Choose your Platform|
Bare Metal
- Direct access to hardware
- Customized Kali kernel
- No overhead
Single or multiple boot Kali, giving you complete control over the hardware access (perfect for in-built Wi-Fi and GPU), enabling the best performance.
Virtual Machines
- Snapshots functionary
- Isolated environment
- Customized Kali kernel
- Limited direct access to hardware
- Higher system requirements
VMware & VirtualBox pre-built images. Allowing for a Kali install without altering the host OS with additional features such as snapshots. Vagrant images for quick spin-up also available.
ARM
- Range of hardware from the leave-behind devices end to high-end modern servers
- System architecture limits certain packages
- Not always customized kernel
Works on relatively inexpensive & low powered Single Board Computers (SBCs) as well as modern ARM based laptops, which combine high speed with long battery life.
Mobile
- Kali layered on Android
- Kali in your pocket, on the go
- Mobile interface (compact view)
A mobile penetration testing platform for Android devices, based on Kali Linux. Kali NetHunter consists of an NetHunter App, App Store, Kali Container, and KeX.
Cloud
- Fast deployment
- Can leverage provider's resources
- Provider may become costly
- Not always customized kernel
Hosting providers which have Kali Linux pre-installed, ready to go, without worrying about infrastructure maintenance.
Containers
- Low overhead to access Kali toolset
- Userland actions only
- Not Kali customized kernel
- No direct access to hardware
Using Docker or LXD, allows for extremely quick and easy access to Kali's tool set without the overhead of an isolated virtual machine.
Live Boot
- Un-altered host system
- Direct access to hardware
- Customized Kali kernel
- Performance decrease when heavy I/O
Quick and easy access to a full Kali install. Your Kali, always with you, without altering the host OS, plus allows you to benefit from hardware access.
WSL
- Access to the Kali toolset through the WSL framework
- Userland actions only
- Not Kali customized kernel
- No direct access to hardware
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is included out of the box with modern Windows. Use Kali (and Win-KeX) without installing additional software.
Build Scripts
