Lab 15. How to Setup Your Own
Kali Linux Virtual Machine
Lab Objective:
Learn how to setup your own Kali Linux Virtual Machine for the purpose of
hacking.
Lab Purpose:
Kali Linux is a Debian-based Linux distribution which is aimed at advancing
Penetration Testing and Security Auditing. Kali Linux contains several
hundred tools which are geared towards various information security tasks,
and many more can be downloaded from sources such as GitHub.
Lab Tool:
Windows Machine
Lab Topology:
You can use a Windows or Linux PC which can offer Desktop login for this
lab.
Lab Walkthrough:
Task 1:
There are two major virtualization platforms that are currently free for
Windows and Linux operating systems. You can access the website of both
platforms from the links below:
Oracle VirtualBox
[ https://www.virtualbox.org/ ]
VMware Workstation Player
[https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-player.html ]
In this lab, we prefer to use the VirtualBox because of its easy use and
because it’s also the most popular in the open source world. You can use it in
both Linux and Windows PC environments. It is very easy to install in the
Windows environment. After installing the actual application, do not forget
to download and install the VirtualBox Extension Pack, which is the same
version as this.
This software will allow us to run the Kali Linux Operating System within
our Windows or Linux Desktop Operating System. This means the things we
do in the virtual OS will not impact our actual OS.
Task 2:
There are various methods of installing Kali Linux under VirtualBox. For
convenience, we will proceed by importing a preinstalled VM image. Go to:
https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-vm-vmware-virtualbox-
image-download/
You will see two types of images here, 32bit and 64bit. If your Desktop
Operating System supports running a 64bit virtual OS, it is recommended
that you download it. Make sure you download for the right virtualization
platform.
Task 3:
We will import the pre-installed Kali Linux VM machine just downloaded,
into the VirtualBox environment.
Open Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, select “File” on the top menu, then
click “Import Appliance” from the drop-down menu.
In the “Appliance to import” window, following the numbered steps
indicated in the figure, select the Kali Linux VM OVA file we just
downloaded. Then, click Next.
Check the information displayed in the window that opens, then click import.
Also click on the “Agree” button in the “Software License Agrement”
window that opens. Importing begins…
After the import is done, the Kali Linux VM is ready for use. Click the green
“Start” button to boot virtual machine.
Task 4:
Once the importer is finished, boot up the virtual machine. It may take a few
minutes to load. Once loaded, enter “kali” as both username and password.
By default, a password is not defined for the root user, so you cannot log in
directly as that user.
For operations that require root authorization, you will need to use “sudo”
command on the terminal screen, in this case the password that must be
entered is “kali”.
To ensure you are using the most up to date version of the machine, open a
teminal screen, then enter the following commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
You will be prompted for the sudo password. Enter the default password
“kali”. It is important to have these updates on a freshly installed Kali VM,
otherwise both the OS and some hacking tools may not work properly. After
all updates are finished, reboot the Kali VM to make sure all updates have
been applied.
Task 5:
Done! Now we have a fully functioning Kali Linux Virtual Machine to begin
hacking. It is useful to take a snapshot of the machine, from the virtualization
software setttings, once all the updates are done. This is useful if the VM
image becomes damaged, in which case we can simply revert to the recently
updated working version. Also, connecting the default network adaptor to the
“Bridge Adapter” instead of NAT will benefit us in many subsequent hacking
operations.
First, make sure that Kali is in shutdown state. In the Oracle VirtualBox
Manager main window, click the Settings button, then follow the steps
described in the figure.
Now, we can take a snapshot of the entire Kali VM.
Now, whenever necessary, we can restore Kali Linux virtual machine to this
snapshot level and then boot the system in its initial state.
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