Kali Linux VMware Installation

Summary

In this documentation you will find the necessary steps to set up a Kali Linux Virtual Machine on VMware Workstation or Oracle VM VirtualBox.

Kali Linux Image File: Kali Linux 2021.1 amd64 (download from https://www.kali.org/downloads/ )
VMware Workstation (Version 15.5 is used in this tutorial)

Open VMware Workstation and follow these configurations for a successful installation:

Click on File -> New Virtual Machine; a window with the configuration will pop up
Choose Typical as the type of configuration and click Next>
Choose Installer disc image file (iso) and find path to the downloaded Kali ISO file, then click Next>
As Guest operating system select Linux and set the Version to Debian 9.x 64-bit, then click Next>
Set Maximum Disk Size to 40 GB and choose Split virtual disk into multiple files, then click Next> and Finish

Now you're all set for configuring the Kali Linux Installer:

Select Graphical install and set language and country preferences
Set hostname and if you want also the domain name, otherwise skip it
Set up users and passwords
As partitioning method for the disks choose Guided - use entire disk and then just confirm the disk
As partitioning scheme choose All files in one operation (recommended for new users)
Choose Finish partitioning and write changes to disk, and when prompted whether to write the changes to disks, just click yes
You can leave the software selection on default:

Click yes when prompted to install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive and then as Device for boot loader installation enter /dev/sda; now you should be all set and your installation is finished as soon as the login window pops up

Pre-Made Kali VirtualBox VM [kali-linux-2024.3-virtualbox-amd64] (downloaded from: https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-virtual-machines )
Oracle VM Virtual Box (Version 7.0.14 is used in this tutorial)

After downloading Pre-Made Karli VirtualBox VM the file will be a .zip file. Unzip it (for example with 7-Zip file Manager or any other Tool of your choice)
Launch the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager
Click on "Add" (de: Hinzufügen)