Kali Linux is available in the Windows App Store

No, really…this isn’t clickbait. We’ve been working closely with Microsoft WSL to bring Kali Linux into the Microsoft App Store. Today, we’re pleased to availability of “Kali Linux”, a Windows application. This means that Windows 10 users can enable WSL and on the Windows Store, then install it in a single click. This news is particularly exciting for security professionals and penetration testers who are limited by enterprise compliance standards.

Although Kali running on Windows does have some drawbacks (such as not being able to use raw socket support), there are many interesting options. For example, you can extend your security toolkit by including a bunch of command-line tools that Kali provides. As soon as the app is released, we will be updating our blog with additional news and updates.

This is our way of saying thank you to the WSL team at Microsoft and , for their assistance and guidance. We hope you enjoy WSL’d Kali on Windows 10!

Here’s a guide to help you install Kali from Microsoft App Store.

How to Install Kali Linux on WSL

This is a brief description of how to set up and install the system. These are the steps that you will need to follow for a copy/paste operation.

1. Your Windows 10 computer should be updated. This one-liner will install Windows Subsystem using an administrative PowerShell Window. Once the installation is complete, a reboot will be necessary.

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux 

2. After rebooting, go to the Windows App Store and search for “Kali Linux”. Or, click directly. Enjoy Kali by installing the app

Updating Kali Linux on WSL

Kali Linux is the same as any other Kali instance:

apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade 

This is a short video showing the entire process.

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The and apt commands are used to install tools from Kali Linux. To install Metasploit Framework for example, simply follow these steps:

apt–get update apt–get install metasploit­framework

Notice: Anti-virus software can identify some Kali tools as malware. This situation can be resolved by allowing anti-virus exceptions to the directory where the Kali root resides. This video will show you how to do this.

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Recovery from an unsuccessful Kali WSL case

You might accidentally kill the Kali WSL instance. This could be due to an inexplicable command or an unintentional act, or due to Kali bugs or WSL bugs. Here is how to recover if this happens. This will erase your Kali WSL root and extract a fresh copy. All changes to the filesystem are lost and will default to their original state.

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For food, think

We are still exploring the possibilities offered by Kali Linux and its toolset for Windows 10, but we’re excited about them. Here’s an example to get us thinking. Although not yet officially supported by WSL, we have tested the use of XFCE as a desktop manager on WSL-d Kali. It seems to work well.