Kali Linux on WSL2 Installation and Simple Configuration Guide

After Windows was updated to version 2004, it officially enabled WSL2 support. This time it's a complete Linux system running in a Hyper-V virtual machine, which can be called a real Linux. Could it be that Windows is about to become the best Linux distro?

The actual experience is pretty decent, though there are quite a few minor issues. If you like tinkering, give it a shot—it still helps a lot with improving the development experience on the Windows platform~

Kali on WSL2 Installation Guide

Upgrade the System

First check your current system version. Press Win+R, type winver, and you can see the current system version:

If it's not version 2004, you need to upgrade the system to version 2004. Microsoft says there is a push update, but it's hit or miss. If you can't find the update, please download the official “Update Assistant” (易升) tool yourself to check for updates.

Enable the Linux Subsystem

After upgrading to version 2004, you can start installing the system. If the Linux subsystem is not enabled, you need to enable it first.

PS: Since WSL2 uses a Hyper-V virtual machine, enabling it will conflict with VMware and VirtualBox. This can be resolved by upgrading VMware and VirtualBox to versions that support Hyper-V.

Open PowerShell with administrator privileges and enter the following command to enable the Linux subsystem:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

A restart is required afterward.

Enable Virtualization

Open PowerShell with administrator privileges and enter the following commands:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

Restart the system

Download the WSL2 Linux Kernel

Download link: https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel

Install it after downloading.

Set the Default Subsystem Version to WSL2

Open PowerShell with administrator privileges and enter the following command:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Install Kali Linux

Open the Microsoft Store, search for and install Kali Linux.

After installation, choose “Launch”, and it will start extracting and installing. Then enter a username and password and you're done.

Upgrade an Existing System to WSL2

If you already have WSL installed, you can upgrade it directly to WSL2.

Open PowerShell with administrator privileges and enter the following command:

wsl --set-version kali-linux 2

Install the Win-Kex Toolkit

The Win-Kex toolkit is a graphical toolkit provided by Kali for running on Windows. It lets you run a GUI in WSL in a one-click, foolproof way.

Enter the following command in the Kali command line to install:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install kali-win-kex

After installation, you can start the graphical interface with the following commands:

cd ~
kex

The first time you start it, you'll be asked to enter a new password. This password is saved as the kex password.

Note that you need to switch the current directory to the home directory before starting kex, otherwise it won't be able to get the key.

Simple Configuration

Install Kali Linux Toolkits

1. Install the standard toolkit

sudo apt install kali-linux-default

2. Install the large toolkit (about 7–8 GB)

sudo apt install kali-linux-large

Configure a Windows Terminal Shortcut

Opening it from the command line every time is too much hassle. You can configure a shortcut in Windows Terminal, and next time you can open Kex's graphical interface from this dropdown menu.

Open the Windows Terminal configuration file and add the following configuration items:

{
        "guid": "{55ca431a-3a87-5fb3-83cd-11ececc031d2}",
        "hidden": false,
        "name": "Win-KeX",
        "commandline": "wsl kex wtstart",
},
{
         "guid": "{55ca431a-3a87-5fb3-83cd-11ececc031d2}",
         "hidden": false,
         "icon": "file:///c:/users/<windows user>/pictures/icons/kali-menu.png",
         "name": "Win-KeX",
         "commandline": "wsl kex wtstart",
  	 "startingDirectory" : "//wsl$/kali-linux/home/<kali user>"
},

After that, click the “Win-Kex” menu item to launch the graphical interface directly.

PS: After entering the fullscreen graphical interface, press F8 to open the context menu.

Fix the Unable to Connect to the Network Issue

1. Create a file: /etc/wsl.conf.
2. Put the following lines in the file

[network]
generateResolvConf = false

3. In a cmd window, run wsl --shutdown
4. Restart WSL2
5. Create a file: /etc/resolv.conf. If it exists, replace existing one with this new file.
6. Put the following lines in the file

nameserver 8.8.8.8
Repeat step 3 and 4. You will see git working fine now.

7. Repeat step 3 and 4. You will see git working fine now.

Referenced from: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4285

Fix the kex Unable to Start Issue

The error message is as follows:

unable to connect to socket: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it. (10061)

The Chinese prompt is something like the remote host actively refused

The solution is to run kex stop in bash, then restart kex.

Reference: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/605309/not-able-to-initialize-gui-for-kali-linux-in-wsl-2

References

• https://www.kali.org/docs/wsl/win-kex/#install-win-kex
• https://www.kali.org/news/kali-2020-3-release/