How to Install Kali Linux on Any Machine

Anyone with the smallest interest in penetration testing has heard of Kali Linux. The venerable distribution, maintained by Offensive Security and based on Debian, is the Swiss Army knife of pentesting, preinstalled with over 600 tools. Everything you'll need is here, from port scanners to password crackers to exploit frameworks—all in one free download.

In addition to these tools, you'll also need some more-than-basic networking knowledge, which you can get from Network+ training at the very least, or even better, CCNA 200-301 training. It also can't hurt to run through some pentesting training that covers the most popular Kali Linux tools.

Ready to jump in? First, you must decide how exactly you want to run Kali. It is an entirely separate operating system; you can't just install it as an app in Windows. Maybe wipe and load it on an old laptop? Set up a new virtual machine? Or put it in the cloud?

Every option has its pros and cons, special considerations you need to consider to get rolling, and other pro tips about how to work best in Kali. Let's check them out.

Installing on Bare Metal

Nothing inappropriate about going bare here. "Bare metal" simply refers to installing an operating system directly onto the computer hardware instead of running an OS as a guest virtual machine. You'll need some kind of media with the Kali image to boot the computer from. Head to the official Kali Linux download page and grab the latest version (currently 2025.2, released June 13, 2025). Important: Kali no longer supports 32-bit systems, so choose the 64-bit ISO unless you have a specific need for ARM or other variants.

You'll then need to take that ISO file and either burn it to a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive. The latter is more practical, with more and more computers shipping without DVD drives. But if you prefer the old school shiny media, then get to burnin'. This article walks through creating a bootable flash drive if you decide to go that route.

What are the pros of running Kali on bare metal? You can repurpose an older machine gathering dust. You may not have access to a computer powerful enough for virtualization. And that's about it. This isn't really the best option. Kali's great and fully-featured as an OS, but unless you are already very accustomed to Debian as a daily driver, this might be a rough way to make the switch. Running as a VM is a much better option. 

Installing Kali as a Virtual Machine

A VM is the way you want to go. It's super convenient running Kali as a guest, always having access with only one computer needed, while maintaining the comfort of your host operating system. Taking snapshots to roll back from potential breakage after major updates. There are no DVDs or flash drives to mess with. Much better, right?

But there are still decisions to be made. Every VM needs a hypervisor, or the software that runs the VMs. There are several choices depending on your host's operating system. One option that runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, and even Solaris (for the ultra-hardcore) is VirtualBox. Maintained by Oracle, VirtualBox is open source (aka free!), has low overhead, and runs VMs of just about every OS you could ever need (and many you won't, we're looking at you OS/2 Warp!).

Kali provides official, prebuilt VM images for the most popular hypervisors, so getting started takes minutes, not hours. You can find them all on the Kali VM download page. Import that image, click boot, and you're at the desktop within 30 seconds.

Here are the most popular options, depending on your host OS:

• VirtualBox (Windows/macOS/Linux): Free and open source. Still widely used, though a bit clunky at times. Copy/paste and drag/drop integration can be hit or miss.

• VMware Workstation Player (Windows/Linux): This is also free for personal use and is a bit smoother and more stable than VirtualBox.

• VMware Fusion (macOS): Paid, but reliable and feature-rich. Best option for Mac users who want solid performance.

• Hyper-V (Windows Pro/Enterprise only): Built into Windows. Great stability, but you’ll need to enable it manually and jump through a few hoops to get features like clipboard sharing.

• Parallels (macOS): Slick UI, good performance, but not free.

If you’re just getting started, VirtualBox or VMware Player is the way to go—they’re free and have broad community support.

Kali VM in Windows

If you are running Windows, specifically Windows 8 or better and the Professional or a better edition, you can install Hyper-V to run VMs! Yup, the desktop, non-server versions of Windows gained the ability to run Hyper-V natively a few years ago, to little fanfare, unfortunately.  

Of course, Hyper-V is very stable and free of many of the glitches plaguing VirtualBox. But maybe you're still rocking Windows 8 (no shame, but EOL is coming) or stuck on Windows 10 Home. No worries; check out VMware Workstation Player, a free ESX-based hypervisor for any Windows edition.

If you work in either a Hyper-V or VMware environment already, given a choice between the two for running Kali, you can easily stick with whatever you're most comfortable with. Or mix it up and try the one you've never used before, or a two-birds-one-stone experimenting situation.

Kali VM in MacOS

Unfortunately, there are fewer appealing options in the Mac world. VirtualBox is a starting point that you can still take or leave. Hyper-V? Um, no. VMware, in a quest for world dominance, only makes a paid hypervisor called Fusion for Mac. Thanks a lot, guys.

Maybe you love compiling software, resolving dependencies, and having things work with a moderate amount of kludge. There are open source projects out in the wilds of GitHub.

Our preference? Parallels. It's rock solid, runs every guest OS, and has a user-friendly UI. It's not free, but it's not a bad investment. And if you're a Mac user, you should be accustomed to opening your wallet a bit more than the rest of us.

Kali VM in Linux

If you are brave and/or savvy enough to run Linux as a daily driver, we'll assume you got this one. You can also install all the same Kali tools in your existing Ubuntu box. Easy peasy, moving on.

Virtual Machine Tips

Running Kali in a virtual machine gives you flexibility and safety, but there are a few best practices to make your experience smoother and more secure.

Take Snapshots Early and Often 

Whatever hypervisor you use—VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V—they all support snapshots, and you should absolutely take advantage of them. A snapshot saves your VM's current state, letting you roll back if something goes sideways (which, let’s be honest, happens).

Use SSH from a Terminal App on Your Host

Yes, you can interact with Kali via its desktop interface, but most of the time, you'll be living in the terminal. Instead of working directly in the VM window, it's often better to SSH into your Kali VM from your host machine using keys.

Benefits include:

• Better font rendering and window control

• Easier copy/paste

• Ability to use terminal tools like split panes or profiles

If you’re on:

• Windows: Try Windows Terminal, or go advanced with ConEmu or MobaXterm

• macOS: Use the built-in Terminal or level up with iTerm2

• Linux: You’re probably already using something good (but maybe check out Alacritty or Kitty)

Or jump into the super-deep end with tmux.

Learn Virtual Networking Basics

Learn about virtual networking. If you are in a public space or at work, you might not want Kali or any other VM to be visible on the same network as everyone else. Every hypervisor will let you create virtual networks to keep your VMs isolated from the network and only accessible by you. Get started by Googling your hypervisor name plus "virtual networking."

Kali in the Cloud

After all this local VM talk, why can't we go back to the good ol' days of sticking everything in the cloud? Well, Kali is no exception, and many cloud providers make it quick and easy to spin up an instance that is ready to go.

For starters, AWS has a listing for Kali in the AWS Marketplace. The Marketplace is basically a bunch of VMs preloaded with specific applications, making it dead simple to deploy those applications into your VPC as an EC2 instance with a few clicks. 

Licensed software will usually roll that licensing into your AWS bill via hourly usage costs, but Kali, of course, being open source, will only require billing for your EC2 uptime and VM storage.

One caveat with this setup (and Kali with any cloud provider) is that desktop access is trickier. "Wait, I thought we were going to be working via SSH!!" Well, yes, a good bit of work will be in the terminal. However, if you are running tests against a website, sometimes you'll want to interact with the site with a browser and other GUI tools in Kali, and for that, you'll need the desktop.

If AWS isn't your style, you can run Kali in other VM hosting providers like DigitalOcean, they'll just require a few extra steps. All the nitty-gritty is here, but DigitalOcean will require you to upload a Kali ISO, install and configure it as an image, then deploy your image to a droplet.

Vultr is another VM host that follows a similar procedure. The big difference between these providers and AWS is that they allow you to deploy your own ISOs. That's a no-no with AWS; you only get the OSes and Marketplace images they offer.

Any cons to running Kali in the cloud? You'll be paying by the hour, so don't forget to shut it down when you're done for the day. Fair warning, the GUI is a bit sluggish, depending on your provider and bandwidth. This alone could be a deal-breaker, depending on how much you need to do in the browser.

Now Get Hacking!

Whether you're studying for your OSCP, exploring ethical hacking for the first time, or just want to play with some of the most powerful security tools around, Kali Linux makes it easy to dive in. And in 2025, you have more flexibility than ever—run it locally, spin it up in a VM, or launch it in the cloud. Prefer command line over GUI? WSL 2 has your back. Need the full desktop experience? Boot a live ISO or build out a cloud instance with a GUI.

But tools are only half the story. The real skill comes from knowing how and when to use them, which takes practice, patience, and lots of curiosity. Kali won’t make you a hacker overnight, but it will give you everything you need to get started the right way.  

Want to learn more? Explore all the cybersecurity training CBT Nuggets has to offer.