Kali Linux can also be installed on a VMware ESXi host if needed – the installation process is quite similar. Let’s explore how to install Kali Linux on a VM of the VMware Workstation format due to portability-related reasons – you can install VMware Workstation on a laptop, deploy a virtual machine with Kali Linux, and use this laptop for auditing wireless networks, for example. When the ISO file is downloaded, check the sha256sum to verify the data integrity and ensure that the file is not corrupted.

For the sake of simplicity and consistency in this blog post, let’s download Kali Linux Xfce 64 Bit via HTTP. You can also select the build with your favorite graphics desktop environment among Gnome, KDE, Xfce, Mate, etc.

The installation images are provided in the ISO format for 32bit, 64bit and ARM architecture. This blog post explores the installation process of Kali Linux on a VMware virtual machine and configuration of a Wi-Fi network adapter.ĭISCOVER SOLUTION Downloading the ISO Imageįirst, open the Kali download page in your browser and select the distribution that can best meet your needs. As a result, you can use your physical machine for the usual tasks while simultaneously running a virtual machine with Kali Linux for penetration testing and security auditing of your networks, software, etc. In this case, hardware virtualization technologies can help you – you can install Kali Linux on a VMware VM running on your desktop, laptop, or server. Sometimes you may not have the ability to dedicate the entire computer to running Kali Linux from neither Live DVD nor your internal hard disk as the installed OS. There are more than 600 penetration testing tools included in Kali Linux that can be run as Live DVD without installation as well as be installed on a computer as a desktop OS. Some tools that were duplicated or provided similar functionality in BackTrack Linux were removed in Kali Linux. The first version of Kali Linux was released in 2013 as the rebuild of BackTrack Linux – a previous well-known distribution for security auditing and penetration testing. Kali is a free Debian-based Linux distribution intended for penetration testing.

Download kali linux for vmware