Kali Linux Install Documentation

Rosetta, 2021

What is Kali Linux ?

Kali Linux is an advanced Penetration Testing and Security Auditing Linux distribution.

Kali Linux Features

Kali is a complete re-build of BackTrack Linux, adhering completely to Debian development standards.
All-new infrastructure has been put in place, all tools were reviewed and packaged, and we use Git for
our VCS.
 Custom Linux kernel: Kali Linux uses an upstream kernel, patched for wireless injection.
 More than 600 penetration testing tools: After reviewing every tool that was included in
BackTrack, we eliminated a great number of tools that either did not work or had other tools
available that provided similar functionality.
 Free and always will be: Kali Linux, like its predecessor, is completely free and always will be.
You will never, ever have to pay for Kali Linux.
 Open source Git tree: We are huge proponents of open source software and our development tree is
available for all to see and all sources are available for those who wish to tweak and rebuild
packages.
 FHS compliant: Kali has been developed to adhere to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, allowing
all Linux users to easily locate binaries, support files, libraries, etc.
 Vast wireless device support: We have built Kali Linux to support as many wireless devices as we
possibly can, allowing it to run properly on a wide variety of hardware and making it compatible
with numerous USB and other wireless devices.
 Custom kernel patched for injection: As penetration testers, the development team often needs to
do wireless assessments so our kernel has the latest injection patches included.
 Secure development environment: The Kali Linux team is made up of a small group of trusted
individuals who can only commit packages and interact with the repositories while using multiple
secure protocols.
 GPG signed packages and repos: All Kali packages are signed by each individual developer when
they are built and committed and the repositories subsequently sign the packages as well.
 Multi-language: Although pentesting tools tend to be written in English, we have ensured that Kali
has true multilingual support, allowing more users to operate in their native language and locate the
tools they need for the job.
 Completely customizable: We completely understand that not everyone will agree with our design
decisions so we have made it as easy as possible for our more adventurous users to customize Kali
Linux to their liking, all the way down to the kernel.
 ARMEL and ARMHF support: Since ARM-based systems are becoming more and more prevalent
and inexpensive, we knew that Kali’s ARM support would need to be as robust as we could manage,
resulting in working installations for both ARMEL and ARMHF systems. Kali Linux has ARM
repositories integrated with the mainline distribution so tools for ARM will be updated in
conjunction with the rest of the distribution. Kali is currently available for the following ARM
devices:
 rk3306 mk/ss808  EfikaMX
 Raspberry Pi  Beaglebone Black
 ODROID U2/X2  CuBox
 Samsung Chromebook  Galaxy Note 10.1
Kali is specifically tailored to penetration testing and therefore, all documentation on this course
assumes prior knowledge of the Linux operating system.

Kali Linux Default Passwords

During installation, Kali Linux allows users to configure a password for the root user. However, should
you decide to boot the live image instead, the i386, amd64, VMWare and ARM images are configured
with the default root password – “toor“, without the quotes.

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How to Install Kali Linux on VirtualBox

As we have explained somehow in detail to create new virtual machine on VirtualBox. First, you must
download the following requirements.
 Download Kali Linux
 Download VirtualBox

How to Create a New Virtual Machine?

Step #1 (Create New Virtual Machine): Once the downloading is completed, install the VirtualBox on
your Windows PC. The installation is very easy and simple. Double-click on the setup then hit continue
until it gets finished. Now, open up the VirtualBox then click on the “New” at the upper left-hand side
of the window.

A new window will pop up, choose a proper name for Kali Linux. Next, you have to select the type of
operating system. When you type the Kali Linux, it’ll automatically set up all the necessary options. If it
does not set up so you have to do it manually. Click “Next” button.

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Step #2 (Choose Memory Size): Choose at least 2GB of memory size then hit the “Next” button.

Step #3 (Create a new virtual hard disk): Select the second option “Create a new virtual hard disk
now“. Hit the “Create” button.

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Step #4 (Hard Disk File Type): A new window will be shown to you and choose the first option
“VirtualBox Disk Image” then tap on the “Next” button.

Step #5 (Storage on Physical Har Disk): Here, you have two options “Dynamic and Fixed Size“. A
dynamic allocated hard disk file will only use space on your physical hard disk as it fills up it’ll take
space from the main hard disk. If you choose the “Fixed Size“, it’ll cut some space from the physical
hard disk when the size is filled. You can’t get space from the physical hard disk. I recommend you to
choose the dynamic hard disk.

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Step #6 (File Location and Size): In this step, choose the amount of space for the hard disk. If you’ve
selected fixed size hard disk so at least 40GB you should select the size of hard disk.

Step #7 (Setting Video Memory): Now, you’ve successfully created new virtual machine but it’s not
finished yet. Click on the VirtualBox “Settings“. Navigate to the “Display tab” then increase the “Video
Memory“.

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Step #8 (Choose an Operating System): Click on the “Storage tab” then tap on DVD icon. A small
window will pop, choose “Choose Disk“. Now, Choose the Kali Linux ISO file that you’ve downloaded
from its site.

It’s done now. Click the “OK” button to end up the creating a new virtual machine
process.

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Install Kali Linux on VirtualBox

(Start Virtual Machine): Now that you’ve successfully created a new virtual machine, let’s get
started that how to install Kali Linux on VirtualBox in PC. Open the VirtualBox then select the
Kali Linux virtual machine. Tap on the “Start” button at the top.

Step #1(Graphical Linux Installation): When you start the virtual machine, the Kali Linux
will pop up. They’re more than three options to choose.
 Use Kali Linux live
 Install
 Graphical install
I’m going to choose the third option “Graphical Install“. If you choose the only “Install” so
you’ll not see a pretty nice graphical user interface instead there will be black with a terminal
user interface.

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Step #2 (Choose Language): In this step, you’re going to choose language, keyboard, and
Location. Hit the “Continue” button.

Step #3 (Choose a hostname): The hostname is a single word that identifies your system to the
network. The hostname is the person who will use the operating system and have full
control over it.

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Step #4 (Choose domain name): The domain name is an internet Web address that mostly ends
up with “.com, .org, .net, and .Edu”. If you have a domain just type the name. If you don’t
have Website, skip this process.

Step #5 (Enter Password): Try to type a strong password for the root user. A strong password
contains upper case letter, lower case letter, and symbols.

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Step #6 (Select the Time Zone): Select a proper time zone for your operating system.

Step #7 (Manual Partition): Now, you need to create a new partition. Click on “Manual“.

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Step #8 (Create New Partition): Once you’ve chosen the manual partitioning. Now, select the third
option “SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) -56.8 GB ATA VBOX HARDDISK“.

Step #9 (Create New Partition for Kali Linux): In this step, press “Yes” button to continue the
partitioning process.

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Step #10 (Select the Partition): Choose the free space then hit the continue button.

Step #11 (Select Create a new partition): Select “Create a new partition” then hit the “Continue”
button.

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Step #12 (New Partition size): You can create a partition or create multiple partitions. Choose the size of
the partition. Here I’ll create three partitions. So my first drive will be 40 GB.

Step #13 (Primary Partition): Choose primary or logical then hit the “Continue” button.

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Step #14 (Location for the New Partition): Please select whether you want the new partition to be
created at the beginning or at the end of the available space. Choose the first option “Beginning” then hit
“Continue“.

Step #15 (Done Setting up the Partitioning): Now, choose “Done setting up the partition“.

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Finish Partitioning: Create the other partition the same. Please remember one thing that creates
one partition for “Swap area“. This partition should be at least 1 GB.
Once you created all the partitions. Choose “Finish partitioning and write changes to the
disk“. Hit the “Continue” button.

Step #16 (Write Changes to the Disk): Do you want to write changes to the disk? click “Yes“.

The operating system will start installing. Wait for some minutes. It’ll take around 10 to 20 minutes. This
depends on the speed of your computer.

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Step #17 (Use a Network Mirror): Do you want to use the disk mirror? Click “No“.

Step #18 (Install the GRUB Boot Loader): Install the GRUP boot loader on the hard disk. Click “Yes“.

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Step #19 (Device for Boot Loader Installation): When you clicked “Yes“, a new window will be
shown to you. Choose the second option and hit the “Continue” button.

After this, your computer will restart and you’ll be asked to enter the username and password. The
username is “root” and the password is whatever you’ve entered in step 5.

This was a complete guide on how to create a new virtual machine and install Kali Linux on
VirtualBox in PC.

Post Installation
Now that you’ve completed installing Kali Linux, it’s time to customize your system.

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Kali Linux Hard Disk Install

Kali Linux Installation Requirements
Installing Kali Linux on your computer is an easy process. First, you’ll need compatible computer
hardware. Kali is supported on i386, amd64, and ARM (both armel and armhf) platforms. The hardware
requirements are minimal as listed below, although better hardware will naturally provide better
performance. The i386 images have a default PAE kernel, so you can run them on systems with over
4GB of RAM. Download Kali Linux and either burn the ISO to DVD, or prepare a USB stick with Kali
Linux Live as the installation medium. If you do not have a DVD drive or USB port on your computer,
check out the Kali Linux Network Install.
Installation Prerequisites
 A minimum of 10 GB disk space for the Kali Linux install.
 For i386 and amd64 architectures, a minimum of 512MB RAM.
 CD-DVD Drive/USB boot support

Kali Linux Installation Procedure

1. Ensure that your computer is set to boot from CD-DVD/USB in your BIOS
2. To start your installation, boot with your chosen installation medium.
3. The installation procedure from this point onwards is similar to an Install Kali Linux on
VirtualBox (step#1 to step#19).

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Dual Boot Kali with Windows

Kali Linux Dual Boot with Windows
Installing Kali alongside a Windows installation can be quite useful. However, you need to exercise
caution during the setup process. First, make sure that you’ve backed up any important data on your
Windows installation. Since you’ll be modifying your hard drive, you’ll want to store this backup on
external media. Once you’ve completed the backup, we recommend you peruse Kali Linux Hard Disk
Install, which explains the normal procedure for a basic Kali install.
In our example, we will be installing Kali Linux alongside an installation of Windows 7, which is
currently taking up 100% of the disk space in our computer. We will start by resizing our current
Windows partition to occupy less space and then proceed to install Kali Linux in the newly-created empty
partition.
Download Kali Linux and either burn the ISO to DVD, or prepare a USB stick with Kali linux Live as
the installation medium. If you do not have a DVD or USB port on your computer, use the Kali Linux
Network Install. Ensure you have:
 Minimum of 8 GB free disk space on Windows
 CD-DVD / USB boot support

Preparing for the Installation

1. Download Kali Linux.
2. Burn The Kali Linux ISO to DVD or copy Kali Linux Live to USB.
3. Ensure that your computer is set to boot from CD / USB in your BIOS

Dual Boot Installation Procedure

1. To start your installation, boot with your chosen installation medium. You should be greeted with
the Kali Boot screen. Select Live, and you should be booted into the Kali Linux default desktop.
2. Now launch the gparted program. We’ll use gparted to shrink the existing Windows partition to
give us enough room to install Kali Linux.

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3. Select your Windows partition. Depending on your system, it will usually be the second, larger
partition. In our example, there are two partitions; the first is the System Recovery partition, and
Windows is actually installed in /dev/sda2. Resize your Windows partition and leave enough
space (8GB minimum) for the Kali installation.

4. Once you have resized your Windows partition, ensure you “Apply All Operations” on the hard
disk. Exit gparted and reboot.

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Kali Linux Installation Procedure
5. The installation procedure from this point onwards is similar to an Install Kali Linux on
VirtualBox (step#1 to step#19), change (step#7) the point of the partitioning, when you need
to select “Guided – use the largest continuous free space” that you created earlier with gparted.

6. Once the installation is done, reboot. You should be greeted with a GRUB boot menu, which will
allow you to boot either into Kali or Windows.

Post Installation
Now that you’ve completed installing Kali Linux, it’s time to customize your system.

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Kali Linux Live USB Install

Booting and installing Kali from a USB stick is our favorite and fastest method of getting up and
running. In order to do this, we first need to image the Kali ISO on a USB drive.

Preparing for the USB copy

1. Download Kali linux.
2. If running Windows, download Win32 Disk Imager.
3. No special software is needed for a *nix OS.
4. A USB Key (at least 2GB capacity for mini, 4GB for regular).

Kali Linux Live USB Install Procedure

Imaging Kali on a Windows Machine

1. Plug your USB stick into your Windows USB port and launch the Win32 Disk Imager
software
2. Choose the Kali Linux ISO file to be imaged and verify that the USB drive to be
overwritten is the correct one.

3. Once the imaging is complete, safely eject the USB drive from the Windows machine.
You can now use the USB device to boot into Kali Linux.

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Imaging Kali on a Linux Machine
Creating a bootable Kali Linux USB key in a Linux environment is easy. Once you’ve
downloaded your Kali ISO file, you can use dd to copy it over to your USB stick as follows
(make sure your root first):

WARNING. Although the process of imaging Kali on a USB stick is very easy, you can just as easily
destroy arbitrary partitions with dd if you do not understand what you are doing. Consider yourself
warned.

1. Plug in your USB device to your Linux computer’s USB port.

2. Verify the device path of your USB storage with dmesg.
3. Proceed to (carefully!) image the Kali ISO file on the USB device:

dd if=kali.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=512k

That’s it, really! You can now boot into a Kali Live / Installer environment using the USB device.

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