HowTo: Hashcat and hcxtools on Arch Linux Live USB

[v71221]

Hi, there!
How to run Hashcat v6.2.6 on Arch Live USB? See below for details, an Internet connection is required.
My thanks to ZerBea, his tools inspired me to learn Arch.
This post is a continuation of my previous post
https://hashcat.net/forum/thread-10548.html
Use at your own risk, corrections and improvements are welcome.

My main OS is still Windows. I use a Live USB to boot and run Arch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB
My notebook has an Intel Celeron CPU.
Be advised, notebooks are generally not suitable for hashcat.
https://hashcat.net/forum/thread-4160.html
https://hashcat.net/forum/thread-10788.html

Download Arch Linux image (currently the latest version is archlinux-2023.03.01-x86_64.iso)
https://archlinux.org/download/

Create a bootable USB flash drive (Live USB)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_fla...ion_medium
I prefer Rufus in ISO image mode.

Download the latest hashcat.
https://hashcat.net/files/hashcat-6.2.6.7z
Extract this archive to folder hashcat-6.2.6

Copy this folder to USB flash drive.
Copy also three scripts:
  pre.sh  connecting to wifi, preparing to run the graphical user interface (GUI)
  hcx.sh  installing hcxdumptool and hcxtools
  hcat.sh  installing the software needed to run hashcat on my Intel CPU

Edit pre.sh
Enter your favorite Arch mirror, wireless device, SSID and passphrase, timezone.

Keep in mind, the GUI is just for user convenience.
Hashcat, hcxdumptool and hcxtools do not need GUI.
Use CLI instead of GUI to save memory and CPU cycles.

Boot from USB flash drive.
Then check which device corresponds to flash drive.
lsblk -f
Usually it is sdb1

mount -m /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1
/mnt/sdb1/pre.sh

After pre.sh is finished, run hcx.sh or hcat.sh

To run the GUI as non-root, switch to tty2 and run from there:
Ctrl + Alt + F2
startx

Main key combinations of i3 (a tiling window manager)
mod + Shift + e to exit i3
mod + Enter to open terminal
mod + d to open dmenu
mod + 1 to switch to 1st workspace
mod + 2 to switch to 2nd workspace

mod is the Win key or the Alt key
https://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_de...eybindings
https://i3wm.org/docs/refcard.html
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/i3

Code:

pre.sh

#!/bin/bash

cd ~
systemctl stop reflector.service
systemctl disable reflector.service
echo 'Server = https://de.arch.mirror.kescher.at/$repo/os/$arch'    > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
echo 'Server = https://mirror.osbeck.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch' >> /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
cat /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

iwctl --passphrase PASSPHRASE station wlan0 connect SSID
iw device wlan0 link
while :; do ping 8.8.8.8 -c 1 -w 1 -q && break || sleep 3; done
timedatectl set-ntp true
timedatectl set-timezone Zone/SubZone

while ! systemctl show pacman-init.service | grep SubState=exited; do
  systemctl --no-pager --lines=0 status pacman-init.service || true
  sleep 3
done

timedatectl status
mount --options remount,size=3000M /run/archiso/cowspace

pacman --sync --refresh --color=auto
pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet --color=auto archlinux-keyring
pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet --color=auto xorg-server xorg-xinit xterm
pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet --color=auto i3-wm i3status dmenu
pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet --color=auto firefox nss
rm --force /var/cache/pacman/pkg/*

useradd --create-home --gid users --groups audio,wheel --shell /usr/bin/zsh user
echo 'user:user' | chpasswd
echo 'user ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

echo 'Section "InputClass"'              > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo '  Identifier "touchpad"'          >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo '  Driver "libinput"'              >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo '  MatchIsTouchpad "on"'            >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo '  Option "Tapping" "on"'          >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo '  Option "TappingButtonMap" "lmr"' >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo 'EndSection'                        >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
echo 'if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then'      > ~/.xinitrc
echo ' for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do' >> ~/.xinitrc
echo '  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"'                      >> ~/.xinitrc
echo ' done'                                        >> ~/.xinitrc
echo ' unset f'                                      >> ~/.xinitrc
echo 'fi'                                            >> ~/.xinitrc
echo 'exec i3'                                      >> ~/.xinitrc
cp .xinitrc /home/user/
chown user:users /home/user/.xinitrc
mkdir /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty2.service.d/
echo '[Service]'                                                                      > /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty2.service.d/autologin.conf
echo 'ExecStart='                                                                    >> /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty2.service.d/autologin.conf
echo "ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty -o '-p -f -- \\\u' --noclear --autologin user - \$TERM" >> /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty2.service.d/autologin.conf

mc

Code:

hcx.sh

#!/bin/bash

sudo pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet git gcc make pkg-config

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/ZerBea/hcxdumptool.git
cd hcxdumptool
make && sudo make install
cd ~

git clone https://github.com/ZerBea/hcxtools.git
cd hcxtools
make && sudo make install
cd ~

df --human-readable /
hcxdumptool -I

read -p $'\n  Press ENTER to stop iwd ... '
sudo systemctl stop iwd

Code:

hcat.sh

#!/bin/bash

sudo pacman --sync --needed --noconfirm --quiet git gcc make fakeroot ocl-icd

gpg --recv-keys 19882D92DDA4C400C22C0D56CC2AF4472167BE03

cd ~
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/ncurses5-compat-libs.git
cd ncurses5-compat-libs
makepkg --syncdeps --install --needed --noconfirm --clean
cd ~

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/intel-opencl-runtime.git
cd intel-opencl-runtime
makepkg --syncdeps --install --needed --noconfirm --clean
cd ~

df --human-readable /
/mnt/sdb1/hashcat-6.2.6/hashcat.bin -I