Kali Linux Virtual Machine Installation on Windows

Kali Linux Virtual Machine Installation on Windows

1. Navigate to the link https://www.kali.org/get-kali/
2. Select the Bare Metal box OR scroll down to the Bare Metal section. Select the version of Kali that you'd like to install: 64-bit or 32-bit (I downloaded the 64-bit version). Each of the three boxes in this section contains a "download" button at the bottom-left of the box. Select this button on box with the "recommended" text below it (It should be the center box with the text "Installer" on it). This will begin the download of the Kali ISO file. Select the appropriate download directory (E.g., downloads folder).

**NOTE: This download may take several minutes

3. Ensure you've previously installed VirtualBox (these directions will not go over the installation of this software). Open VirtualBox. Select the New button to create a new Virtual Machine (VM). A popup (dialog) box will open.
4. Enter the name of the VM (E.g., "Kali"). Enter the folder in which the VM will reside (this may consume a large amount of space, so ensure a drive with plenty of space is selected). If on Windows, and want to change the folder where the VM will reside, make sure you run VirtualBox with administrator privileges. Select the machine type as Linux. Select the version as Ubuntu x-bit where x is the version of Kali that was installed (I selected 64-bit to match my Kali ISO file download).
5. The dialog's next page is for memory allocation. The value one enters for this will be dependent upon his/her system. For me, I entered 4096MB. As a recommendation, if you have at least 8GB of ram, set the memory size to at least 2048MB.
6. On the next page, I selected “Create a virtual hard disk now” and clicked Create.
7. On the next page, I had “VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)” selected as the hard disk file type.
8. The next page is titled “Storage on physical hard disk.” I selected “Dynamically allocated” and clicked Next.
9. For the size of the VM, like with the memory allocation, what one enters will be dependent upon his/her system. I entered 25GB.
10. The Kali VM that was just created should now be visible in the left section of the VirtualBox window. To install the VMs, one must now select the Kali VM (it should be highlighted when selected) > Settings (button at the top in the right section) > Storage.
11. In this section, under “Storage Devices,” the text should read “Controller: IDE”. To the right of this text are two icons. Click the round icon.
12. In the dialog that appears, select Add. The file explorer will appear. Navigate to the Kali ISO file that was downloaded earlier and select Open. Now select the ISO that was just opened and click OK. --- NOTE: For one student, the path was was "Choose Disk" -> "Add" (top left) -> -> "Choose" -> "OK"
13. Now, while the Kali VM is highlighted in the left section, select the green arrow Start icon in the right section. The VM will start.
14. Upon starting, a “Select startup disk” dialog may appear with a drop down. Select the kali ISO file from the drop down.
15. From there, follow the setup instructions. Once completed, Kali will be installed and available to use on your system.
16. After installation, there are multiple settings you can twist to optimize the performance or make it more convenient. One of them is to enable the bidirectional clipboard and drag-n-drop. To do so, select your Kali Linux VM on Virtual Box -> Settings -> General -> Advanced -> Change to "Bidirectional" for Shared Clipboard and Drag'n'Drop
17. INSTRUCTIONS DOUBLE CHECKED: Yes [X] No []