In this blog post, I will show you how to setup and install Kali Linux 2021.1 in VMware Workstation Player 16 which is the latest version of VMware Player.

You can also watch my YouTube video on this topic. Rest of the blog is the detailed step.

About VMware Workstation Player

VMware Workstation Player is the limited capability free version of VMware Workstation Pro. That is, it is just as VMware Workstation Pro with lesser functionality. But what is available is enough for most of the home users.

VMware Workstation player is available free of cost. Earlier it was not free, but I see that VMware has made it available for free for non Commercial users. For commercial usage, VMware Workstation Pro is more suitable.

This is the download page for all the VMware products. You will have to scroll down to VMware Player option to see the download link. From here you download any VMware Products. This link will always remain valid even when newer versions of the products are released.

• You can also install Kali Linux 2021.1 in VirtualBox 6, please follow my blog to here
• To Install Kali Linux using Kali Linux official Image, please follow my post here
• To Install Kali Linux 2021.1 in VMware Workstation pro 16, Please follow my post here
• To Install Kali Linux 2021.1 in Hyper-V, Please follow my post here
• If you want to install previous version of Kali Linux which is 2020 in VMware Workstation 16 Pro, please follow my post on here

Lets gets started with Installing Kali Linux 2021 in VMware Player 16

Step 1 – Download Kali Linux ISO image

To install the Kali Linux, we will have to first get the installer ISO image file. You can get it by visiting the official download page. Please download the 64 bit or 32 bit image depending on the system you have.

Step 2 – Locate the downloaded file

You can find the downloaded image file in the downloads folder, if you have not changed the default settings. The filename would be something like kali-linux-2021.1-installer-amd64.iso and would be around 4.0 GB. If you have downloaded through torrent, the ISO file will be downloaded in a folder, folder name would be something like kali-linux-2021.1-installer-amd64.iso.

Step 3- Open VMWare Player

Open VMware Player from Windows Start menu or from you desktop if you have VMware Player icon there.

Step 4 – Launch VMware Player – New Virtual Machine installation wizard.

To launch the wizard to create a new virtual machine, Click on Create a New Virtual Machine or File -> New Virtual Machine. Welcome to the new Virtual Machine Wizard dialog box will open. Select typical and click on next.

Step 5- Welcome to the new Virtual Machine Wizard dialog box appears

You will see new Virtual machine Wizard dialog box. Click Next.

Step 6- Select installation media or source

In this dialog box you will have to browse to the downloaded ISO file and click next. Generally, VMware Workstation detects the OS automatically and initiates what they call as the Easy Install. But in the case of Kali Linux this is not the case and you will see a warning(yellow triangle). Please ignore that and click next to continue.

Step 7- Select Guest Operating System

In this dialog box, you will be asked to select the Guest Operating System. Select Guest operating system as Linux and Version as Debian 10.x 64-bit or 32 bit depending on your system.

Step 8- Provide Virtual machine name

In this dialog box, you will be asked to provide the name of the virtual machine. You can provide any name you like. You can also change the location of the virtual machine. By default it is place in the Documents/Virtual Machine folder. Leaving it as the default is also fine.

Step 9- Specify disk capacity

This dialog box asks you to specify the disk capacity. This is the maximum amount of disk space it will utilize once the Virtual Machine is created. You can leave it to the default but if you are running low on disk space, you can reduce it to 20 GB. This is generally sufficient if you are not planning to install heavy disk using software’s such as Photoshop. Such software’s reduce the performance of your Virtual Machine if your Computer is not powerful enough.

Check Split Virtual Disk into multiple files. This is the default option. Say if you specify 60 GB, all of 60 GB will not be utilized or say 60 GB will not be blocked at once. These Virtual Disks expand according to the usage with a Maximum size you specifed as the disk capacity. On a fresh install normally it takes 10 GB of space which will grow according to the software’s you install in the VM.

Step 10- Ready to create Virtual Machine Dialog Box

This is the final dialog box and what you see is all the options you have selected in previous dialog boxes.

Customise Hardware – Normally I increase the RAM and memory before clicking finish. This helps to finish the installation process faster. If you have sufficient RAM and CPU on your host Windows machine, I suggest even you should increase RAM and CPU. To increase the RAM, before clicking Finish, click on customise hardware. Increase the memory using the slider.

To increase the CPU, Enter the number of cores. I normally enter 4. Based on your CPU you can enter the number of cores.Click on Finish to start the installation process.

Click on Display to change the display settings. Check Accelerated 3D Graphics, Use host settings for monitor.

Click on OK and Finish to start the installation process

Step 11 – Play Virtual Machine

Now you will have to click on play virtual machine to start the process.

Step 12 – Select Graphical Install from Boot Menu

Here you will see many options. Select Graphical Install using the down arrow key and click continue.

Step 13 – Select a Language

In this dialog box you will be asked to select a language. Please select a language and continue. This option sets your language in the Kali Linux Operating system. Default is English.

Step 14 – Select Location

In this dialog box you will be asked to select a Location. Please select a location and continue. This option sets your Location in the Kali Linux Operating system. later on, you will be able to set the time zone based on the location you choose here.

Step 15 – Configure the Keyboard

In this dialog box you will be asked to select the keyboard layout. Please select a Keyboard layout using the arrow keys and click continue. This option sets your Keyboard in the Kali Linux Operating system. By default it is set to American English.

After you click continue, you will see the installation progresses for some them you see the Network Configuration dialog box, which is the next step.

Step 16 – Configure the Network – Enter Hostname

In this dialog box you will be asked to enter the hostname for your system. This being a home network, we can set anything. Enter any anything and click continue.

Step 17 – Configure the Network – Enter domain name

In this dialog box you will be asked to enter the domain name for your system. This being a home network, we can set anything like example.com

Step 18 – Set User account and password

In this dialog box you will be asked create an account other than the root user. Please note that this is the user other than the root user. Please type your name and click continue

Now you will be asked to provide the user name again. I use the same name as the account name in the previous screen.

You will be asked to setup a password of the user you created. Enter the password. We will login with this username and password once the installation completes.

Step 19 – Partition Disk

In this dialog box you are asked how you would like to partition your disk. Select Guided – Use entire disk and click continue. This is the default option.

In this dialog box you are asked to select a disk to partition. Select sda, VMware Virtual disk. There should be only one option. Click Continue.

Step 20 – Select partition scheme

In this dialog box you are asked to select a scheme for disk partition. Select the default, All files in one partition and click Continue.

Step 21 – Disk partition Overview

In this dialog box you are see the summary of your disk partition. Select the Finish Partitioning and Write changes to disk which should be selected by default. All you have to do is to click continue.

Step 22 – Disk partition Confirmation

In this dialog you are asked to confirm Write changes to disk. Select yes and click continue.

Step 23 – Installation starts

Now the actual installation starts. Wait for Configure the Package Manager Dialog box to appear.

Installation process will continue. Wait for sometime and let the process continue.

Installation will continue… please have patience.

Installation will continue. Wait for the process to complete. This can take a long time. So have patience.

Step 24 – Software Selection

In this screen, you will have to specify what software you want to install. I accept the large, that is install all that is a part of default and additional tools. Click continue to proceed.

This step will take some time to complete. So have patience

After all the files are retrieved, the installation will begin as shown in the below screenshot.

Step 25 – Install GRUB boot loader

In this dialog box you will be asked if you would like to install the GRUB boot loader. Select Yes and click Continue.

Step 26 – Select device for GRUB boot loader Installation

In this dialog box you will be asked to select boot loader device for GRUB installation. Select /dev/sda and click Continue.

Installation will continue. Wait for the process to complete.

Step 27 – Installation Complete

Installation will continue and now you will see Installation complete dialog box. Click continue to finalize the installation and wait for the VM to reboot. After reboot you will see the boot loader screen.

Process Complete

After the VM starts, you will see the Grub boot loader. Select Kali GNU/Linux.

Login with your credential you created. Enter your username and Password

You will be logged into Kali Desktop 2021.

Step 28 – Create root user

By default, only user account is setup during the installation stage. After installation you have to setup the root account by setting upa password for the root account.

1. Open Terminal
2. Type command sudo su and enter password to gain root access
3. Type command passwd root and enter the password for the root user. You can set the password of your choice

That’s it, you should be able to login as root user.

Install VMware Tools (Optional for VMware 16 – Skip if you are able to switch to full screen automatically)

In VMware Player 16, VMware tools gets installed automatically. Manual steps for installing VMware tools is not required. You should automatically be able to switch to the full screen mode. Try to switch to full screen first. It should work, If not, follow the below steps, else ignore.

If you have internet connection, try this

1. Open Terminal
2. Execute the command

   sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-desktop fuse

3. Enter your password
4. Enter your password, if asked
5. Enter Y to accept whenever asked
6. Wait for the process to complete and restart. You are done. Login and now you will see the desktop in full screen mode
   

   Install VMware tools

You can check the version of installed VMware Tools. In terminal, execute the command

vmware-toolbox-cmd -v

. This will show you the version number.

If you don’t have internet connection, you can install VMware tools directly from the VM. If you have internet connection, follow the next instruction which is easier.

1. Goto VM-> Install VMware Tools
2. You will see VMware tools Icon on the desktop. If you don’t, then click on Places in the menu, Places->VMwre Tools. Double click to open.
3. Copy the file with the file name something like this VMware-tools….tar.gz to the desktop.
4. Right click on this file on the desktop and click Extract here. You will see that the file is extracted to the folder vmware-tools-distrib.
5. Open terminal by going to System Tools -> terminal
6. Goto the folder vmware-tools-distrib on desktop by entering the command cd /Desktop/vmware-tools-distrib
7. Now run this command:

   sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

8. Enter your password and press Enter. You will be asked if you want to proceed with the legacy installer. Enter Y and press Enter.
9. Now you will be asked series of questions, just accept the default by pressing Enter for all and wait for the installation to complete.
10. Wait for the installation to complete. You will see more prompts, except the defaults by clicking enter. Once completed, restart your VM by going to VM->Power->Restart Guest
11. Once the system restarts, you will be prompted to login. Once you login, you can see the desktop in full screen mode which stretches up to the complete screen.

Process Complete

You are done, You can start working on Kali Linux 2021. Thanks for Visiting my blog.