Step-By-Step Procedure To Install kali Linux On VMWare Workstation

Arunkl
TheSecMaster
Published in
7 min readMar 30, 2023
kali linux logo on the laptop on a yellow background with post titles.
Source:thesecmaster.com

If you are into cybersecurity and you don’t even hear about Kali Linux, then you never be considered a cybersecurity professional. Don’t worry we are here to introduce you to the wonderful Linux distribution. Kali Linux is not a general-purpose desktop or server operating system. It is designed and developed to help cybersecurity professionals. Since it is not a general-purpose Linux distribution, it is not preferred to use as a host operating system. This doesn’t mean that you can’t install Kali Linux on your hardware. It’s recommended to install this on a virtual platform like VMWare Workstation, Virtual Box, WSL, or live boot. This post we have created to show you how to install Kali Linux on the VMWare Workstation.

Table of Contents

· What Is Kali Linux?
· What Is VMWare Workstation?
· Prerequisites To Install Kali Linux On VMWare Workstation:
· How To Install kali Linux On VMWare Workstation?

What Is Kali Linux?

Kali Linux is an open-source Linux distribution built on the Debian platform like Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Kali Linux is not a general-purpose Linux distribution. It’s developed with a specific purpose especially for cybersecurity professionals, It has hundreds of utilities, applications, tools, software, and services that would be used by pentesters, security auditors, security testers, security researchers, cybersecurity forensics, threat hunters, reverse engineers, mostly the professionals found themselves in the cybersecurity landscape. Learn more about Kali Linux from here.

What Is VMWare Workstation?

VMWare Workstation is an application developed by VMWare to create virtual machines, containers, and Kubernetes clusters on any desktop or server system. VMWare released VMWare Workstation in two products: VMWare Workstation Pro and VMWare Workstation Player. VMWare Workstation Player is released on a free license with limited features, whereas VMWare Workstation Pro is an enterprise paid version that has loaded with a lot of features. Full documentation is published on the VMWare portal for free. Refer to the documentation from here.

  1. VMware Workstation Pro Documentation Center
  2. VMware Workstation Player Documentation Center

Prerequisites To Install Kali Linux On VMWare Workstation:

To install Kali Linux on VMWare Workstation you just need a physical machine, VMWare Workstation Pro or Player installed on your machine and Kali Linux ISO image.

  1. A host system with minimum:

1. 8 GB of memory

2. A quad core CPU

3. 500 GB of Hard Drive

2. VMWare Workstation Pro or Player application:0

  1. Download VMWare Workstation

3. Linux Mint Operating System to install on VMWare Workstation.

  1. Download Kali Linux

How To Install kali Linux On VMWare Workstation?

Time needed: 30 minutes.

How to Install Kali Linux on VMWare Workstation?

  1. Fire up VMWare Workstation

Download the VMWare Workstation application for your host operating system and install it on your machine. The installation procedure is pretty simple and straight. Read the documentation for more details. Open the app after installation. Create a new Virtual Machine.

VMWare Workstation

2. Select Custom Configuration Wizard

You can choose either Typical or Custom Wizard. We recommend selecting Custom if you want to install with all the configurations. If you are okay with default configurations then go ahead with Typical configurations.

Select Custom Configuration Wizard

3. Select Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibilityrkstation 16x — Next

Go with the default option if you don’t have the choice.

Select Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility

4. Select the Operating System Media

Select ‘I will install the operating system later’ for an interactive installation.

Select the Operating System Media

5. Select Guest Operating System

Select Guest Operating System

6. Name the Virtual Machine Name and location

Type a name and give the location details.

Virtual Machine Name and location

7. Allocate the Processors

Assign the processors, Calculate the processor required to run the host machine. Assign the leftover resources to the virtual machine.

Allocate the Processors

8. Allocate the Memory for Virtual Machine

Memory allocation calculation is the same as the processor allocation. Leave sufficient memory for the host system and allocate the remaining memory for the virtual machine.

Memory for Virtual Machine

9. Choose the Network Configuration

Select any one of the network configurations as per your requirement.

Choose the Network Configuration

10. Select the I/O Controller Type

Select the I/O Controller Type

11. Select Disk Type

Select Disk Type

12. Select Virtual Disk

Select the Virtual Disk if you have or create one.

Select Virtual Disk

13. Select Disk Capacity

Select the disk size. Selecting a single disk will increase the performance. However, selecting a split disk will help in the disk transfer scenario.

Select Disk Capacity

14. Specify Virtual Disk File

Specify Virtual Disk File

15. Create Virtual Machine

Create Virtual Machine

16. Supply Kali Linux ISO Image to Virtual Machine

Download Kali Linux image. Edit the CD/DVD settings and import the downloaded Linux Mint image.

Kali Linux ISO Image to Virtual Machine

17. Power On the Virtual Machine

Press the Play button to power on the Virtual Machine.

Power On the Virtual Machine

18. Welcome, Kali Linux Virtual Machine

you will be treated with a welcome screen on which you will see the option to select the language. Select your language and click Continue.

Kali Linux Virtual Machine

19. Select your Location

Kali Linux Virtual Machine

20. Select Keyboard Layout

Select Keyboard Layout

21. Configure the Network for updates

Configure the Network for updates

22. Enter the hostname for your Kali Linux machine

Enter the hostname for your Kali Linux machine

23. Set up a user account and password

Set up a user account and password

24. Partition the Disk

Select Erase the Disk for auto partition. Or Select the Advance option to create the custom partition.

Select Erase the Disk for auto partition.

25. All Files In One Partition (recommended for new users)- Continue

All Files In One Partition (recommended for new users)- Continue

26. Finish Partitioning And Write Changes To Disk

Finish Partitioning And Write Changes To Disk

27. Select the software packages according to your needs

Select the software packages according to your needs

28. Installation of Kali Linux in Progress

Installation of Kali Linux in Progress

29. Install the GRUB boot loader

Install the GRUB boot loader

30. Select the Drive to install GRUB

Select the Drive to install GRUB

31. The installation procedure of Kali Linux has finished.

The installation procedure of Kali Linux has finished.

32. Reboot Virtual Machine

Reboot the machine after installation.

Reboot the machine after installation.

33. Login to the Kali Linux with the user account

Login to the Kali Linux with the user account

34. Kali Linux Desktop after login

Kali Linux Desktop after login

35. Shut Down Kali Linux

Shut Down Kali Linux

This is how you should install Kali Linux on VMWare Workstation. We hope this tutorial post will help you in installing Kali Linux on VMWare Workstation. Thanks for reading this post. Please share this post and help to secure the digital world. Visit our social media page on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Telegram, Tumblr, & Medium and subscribe to receive updates like this.

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