Overwhelmed with all the choices on that page? Go with the first one, Kali Linux 32-bit. Luckily OffSec provides a page with ISO downloads (ISOs are simply a single file that is an image of an entire CD or DVD). You'll need some kind of media with the Kali image to boot the computer from. 'Bare metal' simply refers to installing an operating system directly onto the computer hardware, as opposed to running an OS as a guest virtual machine. Nothing inappropriate about going bare here. Maybe wipe and load it on an old laptop? Set up a new virtual machine? Or maybe put it in the cloud?Įvery 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. It is an entirely separate operating system, you can't just install it as an app in Windows. Ready to jump in? Great, but first you must decide how exactly you want to run Kali.

It also can't hurt to run through some pentesting training that covers the most popular Kali Linux tools. 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. Everything you'll need is here from port scanners to password crackers to exploit frameworks - in one free download.

The venerable distribution, maintained by Offensive Security and based on Debian, is the Swiss Army knife of pentesting, preinstalled with over 600 tools.

Anyone with the barest of passing interest in penetration testing has heard of Kali Linux.

Download kali linux virtualbox image