIGHT be able to use that if you want the web interface

unless you need more users than that

DemCodeLines

I am a web developer right now, so I need to login to vpn so I can access the dev environment and code.

Bob

@RoXaS o.O

that's not right

allquixotic

3:38 PM

OpenVPN AS only runs on Linux-based systems though; if your server runs Windows, you'll have to use the community OpenVPN

RoXaS

@Bob I tried both orders like 3 times now

Bob

@RoXaS Can you still get into Windows through GRUB?

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines yes, that's the download you want, especially if your server runs Windows and not Linux

Bob

I'm thinking we might as well wipe the GRUB/Backtrack disk now.

RoXaS

@Bob Yep

Im booting into windows right now

DemCodeLines

3:39 PM

It runs linux, so I am in luck.

Bob

@RoXaS Once you're in, go back to diskpart. Make sure disk 1 is still the backtrack disk.

Be very very sure because the next operation is destructive

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines oh, ok :) well, if you have root access to that Linux server, you should be able to install the OpenVPN Access Server, which has a nice easy config GUI. it's worth mentioning that you'll need to be at your workplace and not on a public hotspot to do all this.

RoXaS

@Bob I've made that mistake before one :P

allquixotic

here's the OpenVPN AS downloads

RoXaS

@Bob Meanwhile I just want to thank you for your time and knowledge

Much appreciated

allquixotic

3:41 PM

if you run a recent Fedora, RHEL, OpenSUSE, CentOS, or Ubuntu on your Linux server, you can just grab the packages here

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic Problem is, I am away. I am not even on the VPN, so I can't connect to the development server until I connect to company vpn.

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines chicken and egg problem then

I have no solution for you until you're either on the VPN or physically in the office

Bob

@RoXaS It's no problem at all; and you know your way around, which makes it much easier :)

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic I was hoping openvpn would help me connect, but oh well. Let's see what else I can do.

RoXaS

@Bob I'm a programmer so yeah that helps

allquixotic

3:42 PM

once you are, you can set OpenVPN up to allow you to connect in the future

@DemCodeLines well there is still the possibility that someone else could set up OpenVPN on their server, then provide you access, and you can use the OpenVPN tunnel to tunnel to your VPN to configure your own OpenVPN tunnel... confused yet?

@Bob still got a throwaway VPS? :P (I wouldn't do this on any server that I value)

Bob

@RoXaS Once you're in, select disk=X (1?), then detail disk and list partition and list volume

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic lol

Bob

make absolutely certain that it's the right one

@allquixotic yea, got a couple

I can give you access if you want.

allquixotic

@Bob just need one that runs Linux and can configure OpenVPN

RoXaS

@Bob can i ask for a folder list

Bob

3:44 PM

@RoXaS not from here, unfortunately

@RoXaS your best bet is list partition

RoXaS

@Bob When II trtied formatting by using the USB installer

Bob

@RoXaS If you detail disk it should also provide a list of volumes and mountpoints at the bottom

RoXaS

Disk = was NTFS

disk 0 = NTFS

and disk 1 could not be overwritten because it was not NTFS

Bob

You can see Ltr for drive letter and Fs for filesystem

@RoXaS yea, don't rely on the disk order from there

use detail disk here and check that the Fs column doesn't show NTFS

once you're sure of that, you can run clean - that'll wipe the MBR and partition table

RoXaS

pastebin.com/bbVzu5Bg

Bob

3:47 PM

@RoXaS detail disk

list volume lists all mounted/mountable volumes

allquixotic

just thinking aloud: does OpenVPN support tunneled IPSec, GRE and L2TP? I'm trying to think whether it would need tun or tap to support the full range of protocols, since some of those VPN protocols are extremely low-level.

RoXaS

pastebin.com/tWPxnFL7

Bob

@allquixotic yea, I honestly have no idea what Linux version is running, but it's probably an old Ubuntu

allquixotic

No, Clippy, I don't need help

trying to think whether it would need tun or tap to support the full range of protocols, since some of those protocols are extremely low-level

.

Bob

...no tun or tap on this server

@RoXaS looks alright

allquixotic

3:49 PM

ok, forget it, I'll spin up an Amazon micro instance or something

Bob

you can run clean now if you want

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines how long are you going to be here? I'm not going to bother with this if you're skipping out in the next half-hour.

RoXaS

@Bob pastebin.com/XS5CWT6A this is disk0

Bob

root@vpsdime-1:~# cat /dev/net/tun
cat: /dev/net/tun: No such file or directory

allquixotic

modprobe tun

DemCodeLines

3:50 PM

@allquixotic I will leave in the next hour, yes. I appreciate you taking your time to help me understand something, I'll check back in here when I have at least 2 or more hours of doing nothing.

Bob

@RoXaS yep, now make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you have disk 1 selected

run another detail disk against it

RoXaS

@Bob Diskpart has succesfully cleaned

Bob

because switching disks right before clean is dangerous :P

RoXaS

And my laptop still runs

Oh

toooo late

allquixotic

@DemCodeLines OK. Well, lesson learned for you then: you need to set up OpenVPN AS on your work box.

Bob

3:51 PM

@RoXaS ...did you switch back?

RoXaS

Yeah

I had disk 1 selected

Bob

phew :P

RoXaS

My laptop still runs

Bob

list disk again and it should come up blank

RoXaS

so thats okay

Yeah all space is free

Bob

3:51 PM

root@vpsdime-1:~# modprobe tun
libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod.c:505 kmod_lookup_alias_from_builtin_file: could not open builtin file '/lib/modules/2.6.32-042stab090.3/modules.builtin.bin'
FATAL: Module tun not found.

RoXaS

and is has an * infront of it

Bob

@RoXaS next step is to get Windows to boot by itself

gimme a bit to get this openvpn stuff

RoXaS

@Bob Okay

DemCodeLines

@allquixotic yup, will do.

Bob

@allquixotic found a server with tun/tap enabled

now I just need to figure out why ssh isn't connecting...