Most Linux distributions have a “main” desktop environment they use – the one that comes installed by default in the distro’s most popular download. For Kali Linux, it’s Xfce.
If you prefer KDE Plasma over Xfce or are just looking for a change of scenery, it’s quite simple to switch desktop environments on Kali. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to install the KDE desktop environment on Kali Linux.
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If you’re running Kali Linux inside a VirtualBox virtual machine, installing the Guest Additions software will help you get the most out of the system. VirtualBox Guest Additions will give the machine more capabilities, such as a shared clipboard with the host system, drag and drop file transfer, and automatic window resizing.
This makes copying data to and from a host system much more convenient. It also changes the VM’s resolution automatically when its window is resized, so you don’t need to change it manually. Guest Additions will work with just about any Linux distribution, but instructions can differ because of dependencies and package managers. Normally, Kali will automatically detect what platform the operating system has been installed on, and will include Guest Additions (if applicable) by default. If yours isn’t working or you just need to know how to use the features, we’ve got you covered in this guide.
In this guide, we’ll be going over the step by step instructions to get VirtualBox Guest Additions installed on Kali Linux. With these instructions, it doesn’t matter what host system you’re using, as long as the virtual machine is running Kali. This guide assumes that you’ve already installed Kali in the VM correctly.
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When performing digital reconnaissance or penetrating testing, it’s important to fingerprint a network by understanding what servers or devices sit between your system and a target. For example, security professionals can’t go straight to attacking a web server without first taking the time to see if there’s a firewall in front of it.
This is where the traceroute utility comes in. It can send a packet from your system to the target machine, and list out its entire route for the journey there. This will reveal how many devices your network data is passing through, as well as the IP address of each device.
Kali Linux has another similar reconnaissance utility called mtr, which mostly functions the same as traceroute. In this guide, we’ll see how to use traceroute and mtr, along with their various command options, on Kali.
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The objective of this guide is to show how to crack a password for a zip file on Kali Linux.
By default, Kali includes the tools to crack passwords for these compressed archives, namely the fcrackzip utility, John the Ripper and a word list. Follow along with us in the step by step instructions below as we show two different methods for cracking the password of a zip file.
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Kali Linux is a Linux distribution geared towards cyber security professionals, penetration testers, and ethical hackers. If you are thinking about installing it on your system but need to know the minimum or recommended system requirements first, we’ve got you covered in this guide.
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The objective of this guide is to show the default username and password for Kali Linux. The guide will be applicable for persistent installations, as well as the live CD image and Kali virtual machine downloads in VirtualBox or VMware.
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Kali Linux is a powerful Linux distro for penetration testing and ethical hacking. It’s not meant as an everyday operating system, so most Kali users will utilize the distro by running it temporarily from a USB drive, or opt for a persistent installation in a virtual machine.
Installing Kali in VMware gives you easy access to the hundreds of security and hacking tools that are included with Kali. Any time you need to do some packet sniffing, password cracking, etc. you can simply fire up the virtual machine and get to work. It’s also a great way to test out hacking applications without having to install software on your host system.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to install Kali Linux in a VMware virtual machine. You’ll be able to follow along with this guide regardless of your host operating system, so both Linux and Windows users will find these step by step instructions to be applicable.
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Mozilla Firefox comes installed by default on Kali Linux and a ton of other Linux distributions. It’s a solid web browser but it’s the user’s responsibility to make sure Firefox stays up to date.
The process for updating Firefox is a little different on Kali. Kali is based on Debian’s testing branch, which uses Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release).
Firefox ESR is essentially a more stable version of Firefox which is geared mainly towards enterprise systems. It usually doesn’t have all the latest features that are available in other Firefox installs, but includes the most stable and thoroughly tested components.
In this guide, we’ll see how to update Firefox ESR from the command line on Kali Linux.
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The “bleeding edge” is a term used to describe brand new software that’s not guaranteed to be stable. It remains largely untested, but comprises all the latest features that will be deployed to the masses after further experimenting. Kali Linux, by virtue of being based on Debian’s testing branch, already sits pretty close to the edge.
You can configure your Kali system to download even newer software packages by adding Kali’s bleeding edge repo to APT package manager. This is ideal for users that want access to the newest software and features and don’t need their system to be ultra stable.
In this guide, we’ll show you the step by step instructions for configuring the bleeding edge repo on Kali Linux, as well as the Debian unstable and experimental repositories.
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Out of the box, the only option for installing software on Kali Linux is to use the APT package manager from the command line, or download software directly from a developer’s website.
This minimal approach can be appreciated, but sometimes it’s just more convenient to use a GUI software mananger application to install programs. In this guide, we’ll see how to install two different GUI software managers on Kali Linux, which can then be used to search for other software to install.
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Unable to use standard Kali Linux provided repository for updating the Kali Linux system as well for new software installations.
The following error message appears when attempting to run the apt update command:
Err:1 http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling InRelease 403 Forbidden [IP: 192.99.200.113 80] Reading package lists... Done E: Failed to fetch http://http.kali.org/kali/dists/kali-rolling/InRelease 403 Forbidden [IP: 192.99.200.113 80] E: The repository 'http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling InRelease' is not signed. N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
The following guide will provide the readers with information on how to update/upgrade the Kali Linux system.
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