Community Learning Project
Operating System: Kali Linux
Installation of OS –
To install Kali Linux, there are many ways:
1. Using a bootable drive.
2. Using cloud-based server like AWS.
3. Using hypervisor like VirtualBox or VMware.
We will install it using Virtual Machines.
Kali Linux is one of the best security packages of an ethical
hacker, containing a set of tools divided by the categories. It is
an open source and its official webpage is [Link]
Generally, Kali Linux can be installed in a machine as an
Operating System, as a virtual machine which we will discuss
in the following section. Installing Kali Linux is a practical
option as it provides more options to work and combine the
tools.
Earlier to download Kali Linux, we had to download it’s ISO
and then install in our hypervisor, but now, Kali offers a special
image file for hypervisors like Virtual box and VMware, in
which we can easily install it with less configuration steps.
Step 1 – Install Hypervisor
Now here two most recommended hypervisor are VirtualBox
by Oracle and VMware
To Install VirtualBox, click Here, To Install VMware, click Here
Now I already have VMware hypervisor installed in my
computer. It looks like this –
Step 2 – Download Operating System image
In order to install our operating system on hypervisor, we need
the image file of our Operating System.
To download it visit here
Select the platform, in our case we are downloading it for
VM, so we will select Virtual
Download it based on your hypervisor, in my case I am
using VMware.
A zip file will start downloading in your system.
Unzip the Zip files into a folder.
Step 3 – Installing it in our hypervisor
As we have downloaded a Prebuilt image file of our OS for
VMware. It is very easy ahead to install it.
Click on Open a Virtual Machine.
Browse and Select the Unzipped folder, go inside
Unzipped folder and you'll find a VMware Virtual Machine
file there, select that file.
After selecting the file, our Virtual machine will be created
and ready to run.
Before running we will change some settings like RAM,
Disk Size and etc, to do so, go to settings
Here we can change all the hardware settings.
Now we will Boot our VM for the first time.
To boot it, click on Power on this virtual machine
After booting up we can see a screen like this.
At this point we have to enter Username and Password, by
default both are kali.
Then we can see the home screen of our Kali Linux Operating
System.
Now we will learn few things inside our kali Linux’s terminal.
Terminal
Now to know and configure in our terminal, we need to get
what exactly a terminal is.
In technical terms, Termina is an interface to the underlying
Operating System via shell.
In easy words, it is a place / box that allows us to send simple
text commands to our computer and do anything, like
navigating between directories (files), creating/ deleting files
and etc.
Basically, with the help of terminal we can control the whole
system, by just giving it some commands.
Now like in our Windows Operating System, we have files, the
same way in Linux we have directories.
1. PWD
To check the current directory, we have to type
pwd command,
The default current directory is /home/kali
2. CD
To change the directory, we have cd (change directory)
command.
To change directory, first give cd command and then the
directory we have to change to.
Like here I’ve changed directory to Desktop
By just giving command cd, the directory is changes to default
home.
3. LS
By giving ls command all the files under the current directory is
shown as a list.
The ls -lh command gives additional information such as file
permissions, user, group, file size, and date of creation.
To display hidden files, we give command – ls -la
The hidden files are displayed with a period sign as (.)
4. TOUCH
The touch command is used to create simple files.
For e.g.-
Here we created a .txt file named as abc, using touch command.
We can check the file created using ls command.
5. CAT
The cat command is used to view contents of a file.
Like we created a text file before, using cat command we can
view the content inside the text file.
6. MV
The mv command is versatile command, and can be used with
various purposes. We can rename a file, or move it from one
location to another with this command.
Like here I have moved our [Link] file to public directory.
Same way, here now I have moved the same file from Public
directory to current directory. By using command
mv Public/[Link] .
Same way, to rename file, we give mv command and then our
current file name, and then the name which we want to give.
mv [Link] [Link]
You can also move file and rename it at the same time, by first
giving current file name, then path, and then the name we want
to give it.
7. CP
The cp command is short for copy. This is used to copy file
from one location to another. Unlike mv command, cp retains
the original file at its original location, and just adds a copy of
file to destination set by user.
To copy, give cp command, then file name and then destination
where we want to copy it.
To check whether files have been copied or not, I’ve used ls
command.
You can not only copy files but also directories by adding -R to
it.
The -R recursively copies all content inside the directory.
Like here I have created a directory called text and copied it to
public directory.
8. MKDIR
The mkdir means make directory. As the name says it is used to
create directory.
To create a directory, simple type mkdir and name we want to
give to the directory.
To create a directory within a directory, and keep the before one
as Parent directory, we use –P flag.
9. RMDIR
As the name says, rmdir means remove directory. This deletes
the directory to trash.
In order to remove directory through this command, the
directory needs to be empty or else it will show an error.
[Link]
The rm command is used to delete a file. Syntax is similar to
rmdir.
We can delete a directory also by rm command.
We just have to add the -R flag before directory name
[Link] and LOCATE
The find command searches for a file in a particular location and
takes two arguments: search path or directory and the file to be
searched.
Here in my case, there were two files named as [Link] in
/home/kali directory, one saved there itself, and other one inside
public directory. In the search result you can see both the files.
The locate command is similar to find command, plays the same
role of searching files but only takes one argument to search.
The locate command searches using a database of all the
possible files and directories in the system.
12. WHOAMI
The whoami command basically tells the name of user that is
currently using shell (terminal).
Like in my case it is kali so, it will give result as kali for
whoami command.
Similar way, there is who command, which gives list of
usernames that are currently logged in.
The who command gives additional info like date, time user
have logged in and tty which is file name of the terminal
connected to standard input.
