Step-by-step guide

Install Kali Linux in a VM on an M-Series Mac, Step by Step

Kali Linux publishes an official arm64 installer, and Velo Workspaces downloads and verifies it for you. The install itself is Kali's own, so this guide goes through it screen by screen, then sets up SSH so you can work in Kali from your Mac.

By Gaoliang Luo · Published September 29, 20264 min read

Kali Linux Xfce desktop running in a Velo Workspaces VM on an Apple silicon Mac

Steps in this guide

1Start a workspace from an installer
2Download Kali Linux
3Configure the workspace
4Review and start the installer
5Choose Install
6Answer Kali's questions, and pick the virtual disk
7Finish and restart
8Turn on SSH in Kali
9Give Velo Workspaces the same key
10Check SSH and open the terminal
Networking for a testing lab
Where to go next

Download: About 3 GBKali Rolling arm64 installer
Setup: By handKali's own installer
You get: Kali with Xfceplus SSH from your Mac
Runs on: Apple siliconany M-series Mac

Start a workspace from an installer

Pick a kind of workspace in the sidebar and click + at the top right of the window. On the first step of the assistant, choose Installer image.

Select Image step with Installer image highlighted — Installer image runs a distribution's own installer, downloaded for you.

Download Kali Linux

Choose Kali Linux. It's a rolling release, so there's one installer: the arm64 ISO, about 3 GB, from Kali's servers. Click Download, and when it's verified, click Continue.

Choose an Installer step with Kali Linux Rolling selected and Download highlighted — Kali Rolling's arm64 installer.

Kali Linux installer downloaded and verified — Downloaded and verified.

There's no Automatic installation option for Kali. Its installer is Debian's, which this version of Velo Workspaces can't drive yet, so you'll answer its questions yourself in the workspace's display.

Configure the workspace

Code & Build (4 CPU, 8 GB) is a good fit. Kali's tools add up, so give it at least 30 GB of storage under Show Advanced Settings; the disk only uses space on your Mac as it fills. Leave SSH Quick Access on, so the Access tab shows the SSH details. There's no account to enter here: you create it in Kali's installer.

Click to enlarge

Code & Build, with SSH Quick Access on.

Review and start the installer

Setup reads Manual installation. Click Start Installation, and the workspace's display opens on Kali's boot menu.

Review and Launch step with Setup Manual installation and Start Installation highlighted — A manual install: you'll drive Kali's installer.

Choose Install

Pick Install for the text-mode installer, which is quick with the keyboard. Graphical install asks the same questions with a mouse. Press Return.

Kali GRUB boot menu with Install highlighted — Kali's boot menu. Install is the first entry.

Answer Kali's questions, and pick the virtual disk

The installer asks for your language, location, keyboard, a hostname, your name, a username and a password. Remember the username: you'll need it for SSH. For partitioning, Guided – use entire disk is right for a VM, and there's only one disk to choose, Virtual disk 1 (vda). That's the workspace's own disk. Nothing on your Mac is touched.

Kali installer Partition disks screen with Virtual disk 1 (vda) highlighted — One disk: the workspace's virtual disk.

Finish and restart

At Installation complete, choose Continue. The workspace restarts into Kali, and you sign in to the Xfce desktop with the account you just made.

Kali installer Installation complete screen with Continue highlighted — Choose Continue to restart.

Kali Linux Xfce desktop after the first sign-in — Kali's desktop, installed.

Now tell Velo Workspaces the install is done. After a manual install the workspace always shows Finished installing the workspace's OS? at the top, because only you know when the installer has finished. Click Installation Complete.

Workspace banner asking Finished installing the workspace's OS, with Installation Complete highlighted — Shown after every manual install until you click Installation Complete.

While an OS is being installed, the workspace uses Large Text display scaling, so the boot menu and installer are big enough to read. Once you click, Velo Workspaces stops attaching the installer and uses the workspace's own display setting from the next start. Stop and start the workspace once to switch; restarting Kali from inside isn't enough.

Turn on SSH in Kali

Kali doesn't run an SSH server by default. Open a terminal in Kali, then install and start OpenSSH:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable --now ssh
sudo systemctl status ssh

The status should say active (running). Next, give your Kali account your Mac's public key. In Terminal on your Mac, with your Kali username and the address shown under Host in the workspace's Access tab:

# only if you don't have a key yet; press Return at the passphrase prompts
ssh-keygen -t ed25519

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub you@192.168.64.2

Mac Terminal running ssh-keygen and ssh-copy-id next to Kali showing the ssh service active — Left: making a key on the Mac and copying it to Kali. Right: Kali's SSH server running.

Leave the passphrase empty if you'll import the key into Velo Workspaces next. It imports Ed25519 keys only, and not yet ones protected by a passphrase.

Give Velo Workspaces the same key

The built-in terminal signs in with a key kept in your Mac's Keychain, so point it at the key Kali now trusts. Click Preferences in the sidebar, choose Access, and click Import Private Key….

Preferences Access pane with no SSH keys and Import Private Key highlighted — Preferences › Access, before any key exists.

Choose the private key, id_ed25519, not the .pub file next to it. If you can't see the .ssh folder, press ⌘ ⇧ . to show hidden files.

File dialog in the .ssh folder with id_ed25519 selected — Pick `id_ed25519`, the private key.

The key appears in the list. If it isn't marked Default, choose Make Default from the menu beside it.

Preferences Access pane listing the imported key marked Default — Imported and marked Default.

Check SSH and open the terminal

Back in the workspace's Access tab, click Check Now. Velo Workspaces looks for Kali's SSH server and keeps checking until the workspace stops. The status turns to SSH ready.

Workspace Access tab with Check Now highlighted — Check Now asks the workspace's SSH server to answer.

Type your Kali username in the User field. Velo Workspaces uses it in the ssh command it shows, and for Open Terminal.

Access tab with the User field highlighted and SSH ready — The username you created in Kali's installer.

Click Open Terminal, and you're in.

Built-in terminal signed in to Kali Linux over SSH — Kali, from your Mac, over SSH.

Shortcut: you can skip ssh-copy-id. If Kali doesn't accept the key, Open Terminal asks for your Kali password, then offers Install Key, which adds this Mac's key to your account so the next sign-in doesn't need the password.

Pro feature. The built-in terminal is part of Velo Workspaces Pro, which you can try free for a week. Without it, copy the ssh command from the Access tab into Terminal. That uses the keys in your ~/.ssh folder, so the workspace has to trust one of them: the SSH and VS Code guide shows how.

Networking for a testing lab

The workspace sits behind your Mac's network address translation: Kali reaches the internet and your Mac reaches Kali, but other machines on your network don't see it directly. That's a sensible default for a lab. Kali Linux on Apple silicon explains what it means for testing, and why a fresh workspace per engagement is a good habit.

Where to go next

BackgroundKali Linux on Apple silicon: networking and lab tips Next guideOne SSH key for the terminal, Terminal and VS Code WorkflowTest untrusted software in a disposable VM Step by stepInstall NixOS with the graphical installer