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

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.

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.

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.

How To Install kali Linux On VMWare Workstation?

Step 1. Fier 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.

Step 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.

Step 3. Select Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibilityrkstation 16x – Next

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

Step 4. Select the Operating System Media

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

Step 5. Select Guest Operating System

Step 6. Name the Virtual Machine Name and location

Type a name and give the location details.

Step 7. Allocate the Processors

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

Step 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.

Step 9. Choose the Network Configuration

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

Step 10. Select the I/O Controller Type

Step 11. Select Disk Type

Step 12. Select Virtual Disk

Select the Virtual Disk if you have or create one.

Step 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.

Step 14. Specify Virtual Disk File

Step 15. Create Virtual Machine

Step 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.

Step 17. Power On the Virtual Machine

Press the Play button to power on the Virtual Machine.

Step 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.

Step 19. Select your Location

Step 20. Select Keyboard Layout

Step 21. Configure the Network for updates

Step 22. Enter the hostname for your Kali Linux machine

Step 23. Set up a user account and password

Step 24. Partition the Disk

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

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

Step 26. Finish Partitioning And Write Changes To Disk

Step 27. Select the software packages according to your needs

Step 28. Installation of Kali Linux in Progress

Step 29. Install the GRUB boot loader

Step 30. Select the Drive to install GRUB

Step 31. The installation procedure of Kali Linux has finished.

Step 32. Reboot Virtual Machine

Reboot the machine after installation.

Step 33. Login to the Kali Linux with the user account

Step 34. Kali Linux Desktop after login

Step 35. 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 & Instagram and subscribe to receive updates like this.

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