This guide walks you through installing Oracle VirtualBox and setting up a Kali Linux virtual machine (VM) on your own computer. Please complete every step below BEFORE the workshop begins — we will not have time to troubleshoot installations during the session.

A laptop or desktop with at least 4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM (4GB minimum for the VM), and 40GB of free disk space, plus a stable internet connection to download the installers.

You will complete the following in order:

• Check that your system supports virtualization
• Download and install Oracle VirtualBox
• Download the official Kali Linux VirtualBox image
• Import Kali Linux into VirtualBox
• Configure the VM's settings (RAM, CPU, network)
• Start the VM and log in
• Update Kali and verify everything works

STEP 1 Check That Virtualization Is Enabled

Your computer's processor needs hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) turned on in the BIOS/UEFI settings before VirtualBox can run a VM at usable speed.

Open Task Manager → Performance tab → CPU. Look for "Virtualization: Enabled" in the bottom right.

Task manager = ctrl + shift + esc

• Other details

STEP 2 Download Oracle VirtualBox

Go to the official VirtualBox downloads page: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Choose the installer that matches your operating system (Windows hosts / macOS / Linux distributions).