The purpose of this guide is to show how step by step install Kali Linux on VirtualBox. Kali Linux is very useful tool 😉

Creating new virtual machine - Kali
Creating new virtual machine - Kali

Open VirtaulBox and create the virtual machine by clicking on: New or CTRL + N. When new window appears choose:

  • name for your virtual machine
  • type and version on an operating system: Linux, Debian(32 bit)/ Debian(64 bit)
Memory size
Memory size

Set memory at least 512MB. I set more than 700MB but after first run always change to a higher number. It always depends on how memory you have on a host machine.

Hard disk
Hard disk

Select option: Create a virtual disk now and then click on: Create.

Hard disk - file type
Hard disk - file type

On this window, you can select a few options, but I recommend to choose VMDK. Other options:

  • VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) – virtual disk image file in VirtaulBox systems
  • VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) – virtual hard disk drive, VHDs are implemented as files that reside on the native host file system, used by Microsoft
  • HDD (Parallels Hard Disk) – format used by commercial software “Parallels Workstation” Company “Parallels, Inc.”.
  • QED (QEMU enhanced disk) – format-specific virtual machine (KVM) based on the Linux kernel
  • QCOW (QEMU Copy-On-Write) – format used to obtain virtual storage space. This mechanism allows for a significant reduction in disk space requirements in a situation where the same image of the hard disk is used by many virtual machines and helps to increase productivity, as it reads from the disk is stored in the cache located in the RAM and the memory serves request readings from other virtual machines.
Storage on physical hard disc
Storage on physical hard disc

Select: Dynamically allocated. This option allows changing memory according to the requirements.

Processor
Processor

In: Processors option select: Enable PAE/NX. Reserving for 32-bit memory larger than 4 GB require the use of Enable PAE/NX.

Graphic install
Graphic install

After starting virtual machine select locations of ISO file with Kali Linux.

Selecting ISO image
Selecting ISO image

Select: Install option and press ENTER key.

Select location
Select location

Select location.

Choose keyboard
Choose keyboard

Choose keyboard.

Hostname for the system
Hostname for the system

In this step you can choose: Continue.

Configure the network
Configure the network

This is optional. You can skip this option.

Users and passwords
Users and passwords

Set up password.

Re-enter password.

Partition
Partition

Choose: Guided – use entire disk.

Partition
Partition

Confirm the disk partition.

Partition
Partition

Select partition schema. Choose first option.

Partition
Partition

Select: Yes option to write changes to disk.

Installation
Installation

System installation starts. In the middle of the process, two windows will appear. First with network mirror and second with installing the GRUB boot loader installation on a hard drive.

Login
Login

After reboot enter username as: ‘root’ and password configured previously.

Desktop view
Desktop view

If you have some problems with installation, please leave comment below.

Reference:

  1. Oracle VM VirtualBox
  2. Kali Linux Downloads
  3. Kali Linux Revealed: Mastering the Penetration Testing Distribution

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