Creating a Preseed File from the Kali Linux Guide by OnWorks

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4.3.2. Creating a Preseed File‌

A preseed file is a plain text file in which each line contains the answer to one Debconf question. A line is split across four fields separated by white space (spaces or tabs). For instance, d-i mirror/ suite string kali-rolling:

• The first field indicates the owner of the question. For example, “d-i” is used for questions relevant to the installer. You may also see a package name, for questions coming from De- bian packages (as in this example: atftpd atftpd/use_inetd boolean false).

• The second field is an identifier for the question.

• The third field lists the type of question.

• The fourth and final field contains the value for the expected answer. Note that it must be separated from the third field with a single space; additional space characters are consid- ered part of the value.

The simplest way to write a preseed file is to install a system by hand. Then the debconf-get- selections --installer command will provide the answers you provided to the installer. You can obtain answers directed to other packages with debconf-get-selections. However, a cleaner solution is to write the preseed file by hand, starting from an example and then going through the documentation. With this approach, only questions where the default answer needs to be overridden can be preseeded. Provide the priority=critical boot parameter to instruct Deb- conf to only ask critical questions, and to use the default answer for others.

Installation Guide The Debian installation guide, available online, includes detailed documentation on

Appendix the use of a preseed file in an appendix. It also includes a detailed and commented sample file, which can serve as a base for local customizations.

➨ https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/apb.html

➨ https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/example-preseed.txt

Note however that the above links document the stable version of Debian and that Kali uses the testing version so you may encounter slight differences. You can also consult the installation manual hosted on the Debian-installer project’s website. It may be more up-to-date.