4.2. Step by Step Installation on a Hard Drive In this section, we assume that you have a bootable USB drive or DVD (see section
2.1.4
, “
Copying
the Image on a DVD-ROM or USB Key
” [page 19] for details on how to prepare such a drive) and
that you booted from it to start the installation process.
4.2.1. Plain Installation
First, we will take a look at a standard Kali installation, with an unencrypted file system.
Booting and Starting the Installer Once the BIOS/UEFI has begun booting from the USB drive or DVD-ROM, the isolinux boot loader
menu appears, as shown in Figure
4.1
, “
Boot Screen
” [page 67]. At this stage, the Linux kernel is
not yet loaded; this menu allows you to choose the kernel to boot and enter optional parameters
to be transferred to it in the process.
66
Kali Linux Revealed
Using the arrow keys todo a standard installation, either choose Graphical Install or Install (for
classic text-mode), then press the Enter key to initiate the remainder of the installation process.
Each menu entry hides a specific boot command line, which can be configured as needed by press-
ing the Tab key before validating the entry and booting.
Figure 4.1 Boot Screen Once booted, the installation program guides you step-by-step through the process. We will take
a look at each of these steps in detail. We will cover installation from a standard Kali Linux live
image; installations from a
mini.iso
may look slightly different. We will also address graphical
mode installation, but the only difference from classic text-mode installation is the appearance.
The versions pose identical questions and present identical options.
Selecting the Language As shown in Figure
4.2
, “
Selecting the Language
” [page 68], the installation program begins in
English but the first step allows you to choose the language that will be used for the rest of the
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Chapter 4 — Installing Kali Linux
installation process. This language choice is also used to define more relevant default choices in
subsequent stages (notably the keyboard layout).
