Kali Linux: apt update returns "Hash Sum mismatch" error

Question

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue as described in this question: Kali Linux: apt-get update returns “Hash Sum mismatch” error. Before you mark this as a duplicate however, I have tried the solutions posted there, as well as on numerous other sites, including:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update

Editing /etc/apt/sources.list with alternate official mirrors, such as deb http://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib or deb https://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main non-free contrib

Everything worked after I first imported the VM. I ran sudo apt update and it found some ~650 packages to upgrade. I ran sudo apt upgrade and it encountered an error partway through. That error was solved using sudo apt --fix-broken install, but that is when this hash sum error began. Unfortunately due to hours of troubleshooting I no longer have the details of the earlier error, but I believe it was an error extracting a package due to corrupt data.

I've tried multiple official mirrors, but I get the same error. Additionally, when I downloaded the Packages.gz file here on my Windows machine (VM host) and computed the SHA256 hash, I got the exact hash that apt printed as the expected value. This led me to believe that the error was not with the mirror but with my VM.

The next thing I tried was wget https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/kali/dists/kali-rolling/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz followed by sha256sum Packages.gz, which provided yet another different hash output.

To be clear, I have seen 3 different hashes for the same file:

1. The "correct" hash shown by apt as expected, which is the one that windows also produced after downloading the file using a browser
2. The incorrect hash calculated by apt, which led to the error
3. A different hash calculated by sha256sum after downloading the file using wget using the same URL as for the browser download

I should also note that I have only been referencing the SHA256 hash in each step. The other hash functions are also mismatched when I run sudo apt update, but the file size is the same. I had considered that downloads might be failing due to limited disk space (it is a VM after all) but I don't think that's the case.

What am I missing?

Solution

QUICK FIX:

• Shut down Kali VM.
• Run bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off in CMD.
• Reboot.

EXPLANATION:

This issue is caused by the Windows Hypervisor Platform. This issue cannot be resolved for now (as far as I know).

A partial fix is at hand though. And I say "partial" because it involves disabling the platform (also known as "Hyper-V") which will probably break other virtualization solutions you have installed since this is enabled manually. Anyway, here's how to disable it and get your Kali VM running again;

1. Shut down the Kali Virtual Machine.

2. Press Windows logo key + X, then hit A to run Command Prompt as administrator.

3. Type bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off
4. When you see "The operation completed succesfully", type reboot

After reboot, boot Kali and update/upgrade.

Comments

[roaima]

Flatten it and install from scratch. It's a pen-testing distribution so you shouldn't have anything of value on it anyway.

[bdben]

That was my thought as well. Unfortunately I re-imported the .ova and got the same issue. So I tried installing into a fresh VM using an installer iso, and the install failed at the package selection step (not sure if it's the same cause).

[bdben]

Maybe it's a virtualbox issue I suppose, now that I'm typing this comment.

[roaima]

It's possible it's a transient fault in one or more of the mirrors.

[RyanQuey]

I had the same issue. Check out this answer here, he solves it. Particularly for Windows 10 host using Virtualbox. For me when I asked that question, some packages worked fine but Docker was one that did not. The key is disabling Hyper-V and getting rid of that Green Turtle

[Sime Kappa]

This is the solution! Thank you very much, nothing else did work, but this simple solution worked for me.

[Rishabh Deep Singh]

bcedit is not recognized as an internal or external command

[Nullman]

@RishabhDeepSingh you missed a letter its bcdedit

[Paul]

For Mac VMWare, this worked for me: communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/…