Should I install Kali to a partition or run it virtually?

Question

I am interested in taking a course on penetration testing, so I want to be able to run Kali Linux on my system.  I’m considering two options: installing Kali to a partition on my computer and running it in VirtualBox.

What are the comparative advantages or benefits of the options in general for running a second operating system?  What about specifically for pentesting?

Solution 1

I guess it depends what kind of pentesting you want to do. Unless you're planning to use low-level capabilities of your hardware, a VM should be fine. I suggest you start with this. And even if you decide to run it on bare metal later, you don't necessarily have to install it on a partition, you can run the live system and save your settings or other changes go a thumb drive.

Solution 2

If you are good with Kali, installing it in the hard drive is always the best option because thus you will have the full potential (Full availability of RAM and other resources). Installing it in a virtual machine is also a good option but in this case, you need more RAM (at least 6 GB).

Comments

[Rohan]

So I already installed it to a partition (I didn't want to use persistent USB). Should I take out that partition (as I am currently trying to fix issues - unix.stackexchange.com/questions/237069/using-kali-linux/…) and then use VM?

[vic]

I quickly skimmed through your other question. I don't understand why you don't just try to reach the same goal by running a live system? That seems like a sure fire way to understand if the problem is your Kali installation or your hardware. If for some reason you insist on installing it, I strongly suggest to do it in a VM first (if your computer resources allow). You can always return to fixing your botched installation, or just make a new one.

[vic]

U r welcome, and good luck

[Rohan]

Do you know how I can solve the problems in the link I gave?

[vic]

What seems really strange is that you describe how your second OS also started having issues all of a sudden - that just shouldn't be unless you made some serious mistakes during installation of Kali. And you seem to lack some knowledge that would help identifying the issue without doing a full support call. I suggest you make sure that you have a properly running Ubuntu (or even Windows if that's easier for you) and run your other Linuxes in VMs. Train yourself on various boot loaders, file systems, package managers etc. Once you feel really comfortable you can always move to bare metal.

[Rohan]

Ubuntu's working fine. It is harder to set up the virtual machine than it is to run on bare metal for me. I tried VM, and it didn't work. So I just reinstalled on my hard disk.

[Rohan]

I did make some mistakes with my last installation. I used Unetbootin to make a USB to install Kali from, but it didn't present all the options I needed, so I had to start installer from Live Encrypted Persistence, and the installer was partially cut off. Now, I followed Kali's docs to use dd to make a Bootable USB, and I reinstalled Kali and completed my installation properly, which took another problem out of the boot. There is still one that persists, on both Live and my Bare Metal: Why won't my Open-vas work?

[vic]

It sounds like you managed to solve one problem already, that's progress, so that's good news! Now that you have a properly installed Kali and just this one issue left, I suggest you open a new question with regards to Openvas specifically. Add all necessary logs that will describe your error. I never used Openvas so I most likely won't participate but I'm sure there are many other knowledgable users around.

[Rohan]

Oh and another problem started, which I just posted on. So there are four problems I still have, one may not be significant, but still three. I will open questions on each.

[Rohan]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.