Kali 2.0 Post Installation Tips | Kali - GNS3 - Xming | Virtual Ethical hacking Setup

Last month I had posted how to install kali on Vmware workstation, this will be the third post in my Kali linux tutorial series. Here in this post, I will be discussing the recommended post installation tips. Below are the few tips which will be covered in this post,

Installing Vmware tools on Kali 2.0

To install Vmware tools, open terminal and paste below commands one by one, make sure that you have internet connection.

apt-get update

apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)

apt-get install open-vm-toolbox

Once you have executed the above commands, reboot your kali machine.

Resolving apt-get repository issues

If for some reason you chose “no” when asked “use a network mirror” during your Kali installation, you may be missing some entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

If that's the case, Add below 4 lines to your sources.list file,

deb http://http.kali.org/kali sana main non-free contrib

deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security sana/updates main contrib non-free

deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali sana main non-free contrib

deb-src http://security.kali.org/kali-security sana/updates main contrib non-free

This will solve your problem with the repositories.

Checking for latest updates

Execute the below commands to update your Kali linux.

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Network settings in Kali

You can use ifconfig command to set the IP address and Gateway for your Kali, but these settings will not available after a reboot. If you want permanent network settings, you have to edit '/etc/network/interfaces' file. Here is a sample,

iface eth0 inet static
address 1.1.1.1
mask 255.0.0.0
network 1.0.0.0
gateway 1.1.1.2
dns-nameserver 1.1.1.3

allow-hotplug eth0

Enabling SSH 

To enable SSH on your kali, you have to edit '/etc/ssh/sshd_config' file. Add ListenAddress, make sure to remove the # in the beginning,

ListenAddress 1.1.1.1

Also add # in the below line,

#PermitRootLogin without-password

Start the SSH service by using below commands,

/etc/init.d/ssh start

update-rc.d -f ssh defaults

To Unmute Audio

apt-get install alsa-utils -y

Kali with GNS3 - Simulate network Attacks

I am network engineer, I like playing with networking stuffs. I have GNS3 already installed in my machine. Also by integrating GNS3 and Kali linux, I can simulate various network attacks. I recommend you to install GNS3 as well. Once you have GNS3 installed, connect your router to the VMware adapter of your Kali VM.

Make sure that your router and Kali are pinging each other. You can refer the snapshots below, to get an idea.

Xming

Xming is an application that allows you to display X programs, in your putty. You can download Xming from http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/. For example, if you want to execute a graphical program on a SSH session, you can use this. I highly recommend to install this as well. Once you have installed Xming in your windows machine, Change the putty settings so that it forwards X11 settings to your Xming application.