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2.2.2. In a Virtual Machine
Virtual machines have multiple benefits for Kali Linux users. They are especially useful if you want to try out Kali Linux but aren’t ready to commit to installing it permanently on your machine or if you have a powerful system and want to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. This is a popular choice for many penetration testers and security professionals who need to use the wide range of tools available in Kali Linux but still want to have full access to their primary operating system. This also provides them with the ability to archive or securely delete the virtual machine and any client data it may contain rather than reinstalling their entire operating system.
The snapshot features of virtualization software also make it easy to experiment with potentially dangerous operations, such as malware analysis, while allowing for an easy way out by restoring a previous snapshot.
There are many virtualization tools available for all major operating systems, including VirtualBox®, VMware Workstation®, Xen, KVM, and Hyper-V to name a few. Ultimately, you will use the one that best suits you but we will cover the two most frequently-used in a desktop context: VirtualBox® and VMware Workstation Pro®, both running on Windows 10. If you don’t have corporate policy constraints or personal preference, our recommendation is that you try out VirtualBox first, as it is free, works well, is (mostly) open-source, and is available for most operating systems.
For the next sections, we will assume that you have already installed the appropriate virtualization tool and are familiar with its operation.