Kali Linux Overview

by Jayson Gayle

www.ITflee.com

Getting Started with Kali Linux

Now we are going to learn the basics of our Kali Linux VM. The first thing we need to do is power on the
VM. To do this, right-click on the VM and choose “Start > Normal Start”

Note that you can press right-ctrl+f to bring the VM into full-screen mode – if you would like to leave
full- screen mode, press right-ctrl+f again. Once the virtual machine powers on, you will be presented
with the login screen. Enter the login information that was provided I n the description field of the VM.
Incase you missed this information, the default username is “root” and the password is “toor”.

Once you enter the information, either press enter or “Sign-in”.

Kali Linux Desktop UDEMY- PENTEST WITH KALI LINUX

In the top right-hand corner of the screen, from left to right we have our workspaces, screen capture
controls, network information, sound settings, and power options.

By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
Workspaces allow you to keep your programs and windows organized and separated. When you first
log in, you will only have one workspace by default. To open a new workspace, you need to at least
have one application running.

Click on the terminal on the left-hand side of the screen.

Notice that there are now two workspaces. By default, you will always have a blank workspace, or one
that does not have any applications open.

You may choose the second workspace and open more applications if you would like. Notice that every
time you launch a new application in a blank workspace, a new blank workspace is added. Note that if
you want to open the terminal in workspace one, but also in workspace two, you need to right-click on
the terminal and choose New Window. As a shortcut you may also use the middle-mouse button to
open a new window.

If you simply left click on the terminal while in workspace 3, and it is open in workspace 1, you will be
switched over to workspace 1 instead of opening a new terminal in workspace 3. If you have multiple
terminals open in different workspaces, left-clicking on the terminal icon will toggle you through the
different workspaces that have the terminal open.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
The favorites bar on the left hand screen holds your favorited and running applications. If there are
three terminal windows, this will be represented by three dots to the left of the terminal icon. You may
right-click on the terminal to bring one of the three instances into focus. Notice that the terminals are
separated based on the workspace they’re residing in and you can see current user account and working
directory for each of the terminals. In this case they are all using the root account and in the home “~”
directory.

Applications & Places UDEMY- PENTEST WITH KALI LINUX

In the top left corner we have the applications and places drop-down.

You will use the applications drop-down when you know exactly what tool you are looking for.
By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
If you need to search for an application, click on the “Show Applications” button in the favorites bar.

At the top of the screen you will see a “Type to search…” textbox that is a little challenging to see. You
can use this to find any tool or application you may need that is already installed. Note that you do not
need to click on this textbox to begin search, but rather you may begin typing immediately after clicking
the “Show Applications” button.

The places drop-down provides you with quick access to the file system and common destinations.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
Personalizing
Kali Linux is pretty customizable. There is a tool called "Tweak Tool" this allows you to change the
appearance the desktop and the windows you open. The tweak tool is located at the bottom of the tool
bar on the left.

The tweak tool has many options from change the font to selecting a different themes.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
Change the time
If you would like to change the way that the time is displayed in Kali, click on the time in the top center
of the screen. It will display a calendar and at the bottom it will have "Date & Time Settings" select that
and it will allow you to change time zones, time format of the date.

Creating a User account

To create a user account other than root using the gui is a quick task. First click the drop down arrow in
the top right hand corner. Then select the settings button.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
This will bring up the all settings screen. Click on the "Users" icon. On the bottom left hand side of the
"users" window is a + | - , click on the + to add a new user. The window you will see will look like the
one below.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
For the account type select if you would like the user to be a regular user or an administrator. Type the
Name and Username and then set the password. Once you have filled this all out click on the add
button in the top right hand corner.

Power Options
To stop the Kali from locking the screen when you are active in the session for more than 5 mins go back
into the setting screen from the section above and select "Power".

Choose the power option.

Next select the amount of time you would like it to wait before going to the screen saver or select never.

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By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com
Logging out & powering off
To log out of Kali you click the drop down arrow in the extreme top right hand corner. It will display a
list of items. One of the things listed will be the user you are logged in as. Click the arrow next to that
user name and it will give you the option to log out. Below I am logged in as root.

If you wish you may also select the power button in the bottom right corner. Once you click this button
you will be presented with three options: cancel, restart, or shut-down.

UDEMY- PENTEST WITH KALI LINUX

By Jayson Gayle
www.ITflee.com