Kali Linux: The Most Advanced
Penetration Testing Distribution
Kali Linux is an open-source, Debian-based Linux distribution geared towards various information security tasks, such as Penetration Testing, Security Research, Computer Forensics and Reverse Engineering.
Gone those days, where we have to struggle to install Kali Linux as dual machine along side of windows as a host machine. After the release of WSL and WSL 2, installing and using Kali Linux has never been easy within windows system.
What is WSL ?
WSL stands for “ Windows Subsystem for Linux “.
Windows Subsystem for Linux is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables natively on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2019. In May 2019, WSL 2 was announced, introducing important changes such as a real Linux kernel, through a subset of Hyper-V features.
Prerequisites:
- Running Windows 10 version 2004 or higher
- Using Windows Terminal
Installation steps:
Step 1 — Enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux
You must first enable the “Windows Subsystem for Linux” optional feature before installing any Linux distributions on Windows.
Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
To update to WSL 2, you must be running Windows 10 and you must enable the Virtual Machine Platform optional feature. Your machine will require virtualization capabilities to use this feature.
Step 2 — Enable Virtual Machine feature
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
Restart your machine to complete the WSL install and update to WSL 2.
Step 3— Download the WSL 2 package
- Download WSL2 Linux kernel update package for x64 machines
- Run the update package downloaded in the previous step. (Double-click to run — you will be prompted for elevated permissions, select ‘yes’ to approve this installation.)
Step 4— Set WSL 2 as your default version
Open PowerShell and run this command to set WSL 2 as the default version when installing a new Linux distribution:
wsl — set-default-version 2
Step 65— Install your Linux distribution of choice
Open the Microsoft Store and search for Kali Linux distribution and click on ‘GET’ and then click on Launch after installation finish.
Now click on Launch.
The first time you launch a newly installed Linux distribution, a console window will open and you’ll be asked to wait for a minute or two for files to de-compress and be stored on your PC. All future launches should take less than a second.
You will then need to create a user account and password for your new Linux distribution.
To launch Kali Linux, search for Kali Linux and click on Open.
Thanks.
