
If you haven’t installed 7-Zip, download it here and install it. Once you have downloaded the virtual machine, you have to unzip it using 7-Zip. It also comes pre-loaded with all the necessary drivers we need to run Kali Linux on VMWare. The advantage of this pre-configured image is that we don’t have to run through the initial installation process of Kali Linux. Head over to the Kali Linux website and download the Kali Linux 64-bit VMWare Image. We have written a complete guide on how to download Kali Linux and check the downloaded file for legitimacy for those of you looking for 100% safety. Download and install it here, leaving everything as default during the installation. If you want a full feature comparison between the free and the paid versions, check it out here.įor everyone else, we are going to use VMWare Workstation Player for this tutorial. The biggest downside of the free version is the lack of snapshots. Generally, the free version of Workstation Player is very capable and will be enough for most. There are multiple versions of VMWare Workstation available.

RAM Recommendation From 128MB ( 512MB recommended) and 2GB disk space Kali Linux without GUI can be run From 2GB and 20GB disk space The absolute minimum to run Kali with GUI Kali Linux VM Minimum Hardware Requirements Step 1 – Download VMWare Workstation That leaves your Kali VM with just 2GB of RAM, which can run out rather quickly if you plan on using RAM-hungry tools like Burp Suite, which recommends at least 8GB of RAM to begin with. In our opinion, 8GB is barely enough to run Kali Linux in a VM since your host system will require at least 6GB of RAM to work properly. If you run Windows 11 on a modern PC or laptop, you will probably have at least 8GB of RAM available.

However, you also have to take your host system memory into consideration.

If you do want to use a GUI, you should dedicate at least 2GB of RAM and 20GB of disk space. Kali Linux can be run with as little as 128MB of RAM if you choose to not use a graphical user interface. We prefer to use the pre-installed version because it saves us some time! How much RAM do I need for a Kali VM? There is not really an advantage or disadvantage in either of these options.

VMWare is a powerful virtualization platform that allows you to run virtually any operating system within your main operating system. Yes, you can install Kali Linux on VMWare. Install Kali Linux on VMWare - Complete Guide 2023 Can I install Kali Linux on VMWare?
