A virtual machine(VM) is the virtualization or emulation of a computer system. It’s a way to run a computer system such as windows or linux. You can use this to test new/other features, software, configurations, etc.

The linux distribution Kali is usually a go to linux ditro for those in various aspects of Cyber Security, such as Penetration Testers (Ethical Hackers). It comes with a large assortment of pre-installed cyber security tools, or the ability to easily install them. Though this is not a recommended first linux distribution. For first time linux users, I recommend checking out Ubuntu.

VM software that is used to emulate other computer systems are VMWare Workstation Player (Free version), VMWare Workstation Pro (Paid version), or Virtualbox. I have VMWare Workstation Pro but Player works just as well. You can go with either VMWare or Virtualbox, both work and it just comes down to personal preference on the application and what you’re use to. There’s minor differences between the two for most end users.

Obviously your setup may differ depending on your system specs. I typically go with 4GB(4096 MB) of RAM per VM, 2 processors and 2 cores per processor but I have a bit beefier machine. If you need to, you can start with 4 or 8GB of RAM and 2 processors and 2 core per processor, for the install so it goes faster then drop it down to 2 or 4GB of RAM and 2 processors and 1 core per processor.

Kali VM

VMWare / Virtualbox

The VM version is essentially the same just minorly different when choosing the file to open. VMWare looks for a .vmx file, while VirtualBox looks for a .vbox file. Upon launching, the default credentials are be the word kali for the username AND password.

Download the .7z file and extract it with 7Zip in whatever manor that works for you.

VMWare

With the VM extracted, within VMWare, File > Open, then navigate to the directory with the .vmx file.

From here, you can see the default settings on the site, but can edit them better suited to your machine.

Virtualbox

With the VM extracted, select the add button, then navigate to the directory with the .vbox file.

From here, you can see the default settings on the site, but can edit them better suited to your machine.

Kali ISO

We will start with the Typical configuration, similar to what we did at the start of the Ubuntu VM Setup Guide

Now we close that and can start our VM and install it. Once we start the VM, it’ll take us to a list, I’m going to choose Graphical Install

Choose your language and Region

Choose your Keyboard layout

Give the machine a hostname

If you have a domain name you would like this to utilize, input it here. I will be leaving mine blank.

Choose a username for your account

Input a password for the user

Choose the timezone for the VM

For a VM, we will use the entire disk.

Pick the disk you would like to use

Pick how you may want to partition the drive. Usually for a VM instance, you can put everything into one partition.

Verify the partition changes

Let the VM Install

Choose if you want another Desktop Environment(DE) or if you do/don’t any extra tools to bein installed

After that finishes installing, choose to install the GRUB bootloader

Once install is finished, you’ll beboot the system and done!

Post Install

Once we’re in, it’s a good idea to open the terminal, and we update everything with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y.

Now is when you will want to shut down the VM and adjust RAM and Processors if needed. Drop it for 2GB or 4GB of RAM and 1 or 2 processors.

From here you can explore and find things, change settings, and learn. I HIGHLY recommend creating a snapshot after you have this done and setup so that way you can always revert back to that snapshot if needed if something breaks or you just need to clean things up.

I recommend using some additional software such as PimpMyKali from DeWalt.