Installing Kali on a physical machine

Before you install Kali Linux on a physical/real machine, make sure that you install it on an empty hard drive. If your hard drive already has some data on it, that data will be lost during the installation process because the installer will format the hard drive. For the easiest installation, it is recommended that you use the entire hard disk. For more advanced setups, there is the option of installing Kali Linux on a partition of a single logical drive. To do this, you will have to have a primary partition that boots the operating system and another partition for Kali Linux. Take care when doing this because it is easy for the bootable operating system to become corrupted.

There are several tools that can be used to help you perform disk partitioning. In the open source area, the following Linux Live CDs are available:

• SystemRescueCD (http://www.sysresccd.org/)
• GParted Live (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php)
• Kali Linux (http://www.kali.org)

To use the Linux Live CD, you just need to boot it up and you are ready for disk partitioning. Make sure that you back up your data before you use the Linux Live CD disk-partitioning tool. Even though they are safe for use in our experience, there is nothing wrong with being cautious, especially if you have important data on the hard disk.

After you are done with the disk partitioning (or you just want to use all the hard disk space), you can boot your machine using the Kali Linux Live DVD and select the Install or Graphical install option when you are prompted with the Kali Linux Live CD menu:

After that, you will see an installation window. You need to set up several things during the installation process:

1. Set Language: The default is English.
2. Selection Location: Use the drop-down menu to select your country.
3. Configure the Keyboard: Select the keyboard that best fits your needs.
4. Host Name for the system: The default is Kali. For beginners, you can leave the default in place. Host names are often used in enterprise environments where an accounting of all systems connected to the network is necessary.
5. Set the Domain: For beginners, this should be left blank. This would only be used if the installation was to be part of a network domain.
6. Set Password: This will be the password for the ROOT account. Choose a strong one, do not share it, and do not forget it.
7. Configure the clock: Choose your time zone.
8. Partition Disk: The installer will guide you through the disk partitioning process. If you use an empty hard disk, just select the default Guided - use entire disk option for convenience. If you have some other operating system installed on your machine, you might first want to create a separate partition for Kali Linux and then select Manual in this menu. After you have selected a suitable menu, the installer will create the partition.
9. The installer will ask you about the partitioning scheme; the default scheme is All files in one partition. Remember that if you want to store files in the home directory, you should select Separate /home partition so that those files won't be deleted if you reinstall the system. The /home partition's size really depends on your needs. If you want to put all your data in that directory, you may want a big partition size (more than 50 GB). For average use, you can go ahead with 10 to 20 GB.
10. For beginners, it is recommended that you select the Guided - use entire disk option. Then, select the disk that you want to install Kali Linux to. Select All files in one partition.

1. The installer will display an overview of your currently configured partitions, as shown in the following screenshot:

1. Make sure Finish partitioning and write changes to disk is selected and then click Continue. Finally, click the Yes radio button and click Continue to write the changes to the disk.
2. Network Mirror: For beginners, choose no. We will cover updating Kali Linux.
3. Next, the installer will install the Kali Linux system. The installation will be completed in several minutes and you will have Kali Linux installed on your hard disk afterwards. In our test machine, the installation took around 20 minutes.
4. After the installation is finished, the installer will ask you to configure the package manager. Next, it will ask you to install GRUB to the Master Boot Record (MBR). You can just choose the default values for these two questions. Beware: if you have some other operating system on the same machine, you should not choose to install GRUB to the MBR.

1. If you see the following message, it means that your Kali installation is complete:

1. You can restart the machine to test your new Kali installation by selecting the Continue button. After restarting, you will see the following Kali login screen. You can log in using the credentials that you configured in the installation process. The default username is root:

The default password is toor: