Kali 2017.3 Fixes

VMware Tools

The pre-installed vmtoolsd does not work. Copy and paste does not work, and you can't resize the desktop.

To get some functionality, execute these commands:

apt update apt install open-vm-tools -y

After this, you can resize the desktop, but copy and paste remain broken.

SSH Server

Since copy and paste are broken, use SSH instead. To install an SSH server, execute these commands:

apt update apt install openssh-server -y

A box appears, asking whether to restart services without asking. Press Tab to highlight Yes and press Enter.

Next, we need to enable root login. Execute this command:

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Edit the line "PermitRootLogin" to this, as shown below.

PermitRootLogin yes

Press Ctrl+X, Y, Enter to save the file.

Execute this command to start SSH:

service ssh start

Execute this command to find your Kali machine's IP address:

ip addr show

Your IP address appears, as shown below.

After this, you can connect to your machine with the comnmand-line SSH client from Linux or a Mac, or from Windows by using PuTTY.

Use the IP address you just found, a username of root and a password of toor as shown below.

From a Mac or Linux

From a PC

Security Notice
If you don't change the Kali default password, anyone on your network can use your machine. To prevent that, use the passwd command to change your password.
You also need to replace the default Kali SSH keys to have any real security.
More information is here:
https://www.drchaos.com/enable-ssh-on-kali-linux-enable-ssh-on-kali-linux/

gcc Broken

Attempting to compile C code fails with errors like this: "fatal error: string.h: No such file or directory".

Execute this command to fix gcc:

apt install build-essential -y

Posted 1-25-18 by Sam Bowne