How to Install Kali Linux on Windows
Kali Linux is the primary Debian-based Linux distribution used for information security purposes such as security research, penetration testing, password cracking, and more. It is mainly used by white hat or ethical hackers to test the integrity of a system or a network.
If you cannot install Kali Linux on your PC directly, you can easily install it on Windows through a virtual machine. Read on as we guide you on installing Kali Linux on a Windows PC.
How to Install a Virtual Machine on Windows
The first step to installing Kali Linux is downloading and setting up a virtual machine on your Windows PC. We recommend using Oracle VM VirtualBox as it’s reliable, free to use, and offers very high performance. We also comparedVirtualBox vs. VMWare Playerif you’d like more information.
To install VM VirtualBox:
How to Download the Kali Linux Virtual Machine
Once we have installed a virtual machine, we need to download the Kali Linux VM image. The VM image will allow you to run the Kali Linux operating system on your current Windows PC.
There are two main ways to install Kali Linux on a virtual machine: download and use a pre-built VM image or install Kali via an ISO image. Since it is much quicker to import a pre-built VM rather than installing Kali from scratch, we will focus on using the pre-made virtual machine image for this guide. If you’re still interested in installing Kali Linux via ISO, we will overview that at the end of the article.
To download the Kali Linux VM image:
Import Kali Linux VM on Windows
Now that our VirtualBox and Kali Linux VM image is ready, we can import it into our VM. Here’s how you can import the pre-installed Kali Linux image into Oracle VM VirtualBox:
Download the Kali Linux ISO
If you would instead use the official ISO to install Kali Linux, you’re able to download it from theofficial Kali website. Once you’ve downloaded the ISO, mount it within VirtualBox and start the virtual machine. After completing the Kali installation steps within VirtualBox, you will successfully install Kali Linux on your Windows.
Use Kali Linux on Windows
You can easily install Kali Linux within your Windows PC thanks to virtual machines. We recommend you use the pre-built VM image and skip through the grunty installation process and jump right into Kali Linux. As one of the most secure and popular Linux distributions, Kali Linux is a very useful tool in the world of information security.
Apart from Kali Linux, there are numerous other penetration testing distros in the market. So why do ethical hackers prefer Kali over other OSes?
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