I've installed Kali Linux, or I'm trying to install it. Why is it so hard? Why doesn't it recognize my hardware? Why do I need to set up so many things manually? Why can't I install the applications I want to use? Why don't tutorials written for other distributions work?
Help! Why won't people help me? Why is Linux so hard?
Before you answer: There is a Meta question that complements this question: What should we do about Kali Linux questions?
Linux isn't hard, but Kali is!
Kali Linux is a distribution for professional penetration testers who are already very familiar with Linux. It is meant to be used from a USB dongle for penetration testing. It can be installed, but it is not really meant to be. It is not meant for general use (even by professional penetration testers) such as Internet browsing, word processing, gaming, development, etc.
If you aren't already a Linux pro, don't use Kali. Use a distribution for ordinary people, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, elementary OS, Linux Mint, etc.
Even if you want to learn penetration testing, you need to learn the basics first! Do this on a “normal” distribution.
From the official Kali Linux documentation:
(…) Kali is a Linux distribution specifically geared towards professional penetration testers and security specialists, and given its unique nature, it is NOT a recommended distribution if you’re unfamiliar with Linux or are looking for a general-purpose Linux desktop distribution for development, web design, gaming, etc. (…)
Even for experienced Linux users, Kali can pose some challenges. (…)
While Kali Linux is architected to be highly customizable, don’t expect to be able to add random unrelated packages and repositories that are “out of band” of the regular Kali software sources and have it Just Work. In particular, there is absolutely no support whatsoever for the
apt-add-repositorycommand, LaunchPad, or PPAs. Trying to install Steam on your Kali Linux desktop is an experiment that will not end well. Even getting a package as mainstream as NodeJS onto a Kali Linux installation can take a little extra effort and tinkering.If you are unfamiliar with Linux generally, if you do not have at least a basic level of competence in administering a system, if you are looking for a Linux distribution to use as a learning tool to get to know your way around Linux, or if you want a distro that you can use as a general purpose desktop installation, Kali Linux is probably not what you are looking for. (…)
If you are looking for a Linux distribution to learn the basics of Linux and need a good starting point, Kali Linux is not the ideal distribution for you. You may want to begin with Ubuntu, Mint, or Debian instead. If you’re interested in getting hands-on with the internals of Linux, take a look the “Linux From Scratch” project.
Since Kali is for experts, if you ask about Kali, people assume that you're an expert.
If you ask a beginner question about Kali, many people will ignore you. Beginners and Kali are not compatible.
“Which distribution is best for beginners?” is an endless debate.
If you want a distribution that is designed to be easy for beginners and where beginners can find a lot of help, use Ubuntu. You can ask for help on our sister site Ask Ubuntu or on the Ubuntu forums. (Do NOT ask for help on Ask Ubuntu or the Ubuntu forums if you're using a distribution that is based on Ubuntu, but is not one of the official variants of Ubuntu!)
Elementary OS is another Linux distribution designed to be easy to install and to use for people with no Linux experience. It also has a Stack Exchange site.
With any distribution, even distributions targeted for beginners, you can learn by looking under the hood. The difference is that with easy-to-use distributions, you can install first, and then explore to learn.
Kali Linux is not meant as a general purpose OS. It's meant to be a standardised platform for deploying specific scripts to do various tasks.
It's one of these:
Very good at what it does. Just not what you need when you want to go grocery shopping.
Kali Linux has a few quirks – being designed as a platform for launching tools, it's not really set up to be a general purpose OS, or as well-tested as other OSes. It sets you up with a root account (which most mainstream distributions discourage).
Kali is a fairly focused distro designed for penetration testing. It does have a few unique packages, but it's also set up in a somewhat strange way.
Using Kali does not make you a hacker! Too many people think so and are completely out of their depth, being unable to do basic tasks in some cases. If you wish to learn the fundamentals the right way, forget about Kali at first. Kali's a Debian fork, and a modern version of Ubuntu or Debian has better hardware support. You might also be able to find repositories with the same tools Kali does for these distros. That's for later though. Work through something like Linux the hard way or LFS101. Understand the basics. Learn Linux before you get yourself delusions of grandeur. You make yourself a hacker, not the distro.
Kali is a somewhat overrated distro that's specialised, attracts skiddies, and doesn't have anything special to offer to the newbie Linux user. You'll find that with a certain degree of hacking skill, you'd probably end up customizing your own environment anyway. Kali's really designed for the middle ground where one has basic-good skills but needs a standard, fairly substantial set of tools available. It is certainly a terrible distro for someone who isn't used to bash or the Linux environment.
In short, if you're a new user, getting used to Linux, people discourage you because it's the wrong choice, and do not wish to help you load your gun and shoot yourself in the foot.
(Significant portions of this answer have been derived from answers posted by this account on Super User – large portions are based off this and this.)
Kali Unofficial FAQ:
If you as an OP are trying to deal with Kali:
If you are using Kali to learn/develop/use it as a desktop/notebook environment, select a more stable and user friendly distribution. Please take the time to have a look at the other answers on this thread.
if you are unable to connect to the repositories/install Kali/install a package : Kali is a rolling release, and it gets signature updates frequently;
Kali also has a lot more services stopped by default than other distributions.
These together with it being a rolling release drinking from Debian testing and mixing random packages from Debian unstable means you will get stranger problems than using another distribution when using it as a production system/desktop;
Do not forget that before installing/upgrading packages, in Debian based systems such as Kali, you need to do sudo apt-get update;
Due to the nature/instability of Kali, and being it a rolling release often it may make more sense reinstalling the latest version from scratch than upgrading/investing time into fixing it when you face update problems - and facing problems in updates is more the norm than the exception;
If you are trying to setup an Wifi adapter in a VM, the adapter is in the physical machine and not in the VM machine, and as such has to configured as passthrough/captured by the hypervisor/Virtualbox/VMWare see How to use Wireless Network in Virtualbox? e.g. you can only configure it once, either in the host or in a VM;
If you intend to place a wifi adapter in Monitor mode, you have got to have a primary network/Internet connection, either an ethernet adapter or another Wifi stick for both Internet access and not losing remote control of the VM/raspberry being it remote;
Beware also that not all brand/models of wifi adapters support Monitor mode, and there is even less support for packet injection - see this thread for why you should not buy realtek, and for more general wifi advice Wi-Fi problems using ASUS USB-N13 adapter (realtek)
Wifi drivers in source code might be outdated, and often only play well/are for specific versions of the kernel and/or hostapd;
After having a successful setup of firmware/wifi interface, you need to setup it for it to appear in the ifconfig/ip command;
The official package for Firefox is firefox-esr;
If having problems of kernel vs headers - see Install Headers on Kali ;
If installing Kali in an ARM/Raspberry pi, you have to expand/grow the last partition to use up all the SD card. See https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/46520/expand-file-system-kali-linux-on-sd-card-of-16gb
If you've read this far and you still need Kali: "Try it first onto a fast USB stick and boot of that".
Lastly, beware of following blindly online tutorials or compiling random things without understanding them. They might be outdated or have errors.
If you absolutely insist in using Kali: Kali also has a forum with several groups for their users at https://forums.kali.org
See also Free PDF Book - Kali Linux Revealed
Adenda:
Taken from official kali documentation:
Many new Kali users are tempted to add additional repositories to their sources.list, but doing so runs a very serious risk of breaking your Kali Linux installation.
....
Kali is a Linux distribution specifically geared towards professional penetration testers and security specialists, and given its unique nature, it is NOT a recommended distribution if you’re unfamiliar with Linux or are looking for a general-purpose Linux desktop distribution for development, web design, gaming, etc.
Even for experienced Linux users, Kali can pose some challenges. (...) Adding repositories to your software sources which have not been tested by the Kali Linux development team is a good way to cause problems on your system.
While Kali Linux is architected to be highly customizable, don’t expect to be able to add random unrelated packages and repositories that are “out of band” of the regular Kali software sources and have it Just Work. In particular, there is absolutely no support whatsoever for the apt-add-repository command, LaunchPad, or PPAs. Trying to install Steam on your Kali Linux desktop is an experiment that will not end well. Even getting a package as mainstream as NodeJS onto a Kali Linux installation can take a little extra effort and tinkering.
If you are unfamiliar with Linux generally, if you do not have at least a basic level of competence in administering a system, if you are looking for a Linux distribution to use as a learning tool to get to know your way around Linux, or if you want a distro that you can use as a general purpose desktop installation, Kali Linux is probably not what you are looking for.
If you are looking for a Linux distribution to learn the basics of Linux and need a good starting point, Kali Linux is not the ideal distribution for you. You may want to begin with Ubuntu, Mint, or Debian instead.
Like the other posts have stated, Kali is a distribution with a very specific use case. It a toolbox with lots of tool that you will probably never use.
If you want to learn it, learn it in a virtual machine like VirtualBox, VMware, or use some KVM front end like gnomeboxes or libvert manager. Your hardware will not be an issue with a virtual machine. It will have diminished power when compared to installing it on your hard disk drive, but with snap shots you can restore it to the last known working configuration in about 2 seconds when you screw up... You will screw up. Look at the relatively new documentation from Offensive Security, the new book Kali Linux Revealed. It is a decent resource to get started with.
"Why won't people help me?"
Because it's boring.
Speaking as someone who has responded to a fair few questions on setting up or using kali I have given up responding because the answers to most questions can be found somewhere already. A little web research will resolve most issues and questions like this one indicate to me that the poster has perhaps been a bit lazy in that respect.
I assume that others answer questions on forums like this for the same reason I do, not just to show off, but because of the intellectual challenge involved. Figuring out the answer to good/awkward and above all new questions is fun and you usually end up learning something yourself. On the other hand, doing the same old web searches and pointing people to the same old links is just plain boring.
So, root cause analysis? No fun for an answerer = no answer
Lastly, Mr Robot isn't cool because he uses kali, he is just cool. Period. He would be equally cool hacking the world from an Ubuntu or debian install with the same tools installed. If this single piece of advice was taken by posters then everyone would be having much more fun.
For OP interest almost all of the tools in kali are easily available in archlinux. Simply add the blackarch repository.
Kali and BackTrack are each more of a utility distro, like the GPARTED .iso, or Rescatux. You need to have a need to be using these. I'm not saying you are up to no good, but maybe later or with a mentor perhaps.
If you are an absolute beginner, and you have had some experience with Windows, then I suggest you try a number of distributions. It is very likely you will be installing any number of them any number of times. Indeed this is the upgrade path for many of them. The ones that may be easiest to cope with may not be the coolest. Zorin OS is friendly to Windows users, but it is Ubuntu underneath. Mint also has Ubuntu under the hood and also tries to have everything work out of the box, but can be quirky when it doesn't. CentOS is "Enterprise Strength" but may lag behind the bleeding edge, a plus is the Gnome desktop. And then there is Ubuntu/Kubuntu, lots of support but Unity desktop and Plasma respectively. Debian is a good choice, and relatively cool due to being upstream for the .deb distros and because people see Etch Raspbian.
All of these have some issues, and generally for installation it boils down to the package maintainer's lack of care. If you don't stray from the path too much you should be OK. Hardened professionals can spend a whole day wrestling with MariaDB and PHP7 say because the dependencies never seem to be quite right.
But Kali, keep it on a stick and get back to it. Assume you've been penetrated anyway or will be eventually.
Why can't I h4ck the world with Kali like MR.Robot does?!
While I'm no security expert, not even a security beginner, you have to understand why Kali was made and for what reason. Of the above, Rui's answer seem to be close to a perfect answer. To be more pragmatic, you have to think why it was made the way it is made. As you have heard from other users, it is a collection of tools to pentest a machine. Now think from either a hacker or a security company. Now you are supposed to compromise a machine without compromising yourself. And anybody who knows anything about security would tell you there is always a compromise between having a feature and occupying memory space. So the idea is have and leave minimum memory footprint (even temporarily) while at the same time detecting if the system has been compromised or compromising it.
Then when you get back to your own home/organization etc. you do not any worm/virus etc. to infect your systems. While one can argue one way or the other, there have enough examples even in mainstream media that showed how viruses/worm jumped from one system to the other even though they were directly not connected. And in this, you actually put a usb disk in so from a threat perspective, it is even higher.
Of course, this goes without saying that those who are in the security business and whatnot have to have a healthy dose of paranoia but even that is sometimes is not sufficient. As always 'better safe than sorry' is probably a good mantra to live by.
One thing to note, I do use Debian testing and have used it for about a decade now, while once a while it can land you up in the middle of a black hole, most times it works wonderfully. I have found it interesting to work on it and on occasion also report bugs and get them fixed but that's probably a different thing altogether. :)
For most simple penetration tests done by the occasional user, Kali is not even necessary. Back when I was a teen, I used to mess with the computers in my high school and get past the various restrictions on them, and since they ran on Windows, I had to write and test software using Visual Studio on Windows, sometimes using various Windows VMs to replicate the environment. I also once had to write a MAC address spoofer for my classmates, but that had to be done on macOS, since that was the operating system they used. I also used a mix of WSL and Ubuntu to mess with various things. Kali isn't a magical solution for all your "hacking" needs, although the media portrayal of Kali in shows like Mr. Robot has made it look like so. Your needs will highly depend on the system you are targeting, especially if you need to debug and test things that are supposed to work on Windows. However, Kali may be suitable if you use the tools in them often and want to save time installing, such as in a CTF contest, but for most other Linux-y tasks, Ubuntu should suffice.
